Renho, a 42-year-old former TV presenter who is state minister for administrative reform, appears in the November edition of Vogue Nippon posing near a marble staircase in a short white dress, cream jacket, and ankle-high boots, hand on one hip.

The magazine went on sale a week ago but only became an issue Thursday, when a weekly magazine — more usual reading material for Japan's staid and overwhelmingly male political establishment — took it up. Opposition lawmakers promptly denounced the shoot, which accompanied an interview with Renho on her political beliefs and juggling of job and motherhood, as "inappropriate."

Renho, who is half-Taiwanese, stressed at a news conference that she had gone through proper channels to set up the photo session, which took place in August when Parliament was in recess. "I frankly apologies if my action was inappropriate or caused concern, as that was not my intention," she said.