Japanese lawmaker drank 10 glasses of Cognac, suggests war with Russia

Both Japan’s ruling and opposition parties have put pressure on a minister to decide whether or not he should resign after he made remarks on going to war with Russia over the control of disputed islands while he was drunk.

(Photo: Wiki)

Lawmakers submitted a resolution to Japan’s parliament on Wednesday after the government verified Hodaka Maruyama’s cognac-fuelled statements while on a visit to one of four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido in May.

Maruyama is serving in the House of Representatives as a member of the Initiatives from Osaka party.

In May, the politician was participating in a visa-free exchange programme between Japan and Russia, South China Morning Post reports.

During the visit to the island, Maruyama, who had drank 10 glasses of cognac, asked the leader of a group of former Japanese residents: “Do you think there is any alternative to war [to recover the islands]?”

Kunashiri Island is part of a group of islands known in Japan as the Northern Territories, and in Russia, the Southern Kurils, and their ownership has been at the centre of a dispute between the two nations since the end of the second World War.

Russia says it has lawful ownership of the islands at the end of the war, but this is disputed by Japan, which claims the lands were illegally seized in 1945.

The government confirmed reports that Maruyama had visited the home of a Russian family on the island on 11 May, and proceeded to drink more than 10 glasses of cognac.

The resolution brought forward by opposition and ruling party members states that Maruyama’s words brought significant damage to national interest and impeded the implementation of the exchange programme.

It said the government had “no choice but to conclude that [Maruyama] is not qualified as a member of parliament.”

The politician, who has been expelled from Japan’s Innovation Party, has repeatedly refused to resign.