Journalist Soichiro Tahara, 91, appeared on a live broadcast of BS Asahi’s “Live TV till Morning! (Sundays at 7:00 p.m.), which he hosts. (Sundays at 7:00 pm), which he hosted! Crossfire” on the same station. Soichiro Tahara, a popular TV personality and a politician, at his birthday book launch party. At the beginning of the program, seven members of the ruling and opposition parties, including former LDP Justice Minister Kaosuke Suzuki and DPJ Upper House member Ayaka Shiomura, took their seats. Mr. Isamu Ueda, a member of the House of Councilors of the New Komeito Party, who left the coalition, sat on the opposition side. Mr. Tahara asked Mr. Ueda, “Aren’t you dissatisfied with this positioning? He then asked, “Mr. Takaichi was critical of the selective surname system. It is interesting and anti-chronological that such a person became prime minister…I am very interested to see what he will do. He continued, “Raise your hand if you agree with Mr. Takaichi becoming prime minister. When several people raised their hands, including Mr. Suzuki and Mr. Umemura, he said, “There are quite a few of you. There was an air of confusion in the studio. Mr. Tahara is a member of the station’s debate program, “Gekiron, Crossfire” (Sundays, 6:00 p.m. ET)! Crossfire” (Sundays at 6:00 p.m.), a debate program on the same station, Tahara became a problem when he said to guests Kiyomi Tsujimoto and Mizuho Fukushima, who were criticizing Prime Minister Takaichi for his negative stance on the selective surname system, “You should just tell such a person to go die. The station later issued a stern warning and apologized on its own X (formerly Twitter) page, saying, “I was trying to send a message to the opposition parties, but it was an extremely inappropriate expression, and I deeply regret it. The program was terminated. The station also reported that it had taken disciplinary action against the head of its programming and production bureau for failing to cut out inappropriate remarks in editing. According to the station, there are no plans to drop Tahara or terminate his hosting of “Morning Live,” another program hosted by Tahara. Before the program, he posted a video on his X and said, “I made an inappropriate comment in last week’s broadcast of ‘Geki Dantoku (Intense Discussion) Crossfire! Crossfire’ last week, I apologize for the inappropriate comments I made. I am truly sorry to Prime Minister Takaichi, the viewers, and everyone involved,” he apologized again and bowed his head.
