Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Saturday he has sacked a close aide after discriminatory remarks he recently made against sexual minorities came to light. Masayoshi Arai, an elite bureaucrat from the ministry of economy, trade and industry, said during an off-the-record conversation with reporters at the prime minister’s office on Friday that he would “not want to live next door” to an LGBT couple and that he does “not even want to look at them.” Kishida, who has recently struck a cautious note about legally recognising same-sex marriage, told reporters earlier on Saturday that the comments made by Arai “cannot but force” the Cabinet to consider his future. “His comments are outrageous and completely incompatible with the administration’s policies,” he said in remarks aired by public broadcaster NHK. 7 years after Japanese student’s death, has anything changed for LGBT community? Arai also said that if same-sex marriage is introduced in Japan , it would “change the way society is” and that “there are quite a few people who would abandon this country.” Arai later apologised and withdrew the comments after Japanese media made them public. He said the remarks did not reflect Kishida’s own thinking. “I apologise for having used expressions that may cause misunderstanding,” Arai told reporters. “I feel sorry for [causing any issues for] the prime minister, as he does not think like that,” the secretary also said. “I caused trouble [to the prime minister] due to my own opinions.” “It is not desirable for any officials in posts like mine to say such a thing,” he added. Members of the public interviewed on the streets and opposition party lawmakers lambasted Arai’s comments. “These statements upset everyone. Maybe I might have been an LGBT person as well. How can he say something like this?” asked a 48-year-old woman in Tokyo. A 50-year-old woman from Osaka on a business trip to Tokyo said people of her acquaintance “naturally accept” the existence of sexual minorities. But she also said that some in older generations including her parents’ are less tolerant, expressing hope their attitudes will change even if it takes time. An openly gay member of Japan’s upper house, Taiga Ishikawa, called the situation “beyond one’s patience” on Twitter and noted that Arai had also said that all of Kishida’s executive secretaries are against same-sex marriage. Singapore’s Section 377A: how attitudes towards gay sex law have shifted Kenta Izumi, leader of the main opposition party, said Arai’s remarks were “terrible” said that his dismissal was “a matter of course.” Arai’s comments are also an embarrassment for Kishida as he prepares to host other leaders from Group of Seven nations in May. Unlike Japan, which has been ruled by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for most of the past seven decades, the rest of the G7 allow marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples. It could also further erode his public support , which, according to recent opinion polls has halved to around 30 per cent since last year following a series of resignations by senior officials. Those resignations included Mio Sugita, an internal affairs and communications vice-minister, who quit in December over comments about LGBT people, and about Japan’s indigenous Ainu community. In a survey published by NHK in July 2021, two months before Kishida became prime minister, 57 per cent of 1,508 respondents said they supported the legal recognition of same-sex unions. Because they are not allowed to marry, same-sex couples can’t inherit each other’s assets and are denied parental rights to each other’s children. In November, a Tokyo court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage, but also said a lack of legal protection for same-sex families violated their human rights. Additional reporting by Reuters