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Disabled author bypassed by LDP as candidate after affair revelations

Hirotada Ototake
Hirotada Ototake

TOKYO (TR) – The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will not seek the candidacy of a noted author who was born without arms and legs for this summer’s upper house election following revelations last week that he has committed adultery, it was learned on Wednesday, reports Fuji News Network (Mar. 30).

According to the network, the ruling party took public opinion into consideration in deciding not to pursue Hirotada Ototake, 39, as a candidate after the March 31 issue of Shukan Shincho revealed that he had engaged in extra-marital affairs with multiple women.

When confronted by the magazine, Ototake admitted to the allegations. He also confessed to having had five mistresses while married.

The author, who married in 2001 and has three children, later issued an apology on his Web site.

Ototake was born limbless due to a congenital disorder. He rose to fame in 1998 with the publication of “Gotai Fumanzoku” (“No One’s Perfect”), his best-selling autobiography in which he emphasizes that a disability should be embraced.

Much like the recently announced candidacy of Eriko Imai, the 32-year-old vocalist of J-pop group Speed, the LDP had viewed Ototake as a person who typifies Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s initiative that strives for all (of the roughly) 100 million people to play an active role in society.