The vice speaker of a city assembly in central Japan has tendered his resignation following reports he made an “inappropriate” gesture towards the daughter of a Central Western NSW Mayor at a party last month.
Japanese news agency, Kyodo News, has reported that the Mayor of Minokamo, Norio Nagata, will quit his speaker role after the City’s Mayor, Hiroto Fujii, sent an apology email to its sister-city Dubbo City Council in late April.
Dubbo Mayor, Mathew Dickerson, visited the Japanese city with his family and city officials in April and attended a welcome reception on 3 April.
At an afterparty, the 71-year-old Mr Nagata, who was accompanied by Mayor Dickerson’s family, was singing karaoke in a bar when he held the microphone close to the lower body of the Mayor’s daughter, who is in her 20s, Kyodo News reported.
“Nagata said earlier this week that he wanted to set the mood for the party and had no intention of doing anything wrong but regrets his actions,” the news agency reported.
“The Minokamo city took his action as inappropriate, yet Nagata will not resign as an assembly member.”
In an email sent to Kyodo News, it’s reported Mayor Dickerson said his daughter “was surprised at the time and the three of us (including his wife) exchanged glances at what was an inappropriate gesture.”
“We discussed it briefly the next day, but the issue was not of a serious enough nature to warrant any further action.”
The Dubbo Mayor said he “would like to formally acknowledge and accept the apology” from the Mayor of Minokamo.
