Opposition steps up calls for Abe's wife to testify at Diet over land deal

If Abe has nothing to hide, let his wife testify. The longer this goes on, the worse things are going to get for him and this current government.

Yubaru, if Abe has nothing to hide, then there would be no deletion of Akies' name in the document and the man wouldn't have to honorably die for this.

Abe should let his wife testify, there’s no point blocking the opposition’s requests on this.

Im guessing she is probably the only one involved in this.

On Wednesday, following Sagawa's testimony, Abe reiterated that he was not involved in the land sale. "I have said neither I nor my wife were involved. Now it is time for the public to make a judgment."

How can the public make a judgement listening Sagawa's testimony or what PM Abe and his wife not involved in the land sale　from his mouth? It's suspicious roundabout story not really disclosed. How can public to make judgement if the Public Prosecutor’s Office is still checking the sequence of events? My head is plenty of ( ???? ) what Abe prove he + his wife not involved.

Alexandre T. IshiiToday  08:24 am JST

On Wednesday, following Sagawa's testimony, Abe reiterated that he was not involved in the land sale. "I have said neither I nor my wife were involved. Now it is time for the public to make a judgment."

Abe wants the people to decide now?

He pledged once again to carry out "a thorough investigation" into the falsification of the ministry's records.

So how the people supposed to make a judgement until this "thorough investigation" he has promised unearths all the details of the scandal?

Now it is time for the public to make a judgment.

Tine to go, I say.

He pledged once again to carry out "a thorough investigation" into the falsification of the ministry's records.

How about resign instead, rather than try to make the document meddling the main issue when it is the cronyism itself that is at the root of it all.

No one is this dumb, Abe.

fxgaiToday  08:43 am JST

"Now it is time for the public to make a judgment."

Tine to go, I say.

I think that's what the public would decide if Abe were actually serious and not just coming out with serious-sounding platitudes, but he would of course ignore any such judgment unless it was in an election that cost the LDP a lot of Diet seats.

how the people supposed to make a judgement until this "thorough investigation" he has promised unearths all the details of the scandal?

The government strategy appears to be to make out that it was all just finance ministry ‘sontaku’, and they knew nothing about it, and the document manipulation was just the finance ministry trying to cover over their tracks because of their initial indulgence in ‘sontaku’

That the finance ministry document manipulation appears to suggest government involvement to hide Akie’s involvement, is just pure and unfortunate coincidence.

Abe is using his pointing finger, just like Trump does. Did he learn that from Trump? On the one hand, totally gay Gokai is sympathetic with his wife because she participated in the Tokyo gay Pride parade a couple of years ago. On the other hand, those incriminating lines didn't erase themselves.

fxgaiToday  08:51 am JST

The government strategy appears to be to make out that it was all just finance ministry ‘sontaku’, and they knew nothing about it...

Of course, the classic LDP "blame my underlings, I had nothing to do with it" routine. Faithful serfs might keep falling for that but no one else is.

fxgaiToday  08:43 am JST

No one is this dumb, Abe.

No? Look at all the "Abe's the best PM in ages, we need him to protect Japan, he shouldn't quit over a silly affair like this, etc etc etc" kind of comments that have been posted online. There still seem to be plenty of gullible tools who will accept any inane rubbish Abe comes out with.

If he has nothing to hide, he should let his wife testify. Furthermore the LDP shouldn’t be able to prevent it.

Another day, another desperate attempt by the opposition at clutching at straws. One good thing that has come from this "scandal" is that we now know the opposition is wholly unfit to govern any time in the near future. They are one-dimensional and running around clueless

There still seem to be plenty of gullible tools who will accept any inane rubbish Abe comes out with.

You're right. I stand corrected.

Another day, more witless, repetitive generalisations from pro-LDP trolls and sock puppets. Still, I can't imagine anyone in the LDP being dumb enough to pay them for writing such garbage.

we now know the opposition is wholly unfit to govern any time in the near future

Yeah, but is Abe? Put aside the cronyism mess and look at their governance - yet another record spending budget was just passed yesterday by those clowns, and the primary budget balance goal has been dropped.

Christopher GlenToday  09:41 am JST

Furthermore the LDP shouldn’t be able to prevent it.

Of course not. That would be like letting defence layers choose the judge, jury and prosecutors. Who knows though - they might not want to prevent it if it limits the damage to the party. It could be they're willing to throw the Abes under the bus if it helps them hold on to seats, especially ones they haven't won with rock solid majorities.

'Speaking Under oath.' Do people really think that means telling the truth? They'll twist and turn and do anything to avoid doing that. Sagawa wouldn't comment on most of the accusations, including why the alterations were made for fear of being prosecuted, which suggests that he was indeed complicit in the deals. And now he has retired...

At least he isn't asleep in this picture........

we now know the opposition is wholly unfit to govern

Completely irrelevant. But I suppose that means we have two parties that are unfit to govern.

Good to see that the opposition is doing something, even though it's a mindless pet project with no results. The clearer minded will wait for the official investigation results I think, far more trustworthy

@akie. Actually, so far 2 are dead.

Im guessing she is probably the only one involved in this

If you if ever lived in Japan you'll know that to get anything done you have to have the coordination of many different departments lots of papers signed and permission from the top so I would bet you that everybody was involved

GoodlucktoyouToday 

@akie. Actually, so far 2 are dead.

Who is the second? Another fall guy?

DarmstadtToday 11:11 am JST

Good to see that the opposition is doing something, even though it's a mindless pet project with no results. The clearer minded will wait for the official investigation results I think, far more trustworthy

Is that the official investigation conducted by the government, i.e. the ruling parties? Yes, I'm sure it will be more trustworthy.

Is that the official investigation conducted by the government, i.e. the ruling parties? Yes, I'm sure it will be more trustworthy.

An official government investigation or unsubstantiated and baseless conspiracy theories thrown around by a bitter and divided opposition desperate for relevance?

Um.. Yeah.. The proper investigation wins hands down. Maybe it would be different in Trump's America, but thankfully not in Japan

fxgaiToday 10:00 am JST

we now know the opposition is wholly unfit to govern any time in the near future

Yeah, but is Abe? Put aside the cronyism mess and look at their governance - yet another record spending budget was just passed yesterday by those clowns, and the primary budget balance goal has been dropped.

Well, it does look as if criticising the opposition is very easy but offering a credible defence of the government is a bit more of a stretch. Ironic, isn't it, that those who say the opposition does nothing but criticise the government do nothing much themselves except criticise the opposition. Not saying the criticisms aren't valid, but I would really be interested in reading robust arguments in support of the Abe administration. No one seems to be able to provide any.

DarmstadtToday 12:19 pm JST

An official government investigation or unsubstantiated and baseless conspiracy theories thrown around by a bitter and divided opposition desperate for relevance?

Um.. Yeah.. The proper investigation wins hands down.

Conducted by members of the same party as the Prime Minister, i.e. one of the main people under suspicion in this affair, or people appointed by them? And you think they would be 100% impartial? I think the kind of "proper" investigation Abe has in mind is a whitewash.

Japan should also investigate whether companies like Cambridge Analytica , that are quite often hired by opposition parties in different countries, to destabilise the ruling government , are involved in Japan in the present controversy to destabilise the government of PM Abe, who has repeatedly denied that neither he nor his wife Akie is involved in the land deal with the school operator Moritomo Gakuen in Osaka and promised to carry out through investigation into the falsification of Finance Ministry's records. Opposition must wait for the out come of Ministry's investigation.

Before going further with he said, she said and who said what... get the Tax office and Land office to investigate the local offices and determine exactly what happened.

Abe's wife as with many world leader's wives get honored and taken advantage of by private businesses. That does not mean she personally got involved and used political power. She has no real power to move government officials other than being married to Abe. If the lower government official did take action to "please" the school or some one other than the school, then it is still a local problem.

The problem is the land deal and that is not yet fully investigated. Meanwhile, the school and the local government is getting away without being fully investigated. No one is taking responsibility for that problem at the place it happened.

B.l. SharmaToday 12:38 pm JST

Japan should also investigate whether companies like Cambridge Analytica , that are quite often hired by opposition parties in different countries, to destabilise the ruling government , are involved in Japan in the present controversy to destabilise the government of PM Abe,

That's imaginative, well done. However Cambridge Analytica gets involved on behalf of right-wing groups in other countries. I don't see them wanting to help centrists and liberals, do you?

...who has repeatedly denied that neither he nor his wife Akie is involved in the land deal with the school operator Moritomo Gakuen in Osaka and promised to carry out through investigation into the falsification of Finance Ministry's records.

And you believe absolutely everything that Shinzo Abe says, don't you.

Compared to the corruption, abuses of power, and crimes committed by politicians and the government in other so called developed nations around the world, this alleged land sale is nothing and wouldn't even make the front page. The amount of false outrage and virtue signalling here is comical and quite embarrassing

I'm not against LDP nor Abe administration, never to say anti or hater---I just don't like to follow their abusive ways to transmit the public, the medias and me! The leaders making every citizen silly. As a matter of fact, it's not only in Japan...

How much longer do we have to hear about unproven claims against Abe and his cabinet? I am against the LDP but this is not the way to oust the LDP from power.

I implore the opposition to present concrete evidence, as each day wasted like this just weakens them

But Sagawa refused dozens of times to testify on details of the falsification of Finance Ministry documents relating to the scandal, deepening suspicion about the land deal.

Why would he refuse to testify?

Is it wrong to query this?

MerryanneToday  02:14 pm JST

Compared to the corruption, abuses of power, and crimes committed by politicians and the government in other so called developed nations around the world, this alleged land sale is nothing and wouldn't even make the front page.

Nothing? Shinzo Abe promised to resign if he was found to be involved. Why would he resign over "nothing"?

HallowedToday 02:27 pm JST

How much longer do we have to hear about unproven claims against Abe and his cabinet? I am against the LDP but this is not the way to oust the LDP from power.

That won't happen. Abe might be forced out but there won't be a general election. The way things are going if the LDP go into the next lower house election under a different leader I think they'll still win.

I implore the opposition to present concrete evidence, as each day wasted like this just weakens them

How could they get the evidence? They can only keep pushing for all the facts to come out. Abe's not exactly doing himself any favours by failing to present convincing denials either.

How much longer do we have to hear about unproven claims against Abe and his cabinet?

Don’t you think it is odd that documents surrounding the allegations were illegally altered (leading some forced to abide to commit suicide), in such a way as to be more consistent with Abe’s claims that his wife wasn’t involved and he’d resign if it were proven otherwise?

At the very least, you’d have to concede that the actions taken by the Ministry give the strong impression of government involvement / orders.

It may be that someone independently ordered the documents altered, not to help them but to make it look like there was a government cover up - that someone has attempted to frame Abe / Aso.

But if so who could have such power?

Assuming there is no fire here despite all the smoke makes no sense.

Opinion polls suggest that the opposition is getting a lot of traction out of this, Abe’s support is way down, again.

"They" have safely "disposed of" the records pertaining to the land sale. The Japanese are sometimes erroneously characterized as "emotional" and not valuing "logic", but they have given lie to such assertions by once again ruthlessly expunging every scrap of incriminating evidence and strictly enforcing the code of "omerta". Still, the "perfect crime" is hard to pull off so if anything or anybody has been overlooked, Abe goose could be cooked. Akie may yet be Abe's Achilles heel.

Here’s hoping. The issue shouldn’t be allowed to go away till Akie takes the stand.