He Doesn’t Deserve Office, She Says : Ex-Geisha ‘Cleanses Heart’ With Blast at Uno

TOKYO —  A former geisha who rocked Japan’s political world by alleging that Prime Minister Sosuki Uno paid her for sex appeared for the first time on television Sunday and said Uno was cruel to her and doesn’t deserve to be prime minister.

In an interview from a Buddhist temple where she said she is seeking to “cleanse my heart,” Mitsuko Nakanishi, 40, said Uno paid her $21,000 to be on 24-hour call as his mistress. Nakanishi showed the interviewer an envelope with Uno’s return address in which she said she received the first payment of $14,000 in 1985.

“He told me to come whenever he calls,” she told TBS television. “It was as if I had to wear a beeper at all times.”

Nakanishi shocked Japan’s male-dominated political world June 5 when her story appeared in a weekly news magazine without her name. The magazine article broke a longstanding taboo in Japan against reports on politicians’ private lives.

Nakanishi said telling her story on television may mean that she will never work in Japan again, but she added that her dislike for Uno is so strong she had to do it.

“I expect revenge but I am ready for it,” she said.

Uno was cruel to her and other women, she said.

“He should have been kinder,” Nakanishi said. “What good is a person who lacks sympathy for those less fortunate than him? He should not be in politics.”

Uno, 66, has refused to comment on Nakanishi’s accusations.

Geishas, literally “art people,” entertain their customers with traditional songs, dance and musical instruments. They are not typically hired for sex, but it is not unusual for one to become the mistress of one faithful customer.