politics

Abe's office knew of possible problems with land deal documents: Suga

41 Comments
By Takashi Umekawa and Kiyoshi Takenaka

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A suicide and a top level resignation relating to the doctoring of 14 documents (Nikkei reporting) and still no attempts to accept responsibility?

Lies, obfuscations and dishonesty are hallmarks of Japanese politics.

What else is being hidden and secret from the electorate ?

19 ( +23 / -4 )

Suga himself was told on March 6 and thought that his deputy told Abe about the matter the same day, he told reporters.

Something this big and he let's his deputy tell Abe about it? That's bs all the way. Suga is covering his own butt here.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

What else is being hidden and secret from the electorate ?

Do you live in Japan? If you did, and you watched local news, or read newspapers, you would find, over time, that there are all sorts of things kept from the general public. Local news is often fluff reporting, well down here anyway, unless it's US military related.

So no one who has been here for any length of time should be surprised that there are things "hidden and secret" being kept from the general public.

Hell Suga controls a huge slush fund to be used at his discretion for things that Abe wants done or he thinks are needed, and there is little if any public accounting.

14 ( +18 / -4 )

Abe and his wife, Suga, Aso, are all responsible for the death of this man, in addition to their criminal responsibility for the illegal land sale as well.

Manslaughter charges for them all. No more BS. This is a serious incident. Someone has died because of this. It's got to stop. Abe in prison, NOW.

13 ( +18 / -5 )

So now, on top of Abe and his wife being connected through this, there is the death of a man because of it. Time for Abe not only to resign, but go to prison. He won't do either, of course.

In fact, when September comes, everyone has forgotten about this and he will secure another 3 year term.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Then who is going to literally "run" city hall?

I didn't mean that literally, of course. There must have been dozens of people involved in this, in the LDP, local government, the finance ministry and so on. Dozens!

Oh, and why have the moderators removed comments regarding online LDP trolls from MarkX and my comments? It's hardly a secret that the LDP have a small army of trolls commenting on the Japanese media and not surprising a few can write enough English to comment on here or other English language forums.

10 ( +14 / -4 )

We have to admit we Japanese are not good at fighting corruption. We are not as good as Korea. Our nature is to protect our leader and remain loyal to them even when they’re wrong.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

I think its pretty obvious right now to anyone sharing a brain cell with someone else that Abe, Aso and Suga are all a part of this. They knew, and they are trying really hard to soften the landing. If the Japanese public lets them off the hook and the opposition lets up that's it. Goodbye democracy in Japan. Or whatever TRACE there was of it. For the PM and his close buddy the Finance Minister to falsify documents and not go to jail is shameful. They should be in jail. But to allow them to continue without even suspending them from office?? That's just beyond comprehension.

Consider that across the pond the First female President of South Korea is in jail right now for very similar charges. Japan has a long way to go to catch up to SK. This is embarrassing.

"This is complete sophistry and a desecration of parliament," he was quoted by the Kyodo news agency as saying.

He's right.

8 ( +13 / -5 )

Ha ha, if the office of the Prime Minister knew about the alterations, of course they must’ve notified Abe about it! If not, I would say that the Abe administration should resign anyway because lack of transparency and efficiency.

Well, when you knew your wife was the honerary principal of the school, you should’ve seen this coming! Like, a sharp discount to the school your wife is a honarary principal at, should’ve been enough to get you moving in the first place!

Now you stand there as a question-mark, trying to delete evidence. Is that how Japanese traditions work these days?! Kick him, Japan!

Haven’t you had enough?

7 ( +11 / -4 )

Strikebreaker555Today  08:06 am JST

Well, when you knew your wife was the honerary principal of the school, you should’ve seen this coming! 

Right, it's incredibly stupid of a leading politician not to know everything about the sort of people his wife was associating with, and who wants an idiot running the country? Or, Abe did actually know everything and it all had his approval, tacit or otherwise. In which case, he knows what to do - resign like he promised he would.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

So now, on top of Abe and his wife being connected through this, there is the death of a man because of it. Time for Abe not only to resign, but go to prison. He won't do either, of course.

7 ( +13 / -6 )

Abe has my vote and my support, there is a reason why his been in power for longer then any other PM in Japanese history. He will be realected again for a 3rd term, live with it and deal with it. He won't resign either for something this stupid.

Do you have a vote? Abe said repeatedly he would resign if he or his wife were shown to have been involved. It's cleat that they are both involved, but he won't resign. Do you want a scheming, dishonest liar to lead Japan?

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Progress involves facing mistakes, addressing them and moving on, none of witch this regime are capable of doing. Old men trying to relive a fictitious past are driving the country to disaster.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

and all those faceless bureaucrats who must have known what was going on? Arrest them now!

Arrest them? Then who is going to literally "run" city hall?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I think the suicide should be looked at as murder in this case. What a shame.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

The vet school is not forgotten just on the back burner, it took over a year for the Osaka school scandal to be fully exposed. And it involved suicde and resignations of career beauracracts. In a democracy that's a huge amount of collateral damage for supporting a agender that's not supported by the majority.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Stinks to high heaven. Abe is a crook and should disappear as soon as possible,

4 ( +9 / -5 )

Everybody has already forgotten about the Vet school scandal so in a month or two this will be forgotten tooo. But the family of the guy who died will never forget.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

AlexBecuToday 11:49 am JST      Funny how so many none Japanese with their bias views want Abe to be gone so Japan can be in a weak state again.

Funny how so many of the people demonstrating against Abe /Aso Inc., in all the videos / photos in the media I've seen, are Japanese.

Funny how so many of the media commentators I've read or listened to are speaking strongly out against Abe / Aso  Inc's involvement, are Japanese.

Funny how so many of the people I've spoken with about this affair, who hold very cynical opinions of Abe / Aso Inc, are Japanese.

Funny how so many people want Japan to be weak again.

World's a Funny place - eh!

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Hmm... this is from The Japan Times article published yesterday (March 15th):

At a Diet meeting Wednesday, Abe said he had been briefed about the alterations on Sunday. 

If that meeting was on Wednesday 14th, I assume he would have been briefed on Sunday 11th. That's a bit strange if Suga and others knew about all this as early as March 6th and thought Abe knew as well, isn't it?

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Yubaru, the nation has to follow laws. There are 100 million Japanese, how many do you need to run cities ?

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Abe is a failure. Aso is a joke. The LDP should be disbanded for the sake of the country.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

What else is being hidden and secret from the electorate ?

Exactly kurisupisu! Many on this site keep saying that this is only a small land deal and that it is no reason to sack a prime minister, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. How about the deal that the veterinary school got, another friend of Abe's. There is rot there and it must be removed. And as for the economy, if Abe is sacked, things will just keep on working the way they have before, there will be no major collapse. Perhaps the new gov't might even try and do something to help the poor working people who are being hit from all sides with tax increases, inflation and stagnant wages!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Possible? Are they so incompetent that a reality becomes Possible? They all know what happened. Now to save their jobs are fudging facts counting on apathy and the usual regrettable, confusion excuse for blatant fraud.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Abe (and his cronies) could well be on the ropes about this one....

I'm afraid you are too optimistic. Even if Abe gets forced out of the office, nothing will change.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

AlexBecuToday 11:49 am JST

Funny how so many none Japanese with their bias views want Abe to be gone so Japan can be in a weak state again.

You haven't heard about those thousands of Japanese people protesting over this? There are even LDP politicians calling for Aso, if not Abe himself, to be held accountable.

Abe is not responsible for every single person working in the government. You have hundreds of people employed.

Right, and this issue directly involved his wife, not a bunch of people in some provincial area that he would never know or meet. Don't you think it would have been smart to keep a closer eye on what was going on?

This is also small and insignificant of an issue...

That a man has killed himself over. Is that insignificant as well?

2 ( +8 / -6 )

This is not about Abe only. This is about LDP, this is about Japan, this is about laws, and this is about justice. The link is direct, the case is simple, the man was dead, the lie was written. What if Abe asks you go to war tomorrow, he can give you thousand reasons. You trust him, or not ?

2 ( +8 / -6 )

Abe (and his cronies) could well be on the ropes about this one. Queue the distraction in 3... 2...

I'm afraid you are too optimistic. Even if Abe gets forced out of the office, nothing will change.

I think my comment was misunderstood. My comment was not about whether or not justice will be served to them. In all honesty, I think they'll get away with it - especially with the help of a public distraction. We will see some big, bold news soon that will take the heat of the LDP again.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

The bureaucrats have zero initiative, someone gave them orders to delete the references to these people; either directly, or more likely indirectly, probably reading between the lines of an opaque conversation. One of the benefits of honne and tatemae interpretations of Japanese.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Japan should follow South Korea's lead when they prosecuted and jailed their former president...never mind the bows and apologies...ONE law for all... NO ONE should be ABOVE the law be them Emperor or beggar !

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It is a criminal case. There is no need to investigate any further, just arrest them.

Fraud and conspiracy to defraud, surely. The Kagoikes have been in custody for about 9 months now. What about the Abes, the LDP in Osaka, the LDP in Tokyo and all those faceless bureaucrats who must have known what was going on? Arrest them now!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

trinklets2Today 01:19 pm JST

I maybe naive in my opinion but I just think that schools esp with religious inclinations when buying public land do enjoy some kind of discounted pricing. It just so happened that the one who did it is friends with the administration.

The discount was way in excess of what other religiously-affiliated schools would have received, which appears to be due to Moritomo Gakuen's links with the Abes, and the fact that it was more affiliated to ultra right-wing nationalism than any religion.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

It is a criminal case. There is no need to investigate any further, just arrest them.

0 ( +15 / -15 )

In a better world for Japan, a judge would be nominated and justice would be sought, whoever is in the guilt.

If you Japan, just pull the rug and throw your mess under. Done.

Abe and wife on fire here just because some other LDP members with high historical profiles as successors (ex : Fumio Kishida) are asking for their time now, or at least trying.

No change in the way to deal with corruption .

As other said before me, Japanese on average are politically immature (my wife is) and protection of the group (here as country) prevails.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

I maybe naive in my opinion but I just think that schools esp with religious inclinations when buying public land do enjoy some kind of discounted pricing. It just so happened that the one who did it is friends with the administration. As almost all kinds of religion have built schools not only as source of fund but a way to let others know their beliefs and recruit new believers. So much with the bashing of PM Abe. Look at other countries like my native country and the US who went off board in looking for change in leadership. The Olympics is just a couple of yrs. I just think that "scandal" is just overly magnified since Japan has that clean image and people tend to feed on scandals to pass their boring time!

0 ( +6 / -6 )

AlexBecu: "Abe has my vote and my support,"

I doubt you can even vote, and if you engage in political activities as a non-Japanese, you are breaking the law.

"...there is a reason why his been in power for longer then any other PM in Japanese history."

Yes, a broken system. And he hasn't been in power longer than any other PM in Japanese history YET. In fact, his first reign, which was a pretty good indicator of how bad a leader he was, is I think the second shortest in PM history. His reign is the longest in RECENT history because of the musical chairs game they play here. You know who wants the PM seat next? Aso... again.

"He will be realected again for a 3rd term, live with it and deal with it. He won't resign either for something this stupid."

For something "this stupid", he has lied, and been caught in the lie, then lied again because he won't resign as promised if caught in the lie. So, you're supporting a liar, hypocrite, and corrupt individual. You proud of that?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Abe (and his cronies) could well be on the ropes about this one. Queue the distraction in 3... 2...

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

The Vet school is more of an example of cronyism than Moritomo perhaps. With Moritomo, Abe may also have been a little pawn, like Sagawa, asked a favor and obligated to toe the Nihon Kaigi line.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The vast majority of Japanese are "politicly immature". They just don't care. We need to stop judging what is happening here and comparing it to what would happen in any other developed democratic country.

Exactly! If only Japanese were "politically mature" like in the US and UK, they would make informed, intelligent decisions like Trump and Brexit! Silly Japanese for not going down that route!

It's hilarious so many foreign visitors getting so bitter over Abe, there's no chance he will be resigning over this garbage. It's a fever dream that will never happen

-2 ( +8 / -10 )

The vast majority of Japanese are "politicly immature". They just don't care. We need to stop judging what is happening here and comparing it to what would happen in any other developed democratic country.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

Funny how so many none Japanese with their bias views want Abe to be gone so Japan can be in a weak state again. Abe is not responsible for every single person working in the government. You have hundreds of people employed.

This is also small and insignificant of an issue, dealing with land deal for a school to be built. Abe has my vote and my support, there is a reason why his been in power for longer then any other PM in Japanese history. He will be realected again for a 3rd term, live with it and deal with it. He won't resign either for something this stupid.

-7 ( +7 / -14 )

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