Tokyo governor faces no-confidence motions over money scandal

Parties in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly on Tuesday filed no-confidence motions against Japanese capital city's Governor Yoichi Masuzoe over his misuse of political fund so as to urge him to step down.

The parties include opposition parties of the Japanese Communist Party, the Democratic Party and ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which backed Masuzoe in the 2014 gubernatorial election.

The motions will be discussed on Wednesday. If the motions were approved by the assembly, the governor can choose to step down or dissolve the assembly. If the newly elected assembly approved the motion again, the governor has to step down.

Calls for a quick resignation of the governor were growing among the ruling party, according to local reports, in order to avoid affect support rate for the ruling camp in the upcoming upper house election.

The governor was found misuse of 4.4 million yen (around 41,000 U.S. dollars) from his political fund to pay hotel bills, wining and dining expenses that likely involved his family and costs to purchase about 100 artworks, according to Japan's Kyodo News.

Local media first reported in April that Masuzoe was found to have frequently used official cars to travel between the capital and his vacation home in a hot spring resort area outside Tokyo, and spent more than 200 million yen (about 1.89 million dollars) on nine overseas trips since becoming governor in February 2014.

Naoki Inose, former Tokyo governor replaced by Masuzoe, stepped down in late 2013 due to money scandal. Endit