The autumn session of parliament began Friday with a new Lower House speaker following the resignation of Hiroyuki Hosoda — who cited health concerns but was also facing questions and criticism over sexual harassment allegations and his ties to the former Unification Church.
The 79-year-old Fukushiro Nukaga, a 13-term Diet member and former finance minister, was chosen as speaker in a vote at the beginning of the session. Between 2009 and 2018, he headed the Liberal Democratic Party’s third-largest faction, which is now led by Toshimitsu Motegi, the party’s secretary-general.