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© KYODOKishida grilled over alleged gifts to IOC for Tokyo's Olympic bid
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gogogo
Clearly the IOC requires "gifts" in order to be selected. The problem is the money focused IOC.
dagon
LDP current and former politicians directly bribed or use Japan Inc. proxies like dentsu to sweeten the deal to the IOC to acquire the Olympic shenanigans during COVID to fill their own coffers at the expense of the populace symbolized by the empty stadiums.
Action News at 11, 2019.
deanzaZZR
These are odd gifts if this is a true statement. I'm confident IOC officials prefer cash.
plasticmonkey
Stop being such a weasel, Kishida. Investigate the allegations. Why in the world would Hase just make up the story?
Moonraker
The kimitsuhi (secret funds) is not subject to scrutiny or audit. The chief Cabinet secretary, who controls it, doesn't even have to get receipts. It's for him to spend as he sees fit. And bribes to anyone, from journalists to IOC members, are part of the funds' purpose. It's part of the organised corruption inherent in government.
Alfie Noakes
The old jokes are the best.
MarkX
These are odd gifts if this is a true statement. I'm confident IOC officials prefer cash.
deanzaZZR, I'm pretty sure that these albums and whatever else Japan used to bribe Olympic officials was on top of monetary bribes. This was just a sweetener to show that Japan was really thinking about each and every voter and would appreciate their vote for Tokyo!
David Brent
Isn’t one whole purpose of the Olympics to basically legitimize corruption?
Fighto!
The IOC - and the Olympics - is a rotten and corrupt organisation. It will be a wonderful world when one day the Olympics ceases to exist. No one is a bigger sports fanatic than me, but the Olympics nowadays is 100% about money and corruption. The "sport" is totally irrelevant.
kurisupisu
Kishida felt a slight flush as he was ‘grilled’ but that soon disappeared as he recalled that the voter base has chosen the same party for decades, no matter the scandal…
Aly Rustom
They were inappropriate and could cause misunderstandings, so I completely retract them."
"I would like to think about concrete responses after carefully considering the circumstances surrounding the retraction" of the governor's remarks.
Gotta love the way these idiots' mealy mouthed replies.
Yubaru
Just another day at work in politics of Japan. Behind the scenes money passing hands in brown envelopes, or under a layer of manju or rice cakes in a box!
Yubaru
HE spent 20 MILLION yen on albums? Yeah right, and I am the King of England!
shogun36
translation: “you got me dude, you got me. (Under his breath) Damn that was a good one……..psst, Tanaka, get me the hell out of here. book me on a 21 day “peace tour” to anywhere. You know the drill.”
I gotta admit, as much as Kishida is hated, he’s got tremendous balls to show his face anywhere in public, thinking everything is all G.
He's just asking for disaster to happen.
tpstokyo1
the IOC always gets what they want and cities left holding the bag. Always gifts plus the luxury suite for Bach during his stay at almost $50 USD a night.
0rei0
Something to tuck the brown envelopes into a little more discretely.
And yes, we already know that bribes were and are widespread in connection with the Olympics
Pacificpilot
As I have said before the Japanese have a saying called “bachi “. It means commit an immoral or illegal act and you will be punished. So the bribes ended with huge financial losses for Japanese businesses and government over the postponement of the Olympics with Covid restrictions.
Yubaru
Actually "bachi" 罰 ばち punishment; curse; retribution
Moonraker
But the losses were not incurred by a government that insisted it all went ahead over the voices of the people. The taxpayer shouldered the costs and the governments involved got off scot free. So there is no karma. Governments, legislative and executive, do what they like and the people suffer. As for businesses, well, I don't think they suffered much either.
virusrex
The only way to interpret this is that Hase thinks the comments were inappropriate because they reveal bribes that were supposed to remain secret, and that it could cause the misunderstanding that he is criticizing the people behind the bribes when in fact he is also part of them.
Fredrik
The IOC code of ethics???
Aoi Azuuri
corrupted LDP regime treats even bribery as if national confidential to only defend position of themselves.
factchecker
The IOC should be listed as a criminal organisation.
opheliajadefeldt
Is there any sport where corruption is not taking place? The whole world knows about these slimy corrupt officials but does nothing to stop it. Governments compete to see who can be the most corrupt. And if you think the IOC is bent, just look at FIFA, probably the worst of the bunch. I do not follow any sport but used to like things like the Tour de France, until that corrupt, drug taking American, stole 7 wins in a row. And he went on to make a fortune out of it.
0rei0
I think you missed at least one zero off that figure...
oyatoi
Just a fraction of that huge discretionary slush fund would signal, better late than never, that when it comes to priorities, Japan’s heart is in the right place. Sadly, instead of considering the bigger picture, unlike Germany with its open ended reparations and principled rejection of statute of limitations evasiveness, Japan continues to invite opprobrium upon itself.
TrevorPeace
Gotta love that phrase, "secret funds". Nothing much "secret" about them. Try that in any other first-world country and see what happens. Anyone tied to these funds should be in jail.