Own goal? Japan governor who skipped work to meet Cristiano Ronaldo faces calls to resign

Nagasaki Governor Kengo Oishi went to watch a match between Al Nassr FC and PSG instead of attending a meeting of the nation’s governors

He claimed he wanted to ask Ronaldo to help promote Nagasaki, a move some people deem an abuse of power while others say is no big deal amid larger scandals elsewhere

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Paris Saint-Germain’s Danilo Pereira (back) fights for the ball with Al-Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo during a friendly at Nagai Stadium in Osaka on July 25. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:30pm, 8 Dec 2023Updated: 8:30pm, 8 Dec 2023

The governor of Japan’s Nagasaki Prefecture is at the centre of a political storm, after it emerged that he skipped a meeting of the nation’s governors to attend a football match featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, and later took part in a postgame event with the Portuguese star.

Governor Kengo Oishi has said he used his own money to buy the ticket to the July 25 match between Ronaldo’s Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr FC and France’s Paris Saint-Germain, although his travel and accommodation costs were covered by the prefectural government. The preseason friendly took place in Osaka.

Oishi has also claimed he used the meeting to invite Ronaldo to “extend a helping hand to the publicity of Nagasaki Prefecture”, the Asahi newspaper reported, although city officials said there had been no official response to the request.

Kengo Oishi, Governor of Japan’s Nagasaki Prefecture. Photo: Handout/PMO Japan

The issue has divided opinions online, with some users demanding that Oishi resign for abusing his position and others insisting the governor was acting in his professional capacity to promote Nagasaki.

“As a governor holding public office, his first priority should be to concentrate on his duties. He prioritised his own interests and put Nagasaki Prefecture second. What he did was wrong. He should resign,” one user said on the website of the FNN Prime Online news service.

Another added: “A governor who doesn’t want to do his job should retire.”

Yet others are simply dismissing the incident as being of little importance, while some analysts admit it is another example of inappropriate behaviour by elected officials – but pales alongside some of the scandals that are currently rocking the Japanese political world.