Japan’s PM Kishida undergoes sinus surgery
Tokyo, The Gulf Observer: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had sinus surgery at a Tokyo hospital on Saturday to treat chronic sinusitis that has caused him to have a stuffy nose since last year.
He was diagnosed having chronic sinusitis with polyps, he told reporters Friday. He has since been treated with medicine but decided to undergo surgery “in order to be in perfect health,” Kishida said.
His stuffy nose while speaking at meetings, parliamentary sessions and news conferences has been cited by local media, including some that speculated it was an aftereffect of COVID-19, which he contracted last summer.
Kishida’s operation was said to have involved general anesthesia and during that time, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno temporarily assumed a leadership role as stipulated by the Cabinet Law.
Kishida’s surgery apparently went smoothly and he returned to his official residence Saturday evening. A footage by TBS television captured Kishida in his suit and wearing a white surgical mask bowing and thanking medial staff as he left the hospital and got into the back seat of his official car.
Kishida is expected to return to work on Monday, though he will need to visit the hospital a few more times for post-surgery checkups and treatment, Matsuno said.
Kishida has suffered plunging public support over his handling of a controversy involving his governing party’s ties with a religious group, resignations of ministers and top aides following a political funding scandal, gaffes and discriminatory remarks against sexual minorities.
Kishida took office in October 2021 and has implemented drastic changes to Japan’s security and energy policies. In December, his government adopted a new security and defense strategy to bolster Japan’s strike-back capability in a break with its postwar self-defense-only principle.
On Friday, Kishida’s Cabinet approved a policy to maximize the use of nuclear power as green energy, reversing the country’s post-Fukushima nuclear phaseout plan.
