Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said, “We are thorough in our crisis management,” six times at a Lower House Budget Committee session on Feb. 18. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has come under heavy criticism for skipping a task force meeting on the coronavirus outbreak apparently to party with his supporters.

Koizumi said at a Lower House Budget Committee session on Feb. 18 that he sent Tetsuya Yagi, his parliamentary secretary, to attend the Feb. 16 meeting on his behalf.

Toru Miyamoto, a Japanese Communist Party lawmaker, asked Koizumi if he missed the coronavirus meeting so that he could attend a New Year’s party held by a local support group.

Koizumi avoided making any direct references to the party, telling Miyamoto, “What you pointed out is right.”

He also insisted that his absence from the meeting would have no effect on measures to deal with the spread of the new coronavirus.

Within the five minutes of the question-and-answer session in the Diet, Koizumi said six times, “We are thorough in our crisis management.”

For example, Miyamoto said that information posted online shows that Koizumi gave a toast at the party. He asked the environment minister if he had prioritized the party over the coronavirus meeting.

“We have firmly shared information with my vice minister and parliamentary secretaries, and we are thorough in our crisis management,” Koizumi said.

He was later asked by reporters about the matter.

“I answered questions at the Diet. “We are thorough in our crisis management,” he said.

Opposition parties appear fully prepared to continue their attack against Koizumi, who is seen as a possible future prime minister.

“He abdicated his responsibilities as a Cabinet minister, and this could warrant his resignation,” Jun Azumi, chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said Feb. 19.

“He usually speaks articulately about convenient topics,” Azumi continued. “But he drank and was smiling in photos after ducking the most important meeting.”

The task force meeting was held at the prime minister’s office, and all Cabinet members were expected to attend. But Koizumi was not the only no-show.

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Defense Minister Taro Kono, education minister Koichi Hagiuda, and Seiichi Eto, the state minister in charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, were absent from the meeting because of official duties in Japan and overseas.

Justice Minister Masako Mori was in her constituency when the meeting was held.

They all sent vice ministers or parliamentary secretaries to attend the meeting on their behalf.