Noda gives up on plan to attend Olympic opening ceremony
TOKYO —
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has decided not to attend the Olympic Games opening ceremony on Friday.
Noda had indicated that he would like to be present at the opening ceremony which is expected to attract dignitaries from 120 countries. He also was hoping to use the occasion to drum up support for Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic bid.
However, government sources said that senior members of Noda’s ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) urged Noda to remain in Japan now that deliberations have begun in the upper house on tax and social security reform bills, Sankei Shimbun reported.
A question and answer session on the bills is scheduled to be held in the upper house on Wednesday and Friday.
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10 Comments
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1
tmarie
Less of tax money being wasted! Good!
1
Ronald F Stark
Truth is he probably didn't qualify as a "dignitary" or his secretary forgot to buy him a ticket.
3
borscht
His advisers had to convince him to attend his tax increase debate? Shows he has his priorities straight?
0
gogogo
If he left the opposition would call for an election, they only do things like that once the PM is out of the country.
2
Maria
Heh! Why not send Ishihara, since he's so keen on having the Olympics in Tokyo. Set him loose in London, let's see how well he does drumming up support.
0
basroil
Social security reform? I think the author here means social security bloating. They aren't fixing it, just making it larger.
0
Ben Jack
Perhaps he was worried he would not be let back into the country.
-1
TrevorPeace1
Pity, all this political nonsense. He should get some backbone and attend, and anyone who thinks he shouldn't isn't all that Japanese.
-1
Waxman
I would love to see heading [Noda gives up on TAX HIKE plan to attend Olympic opening ceremony]
0
warispeace
He just didn't want to miss another one of the parties held in his neighbourhood every Friday.
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