[1][2][3][4] Hashimoto does not believe that Korean comfort women who served as sex workers for the Japanese military during World War II were recruited by force.
Hashimoto remains an equity partner in the firm, but converted it to a professional corporation in 2008 and currently does not take an active role in its management.
[8][9] During his early years of law practice, he began to appear on local radio and television programs in the Kansai area.
Hashimoto's most high-profile TV role came in April 2003 when he started participating in the popular prime-time program Gyōretsu no Dekiru Hōritsu Sōdanjo (行列のできる法律相談所, "The Legal Advisory Office that People Queue Up For", NTV), hosted by comedian Shinsuke Shimada, as part of the regular panel of four lawyers.
Hashimoto also guested on Nippon TV's Hikari Ota's If I Were Prime Minister... Secretary Tanaka, where he "proposed" homeowners should open their curtains every afternoon.
[citation needed] He admitted in 2012 to having an extramarital affair with a club hostess between 2006 and 2008, while still a television personality, saying that "I wasn't a saint before I became governor.
However, on 12 December 2007, after he had received pledges of support from the local Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, he announced that he would run in the gubernatorial race.
Shortly after his inauguration as Osaka governor, Hashimoto declared a "fiscal emergency" in the prefecture and proposed massive budget cuts.
[11] For a time, his straight-talking style and perceived willingness to challenge the status quo made him one of the most popular political figures in Japan.
After the election, Hashimoto founded the "Ishin Seiji Juku", a "cram school" for training future political leaders, which admitted 2,000 students in its first class in March 2012.
[19][20] Inciting further controversy, 2 July 2012 Hashimoto made the comment to newly appointed ward mayors of Ōsaka that civil servants cannot expect to have personal privacy or fundamental human rights while working for the public.
[23] The Osaka Ishin no Kai suffered several setbacks in 2013, with its candidate losing the Sakai mayoral election in September, and the party losing its majority in the prefectural assembly in December 2013 after four members defected over the sale of the government's stake in Osaka Prefectural Urban Development, the operator of the Semboku Rapid Railway.
Following the defeat of his core policy proposal, which had been supported by the national government, Hashimoto announced that he would retire from politics upon expiration of his term as mayor.
[25] In June, he was invited to Tokyo for a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who voiced his support for the defeated plan and also sought Hashimoto's input on upcoming national security legislation.
The electoral program of the Ishin no Kai proposed to cut funding to classical orchestras, the bunraku (the national puppet theatre) and to the Osaka Human Rights Museum, and legalizing gambling as a new way to generate revenue.
[34] In 2009, amid controversy throughout Japan over the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Hashimoto publicly proposed moving the functions of the base to Osaka's Kansai International Airport (which is on an artificial island).
[42] Several leading Japanese politicians, including Banri Kaieda, president of the Democratic Party of Japan,[38][40] and Tomomi Inada, administrative reform minister,[43] criticized these comments.
In April 2012, Yomiuri Group Chairman Tsuneo Watanabe wrote that Hashimoto's declaration that elections are a form of wiping the slate clean reminded him of the tactics Hitler used to come to power.
[48] A third-party Press and Human Rights Committee set up by the Asahi Shimbun Company concluded that '"a story on Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto in Shukan Asahi Weekly Magazine has reinforced discrimination" and "The story, including its headline, is based on the wrong idea of denying Hashimoto's integrity as a human being on the basis of his origin.