The sudden resignation of Hiromu Kurokawa, head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor’s Office, on May 22 after a weekly magazine revealed he had defied the government's self-isolation request by playing high-stakes mahjong on two occasions was ironic in more ways than one. Kurokawa was already in the public eye because the Cabinet in January postponed his legally mandated retirement in order that he remain in his post, a seemingly extralegal directive that compelled the government to add prosecutors to an existing group of proposed bills to raise the retirement age for civil service jobs. When critics suggested the amendment was concocted to justify the Cabinet decision retroactively, the government withdrew the whole bill, at least temporarily.
The public and the media cried foul because Kurokawa was seen to be sympathetic to the interests of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, thus undermining the separation of powers that is vital to the well-being of a liberal democracy. The government denied this, saying that it was the Justice Ministry's idea to retain Kurokawa, so it's particularly embarrassing that he was caught gambling, which is illegal. The other irony is that he performed this illegal act in the home of a reporter for the Sankei Shimbun along with two other media workers. Supposedly, the press has had firsthand knowledge of Kurokawa's gambling proclivities for some time.