SHE has been called 'too beautiful to be a politician', Japan's 'Belle Councillor', and was voted 'World's Most Beautiful Politician' by a Spanish newspaper earlier this year.

Now, Ms Yuri Fujikawa, 29, has been embroiled in a scandal with a married man, reported Japan Today.

The councilwoman for Hachinohe City was photographed entering a hotel at night with a married politician, and leaving together the next morning.

Pictures of the two were splashed in Friday, a Japanese magazine, last week.

Ms Yuri has denied any relationship between herself and the 38-year-old Democratic party politician from Iwata, who is married with two children.

Same hotel, separate rooms

But because the hotel is only 10 minutes away from her house, Japanese tabloids are wondering why there was a need for her to spend the night there.

Ms Yuri had come out tops in a worldwide online poll of the world's most beautiful politicians by Spanish newspaper 20 Minutos earlier this year.

Singapore's former Nominated Member of Parliament, Ms Eunice Olsen, came in 12th in the same poll.

This is not the first time Ms Yuri that is involved in controversy since she was voted into office in 2007.

Last year, she released a DVD and a photo album which included images of her in a swimsuit.

She reportedly agreed to the project as it promoted Hachinohe as a tourist destination.

While the DVD was a huge hit, selling tens of thousands of copies, it alienated some of her conservative supporters, who were upset with her 'over-exposure' in a swimsuit.

Some also felt she had betrayed the city by using it as a stepping stone to become famous.

Her love life has also become tabloid fodder.

When the local media previously caught Ms Yuri hopping into her ex-boyfriend's BMW straight after work, the politician was quoted in Sankei Sports as saying: 'He's still a good friend, even now.'

In May this year, she appeared at a movie screening in Hachinohe sporting a ring on her left ring finger, sparking rumours of an engagement, which she denied.

Ms Yuri's political star has risen suddenly and swiftly.

The daughter of a former council member and vice-mayor of Hachinohe City, she worked as a caregiver at a nursing home for the elderly after graduating from university.

In 2007, when she was 27, her father stood for elections but failed to be voted in.

That was when she announced she would stand as a candidate, taking her father's place.

Not only did her father's supporters vote for her, she won many of her own. Most were attracted by her youth and beauty, and the many images of herself posted on her blog.

After she was elected, a local TV news station ran an in-depth report about her in January 2008.

She became a hot topic on Internet forums and attracted nationwide attention in Japan.

Her personal website received more than 230,000 hits a day, causing the server to crash.

Her personal website was soon taken offline and replaced with a more business-like website.

Following the TV broadcast, she hired an agent to handle the many requests to pose for photo shoots and appear at events.

This article was first published in The New Paper