13 ministry officials wined and dined by Suga's son

Perhaps it would be easier if they focused their investigation on trying to find a top bureaucrat who hasn’t been given gifts by Suga’s son in violation of ethics standards.

It’d be very regrettable if I didn’t pay my taxes this year. I could try wining and dining a local tax office employee...

At the very least they should be fired but we all know this wont happen.

"highly likely to have received favors from a stakeholder in violation"

"Taniwaki received the largest amount of favors worth 118,000 yen, according to the ministry."

"But he said the ministry does not believe the broadcasting administration has been affected by such favors".

Here in Japan it's called a favour, in other countries such thing is a bribery and is illegal, especially when done by/in favour to government officials.

Yet, the Prime Minister/his father says "Suga has said he was not aware of the dinner sessions between his son and the officials.". Astonishing

There would appear a pattern of skulduggery is entrenched in all government decisions. They will never change life is too good for that to happen.

What Japanese politician isn’t in it for the money?

At election time the electorate are treated to a noisy banter of frantic greeting and white gloved hand waving and then....forgotten!

All the time living standards are steeply going downhill...

For Suga and LDP, opening the Olympics is the only card left for them to get support of people as the general election is coming in Autumn. That is why he sticks to the Olympics so strongly despite the danger of spreading corona.

@kurisupisu,

There haven't been truer words ever spoken or typed on Japan Today.

Even though I couldn't stand Suga for his press conferences while Abe was PM,I kind of started to feel sorry for him as a bloke out of his depth and being hung out to dry by the higher ups in the Nippon Kaigi.However,I recall his monotone or scripted responses to journalists questions and I recall why I disliked him so much.

What goes around comes around........in Japan it takes a lot longer.

This is a disgrace. Suga is not fit to be PM, the LDP is not fit to be a ruling party.

JCP majority tomorrow, plz.

Why doesn't an opposition party jump on this?

Great opportunity, surely!

Let's get rid of the LDP once and for all. This corruption is disgusting.

Let me guess, none of the nine ministry officials recall attending the meeting... or they have no recollection of matters discussed... or they didn't know Suga Seigo was related to now PM Suga.

They might as well all just wear t-shirts saying "You know you are going to vote for us anyway".

The meetings first came to light in reports earlier this month by weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun. It released online what it claimed to be an audio recording of a conversations between Seigo Suga, Akimoto and another Tohokushinsha official, in which the son repeatedly mentions satellite broadcasting.

Shukan Bunshun should get more appreciation for their muckraking ( in the best possible sense).

Unfortunately, they are expertly drowned out by mugging , gorging talents, idols, and meaningless minutiae in the media.

Remember it is illegal to bribe public officials, but not illegal to bribe private citizens!

'From a bribery case around 2-3 weeks ago!'

BertieWoosterToday  05:28 pm JST

Why doesn't an opposition party jump on this?

Perhaps they’d like the chance to put their snout in trough at some point in the future, too.

Or maybe they are already doing it and don’t want to draw attention to the practice.

Just some guesses...

This never ceases to depress me.

70 years of open LDP corruption, incompetence and malfeasance and the best and brightest minds in this great country can't put together a credible opposition party.

Democracy didn't happen here. We have a Noh drama of "elections", white gloves and solemn faces, but it's just the same as it was 300 years ago. Unaccountable, uninterested, trough-snuffling charlatans without a care in the world.

"What are you going to do - apply critical thought? Just get your vote in the LDP box and your hand in your pocket"

Suga's eldest son is feathering his nest, lobbying, PM Suga must step down.

I can't understand why many Japanese still support Suga. As long as Suga doesn't resign, the LDP will lose many seats in the next national election.

He should step down as of february 7th when his promise to get covid-19 under control failed. we are having people turn up as infected by corona even though they had no contact with anybody reported as having covid. and now his son is winning and dinning people even though there is a state of emergency flaming hypocrites. I may not have a vote but my wife does and we are not voting for LDP. She gets to cast it but I get to .... discuss who she votes for.

Who cares at this point. Literally every government family had done this around the world everyday. Officials were always being flatter by people hoping to do business with government and form connections. Why is anyone even surprise at this point? Literally every country does it.

Don't be so naive. Every large corporations had some kind of deal with their government. Being offered a expensive diner is nothing. These officials will only be in great trouble if they were caught purposely promising to aid these corporations by misusing their power. If that was caught in recording, things would be a lot more serious.

13 ministry officials wined and dined by Suga's son

I'm sure the English translation is wrong and it should read 13 ministry officials wined and dined buy Suga's son, or did they mean bought by Suga's son ?

Every Country has a swamp and they all need to be drained !!

Every govt is a corrupt bunch of ratbags who are looking after those who look after them, or can you show me one that is not that way ?

I challenge you to show me a govt that isn't rotten and full of swamp rats !

The results of the ministry's internal probe found that 11 of the 13 government officials have or are highly likely to have received favors from stakeholders in violation of the National Public Service Ethics Law.

Are they going to be arrested.

Bjorn - this article is about Japan.

The collusive swamp that floods govt here is all intrusive.

The saddest part of all of these blatant corrupt practices over decades by the ldp, is not the acts themselves or the bare face denials of any wrongdoing or knowledge of the acts. No it will be the elections later this year which will surely re-elect the partners in crime. Even if Suga doesn't survive this - no matter - because the machinations are in place to prop up another.

And no, that's not in of itself the sad part. The woe is for a blinded led electorate that will vote the swamp critters in again.

In a modern democracy - just how many scandals are needed for a public to realize that there's something seriously amiss.

How many?

@Bjorn spot on. All governments have these scandals.

Should Suga’s son be banned from holding public office in the future?

I might be mistaken, but that sure looks like bulletproof glass in the photo.

gary

Taniwaki received the largest amount of favors worth 118,000 yen, according to the ministry.

Communications minister Ryota Takeda also expressed regret that they had fanned public distrust. But he said the ministry does not believe the broadcasting administration has been affected by such favors.

How much would you need to pay Taniwaki to affect his independence, I wonder?

The reality is, even relatively small amounts (and this isn't) can affect people's judgement. This is particularly the case in Japan where reciprocity is central to the gift giving culture - receiving a gift places an obligation on the one receiving it.

There should be very strict controls on how much a public official can receive in benefits.

Who cares at this point. Biden son is still doing business with China. Literally every government family had done this around the world everyday. Officials were always being flatter by people hoping to do business with government and form connections. Why is anyone even surprise at this point? Literally every country does it.

What’s your point?

I love it how they tried to portray Suga as a simple man with no extravagant desires and all that crap. Turns out he's as rotten as the rest of them.

Nepotism and steak dinners...

Nothing will change until the Japanese public vote with their feet. Until then, the LDP will continue to act with impunity and treat the Japanese public as peasants. And why not? If you don't care and are ambivalent about what your leaders do when you have a vote, you can't complain when they pull crap like this. You keep voting them in.