Latest news with #MoritomoGakuen
Asahi Shimbun
4 days ago
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
VOX POPULI: Government never faced up to lack of records on ‘Abenomasks'
Plaintiff Hiroshi Kamiwaki, middle, holds a sign proclaiming victory in a lawsuit against the government at the Osaka District Court on June 5. (Minami Endo) There's a Japanese expression, 'shokushogimi'—the sense of being fed up after overindulgence. By now, many in Japan are surely fed up with hearing about the 'Abenomask,' the government's much-maligned initiative under then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to distribute reusable cloth face masks to every household during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the enormous outlay of taxpayer funds, the masks failed to reach people when they were most needed, and vast quantities ended up in storage. Rarely has a government policy drawn such widespread ridicule and criticism. So how were these masks procured in the first place? On June 5, the Osaka District Court overturned the government's decision to withhold documents related to the contracting process. The court dismissed the government's assertion that 'no documents exist' as implausible. The government claimed that most interactions had been conducted 'orally,' without written records. That means contracts totaling 40 billion yen ($278 million) for 300 million masks—each differing by vendor—were arranged through verbal agreements alone. The notion strains credulity. Even if true, such an approach reveals a staggering level of administrative negligence. We saw a similar attitude among senior bureaucrats during the Moritomo Gakuen scandal, which involved the questionable sale of state-owned land to a private school operator with ties to Abe. Officials brazenly claimed that documents related to the land deal had been discarded and that virtually nothing was known. Such an outrageous excuse is so appalling that it leaves one speechless. It inevitably casts serious doubt on the credibility of those involved. In the case of the mask contracts, even emails that had supposedly been discarded were later unearthed during reinvestigation. As Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927), one of Japan's most influential writers, once observed with remarkable insight and precision, 'There are truths that can only be expressed through lies.' 'There was absolutely nothing wrong with it,' Abe maintained, defending the controversial policy and continuing to don the cloth masks. But the success or failure of a public policy is not determined by the policymaker—it is judged by the people. What, then, are the lessons to be drawn from the pandemic? If access to legitimate information is obstructed, it becomes impossible to scrutinize the historical responsibility of those who shaped critical decisions. Not long ago, I learned that a friend still had an Abenomask at home. Feeling a twinge of nostalgia, I asked to see it. The small mask, made of thick, coarse gauze, felt oddly familiar. When I held it to my face, it gave off a faint scent—reminiscent of 'warabanshi,' the rough, low-grade paper once commonly used in Japanese schools for handouts and practice sheets. —The Asahi Shimbun, June 6 * * * Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Asahi Shimbun
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
VOX POPULI: Key questions in the Moritomo Gakuen scandal still unanswered
Moritomo Gakuen had planned to open a private elementary school on this plot of land in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, previously owned by the government. (Asahi Shimbun file photo) It saddens me to imagine a scene of black smoke billowing into the sky. Eighty years ago in this country, pages and pages of official documents were destroyed by the military, which is no surprise. But the same thing also happened at the Foreign Ministry where, just before and after Japan's defeat in World War II, a whopping 6,698 volumes of diplomatic documents were destroyed, mostly by incineration. What the ministry's senior bureaucrats feared most was the documents falling into the hands of outsiders. Although there was opposition to destroying them, it appears that the officials ultimately agreed, so they wouldn't be questioned about their war responsibility. The decision to incinerate was reached on Aug. 7, 1945, the day after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, according to 'Gaiko wo Kiroku shi Kokai suru' (Diplomatic Records and Their Declassification) by Ryuji Hattori. I am now wondering how many official documents have been destroyed by the Finance Ministry. It has come to light that some of the ministry's recently declassified documents concerning the Moritomo Gakuen scandal were missing vital parts, many of which were believed to pertain to a certain politician and his wife. The ministry has admitted to destroying those parts and having acted inappropriately. In the case of this scandal, what the bureaucrats concerned feared most was being questioned in the Diet by opposition lawmakers. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared at the time, 'Were my wife and I to be told that we are involved (in the scandal), I would immediately resign as prime minister as well as from the Diet.' But are we supposed to really believe that no politician was involved, or that not a single politician said and did things in anticipation of what Abe would expect? Over the long term, even documents that are inconvenient to the administration of the time can bear vital testimony and pass on historical lessons. As such, they are not only valuable assets of the people who are living now and will be living in the future but also serve to solemnly protect the honor of those who died fighting injustice over long periods. Why did the government sell its land at an impossibly low price? Did the Finance Ministry think it was alright to let insiders 'investigate' the case like it was no big deal, and then claim ignorance because the pertinent documents have been destroyed? If that is the ministry's position, it could not be more wrong. The people who created the documents are still around, and so are the people who got rid of them. I demand that the scandal be re-examined, and thoroughly this time. --The Asahi Shimbun, May 17 * * * Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
NHK
09-05-2025
- Business
- NHK
Japan Finance Ministry: Missing documents in Moritomo scandal were discarded
Japan's Finance Ministry says it believes some of the documents related to a controversial sale of state-owned land were discarded before they could be disclosed. Akagi Toshio, who worked for a regional bureau of the ministry in western Japan, was forced to falsify documents on the heavily discounted sale of state-owned land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen in 2016. Akagi committed suicide in 2018. His wife, Masako, demanded the ministry disclose documents it had voluntarily submitted to prosecutors. The ministry on April 4 released over 2,200 pages of materials, including information on negotiations with Moritomo. The released documents were mostly numbered in chronological order. But many of the numbers were missing. Akagi's lawyers asked the ministry for an explanation. On Friday, the Finance Ministry issued a written response and released a table showing the process of the land deal. The ministry says that 382 numbered documents were likely created in the course of dealings with the school operator between June 2013 and June 2016. It added that of these, 74 went missing, and 52 of them were never made public. The ministry says many of the missing parts are believed to contain references to people in political circles. Most of the documents likely went missing in the record-disposal process. It was revealed in 2017 that records of negotiations with the school operator had been intentionally destroyed to reduce materials that could lead to parliamentary questioning. The ministry says it believes that this is when many of the missing documents were discarded. Among the 52 missing records are documents from April 28, 2014, in which Moritomo's former head Kagoike Yasunori showed bureau officials a photo of him with the wife of then-Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Kagoike reportedly claimed that Abe's wife had told him, "You should proceed because this is a good piece of land."
