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Japanese lawmaker's son jumps 20 floors to his death

The depressed son of a controversial conservative lawmaker yesterday jumped 20 floors to his death from a residence for members of Japan's parliament.

Rintaro Nishimura, the 26-year-old son of lower house member Shingo Nishimura, leapt from a balcony hours before he was to return to a hospital for treatment of severe depression, his father said.

"He suddenly disappeared for about 30 seconds when my wife went to brush her teeth," Nishimura told reporters. "Rintaro fell from the 20th-floor balcony and died."

"My family believes he was released from the pain of depression and taken by God," Nishimura said.

Japan has one of the developed world's highest suicide rates. In the same dormitory for lawmakers, Japan's then farm minister, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, last year hanged himself with a belt before he was to be questioned over a scandal.

Rintaro Nishimura, an office worker, had failed several times to pass the bar exam to become a lawyer, Jiji Press news agency said. Nishimura's office was not immediately available for comment.

The elder Nishimura was himself a lawyer. He was arrested in November 2005 and later given a suspended sentence for letting an employee use his legal licence.

Nishimura is known for his outspoken conservative views. He sparked a diplomatic row with China and Taiwan in May 1997 when he became the first Japanese lawmaker to land on a disputed island chain in the East China Sea.

He was dismissed as parliamentary vice minister of defense in October 1999 after calling for Japan to consider nuclear weapons, a taboo in the only nation to have suffered atomic attack.

"Nuclear power is a deterrent. We would all be rape maniacs if we were not punished for rapes. But it's not the case thanks to punishment working as deterring power," he told a magazine at the time.
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