No one is admitting it yet, but there is a definite sense of crisis looming in Taku Yamasaki's district office that a sex scandal may cause the Liberal Democratic Party veteran to lose the seat he has held for more than three decades.
Yamasaki, 66, has held many key posts in the LDP, including secretary general, and is currently vice president, the No. 2 post under leader Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister and a close friend. He has also been construction minister and director general of the Defense Agency.
Ordinarily, such a notable career would all but guarantee easy re-election for an 11th term in the Nov. 9 election for the House of Representatives. In the history of the LDP, only one vice president has lost his seat in a general election: Eiichi Nishimura, who was acting LDP vice president in 1980.