TOKYO (TR) – Former mayor and recent reality television contestant Shinji Ishimaru was spotted spending the night with his personal secretary at his apartment in the capital late last month, reports weekly tabloid Friday (Sep. 25).
The 44-year-old politician recently appeared on the ABEMA romantic reality program “Romance Hospital.” He failed to secure a partner on the show, largely due to his overly argumentative nature, famously alienating participants by stating, “We must start with the definition of what love is.”
However, his off-screen private life paints a different picture.
On August 30, following his appearance as an ambassador for a Hiroshima Kagura dance performance in the Akasaka district, Ishimaru was seen leaving a late-night after-party. By his side was a long-haired woman in her late 30s. Witnesses reported Ishimaru looking uncharacteristically joyful as they entered a taxi together around 11:00 p.m.
The pair headed straight to a stylish Tokyo designer apartment, which serves as Ishimaru’s office and Tokyo base.
The woman, identified as a single mother who previously handled public relations for his former political group, currently works as his personal secretary. She reportedly did not leave the apartment—which features a lavish bedroom and ambient lighting—until noon the following day. Sources claim the pair had also spent the previous night there together.
A source close to Ishimaru noted that their relationship has clearly crossed professional boundaries. During his reality show stint, Ishimaru remarked, “I don’t necessarily want children of my own, but I would like to try raising a child.” Associates now suspect this comment was a direct nod to his secretary’s status as a single mother.
When contacted by reporters to confirm if the two were romantically involved, Ishimaru did not outright deny the relationship. Instead, he fell back on his trademark pedantic rhetoric.
Before admitting she was “someone I have a working relationship with and one of the people I can trust,” the politician offered a highly characteristic, evasive preamble: “First, could you please tell me your definition of a lover?”
