Japanese leader spends people’s tax, cries, then resigns
TOKYO— A local Japanese politician, who was seen sobbing over dubious spending in a video that went viral, resigned Friday.
Ryutaro Nonomura, 47, a Hyogo Prefectural assemblyman, submitted his resignation and the assembly will decide whether to accept it, assembly office spokeswoman Chika Fukuyama said.
Nonomura burst into tears and screamed nonsensical phrases when he was asked at a news conference last week about the number of trips he took to a hot springs at taxpayers’ expense.
One site for the video had drawn 2.7 million views as of Friday. His wailing spawned spoofs that juxtaposed his voice with rock music, and another with jazz piano, or played his tirade backward.
Calls for his resignation had grown. Nonomura visited the hot springs 106 times last year, using public money and reporting it as political activity.
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