Despite the bad reputation that the official residence of the Prime Minister of Japan is haunted by ghosts, Shigeru Ishiba, the new holder of the post – after – said this Friday that he is willing to live there as soon as the current renovation work is completed. and repair are ready. “I’m not afraid,” said Ishiba, during a press conference to comment on the 2025 Budget.
Originally built in 1929, the two-story, 5,183-square-foot stone and brick mansion was initially built as the prime minister’s office. With design Art Decosymbolized Japan’s transition to modernism in the early 20th century, with an architectural style inspired by the Imperial Hotel, designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
But the building has been the scene of several tumultuous events in Japanese political history. In 1932, then Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai was assassinated in the building by young naval officers during an attempted coup d’état. The episode was a dark turn in Japan’s political trajectory toward militarism.
Four years later, another military uprising took place there. Then-Prime Minister Keisuke Okada narrowly escaped assassination by hiding in a closet, although five people were shot dead during the riot. A bullet hole above one of the entrance doors remains as a reminder of these events.
The wife of former Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata stated, in memoirs published in 1996, that she felt a frightening and oppressive presence while she lived there. “They say military officers stand in the garden in the middle of the night,” Yasuko Hata told the newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
After decades of wear and tear, the building underwent renovations, completed in 2005. At the time, the stone owl sculptures that stood guard outside the building were preserved.
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Before the renovations were completed, an exorcism by a Shinto priest was said to have been performed to cleanse the building of any remaining spirits.
The mansion had been used as the residence of prime ministers since then. But a delay in former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s move into the building in 2013 sparked speculation about the motive, which led the government to deny knowledge of the hauntings.
Yoshiro Mori, another former prime minister, reportedly told Abe that he had found ghosts in the residence. Despite these reports, government officials have repeatedly dismissed the rumors.
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Abe decided not to live there, as did his successor, Yoshihide Suga. When Kishida moved to the place in December 2021, he was asked about the ghosts, but replied that he had not seen any and slept well all night.
Ishiba told journalists today that “it must be scary to actually see something, but it’s not something that worries me”.
(Com Reuters)
