Japan PM Ishiba not spooked by ghost tales about official home, eager to move there

TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Dec 27 he was eager to move into his official residence despite longstanding rumours about ghosts at the historic site – a witness to military rebellions.

Mr Ishiba, elected in October after predecessor Fumio Kishida stepped down, has held off moving in pending inspections and repair work, but is expected to move in soon, though he declined to specify the date on security grounds.

“I’m not particularly afraid,” Mr Ishiba said, when asked about the purported ghosts during an impromptu press conference, adding that he would like to move in as soon as possible.

“It might be scary to actually see something, but it’s not something we’re worried about.”

Built in 1929 and formerly the prime minister’s office, the residence was the site of unrest such as the 1932 assassination of then Japanese prime minister Tsuyoshi Inukai.

The wife of former Japanese prime minister Tsutomu Hata felt an eerie and oppressive presence when she lived there, she wrote in a 1996 memoir.

“Military officers are said to be seen standing in the garden in the middle of the night,” Mrs Yasuko Hata added, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Heavily remodelled in the early 2000s, the structure has served as the official residence of prime ministers since 2005.

A delay in former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s move into the building in 2013 prompted the government to deny any knowledge of ghosts. Mr Abe ultimately decided against living there and so did his successor, Mr Yoshihide Suga.

When Mr Kishida moved there in December 2021, he was asked about the purported appearance of ghosts, but responded that he had not seen any and slept well through the night. REUTERS