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TOKYO - JAPANESE Prime Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday hit back at critics who questioned his nightly ventures to high-end bars and restaurants when the country is on the verge of recession.
'Fortunately, I have money. I pay by myself,' Mr Aso, who is from an elite family, told reporters in a forceful voice. 'It's my style. I won't change it.'
Since taking office in late September, Mr Aso has regularly gone out for dinner and drinks at restaurants and bars of luxury hotels in downtown Tokyo with his close friends and aides.
He faced media ridicule on Sunday for spending hours at a restaurant in the luxury Imperial Hotel just after going to a supermarket to chat to voters about rising food prices.
But Mr Aso said: 'I think bars and restaurants at hotels are relatively safe and inexpensive.'
He argued that if he went to more modest places, he would face criticism that he was obstructing business because he is always accompanied by security guards and journalists.
Fellow lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have reportedly voiced concern that Mr Aso's lifestyle would sap public support in upcoming elections, in which the economy is set to be the key issue.
Mr Aso, 68, is the grandson of a prime minister and has sprawling homes in Tokyo and southern Japan, where his family ran a cement company.
But Mr Aso has in recent years tried to change his image by stressing his passion for comic books, which are widely read by ordinary Japanese. -- AFP
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