It’s not just Abe’s judgement that’s at issue. He may have broken the law.
The real estate donation, and the lack of documentation for it, could be a violation of Japan’s political funds laws.
If Prime Minister Abe exerted influence on the Ministry of Finance to lower the estimated price of the land, he could be guilty of violating Japan’s Laws Prohibiting Mediation Remuneration.
In simpler terms, it’s illegal for a public official to use his or her power to benefit a third party for a reward. Bur if there was any reward for Abe in the deal, it’s highly unlikely that it was monetary but rather “spiritual.” Such is his sympathy with the school’s educational philosophy.
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After testifying at the Japanese Parliament, Kagoike held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan. Kagoike distributed to the press a fax from Akie Abe’s secretary to him dated November 17, 2015, 17:04 hours, which seems to demonstrate that she was lobbying on his behalf to have the Ministry of Finance lower the price of the land and give him a better deal on the site of his future school.
Did she also speak to her husband about it? No one is sure.
When pressed by a reporter as to whether he believed that Prime Minister Abe had directly intervened on his behalf in the land deal, Kagoike minced his words: “I believe that people around him may have taken it upon themselves to do it…possibly [several] bureaucrats in the Ministry of Finance.”
The word he used to explain the shady circumstances, sontaku, is difficult to translate directly, but it’s about reading the unspoken feelings of another and acting upon them.
The mainstream Japanese media is surprisingly uninterested in the details of why the land was discounted and has been focusing on tangential issues―such as Abe’s handpicked Minister of Defense, Tomomi Inada, lying about her connections to Kagoike.
The reluctance of the major Japanese media to focus on the land discount is perhaps indicative of another issue.
Takashi Uesugi, one of Japan’s best known independent investigative journalists, summarizes the problem eloquently.
“Most major Japanese media firms also have their headquarters on land bought from the government―with the help of the Ministry of Finance―at steep discounts. Looking too deeply into the Moritomo Gakuen problem would be opening a Pandora’s box.”
At present Kagoike has withdrawn his application to open the school. The land will return back to the government. But maybe if he’s lucky, when the heat dies down, he’ll get to open it somewhere else.
As for Prime Minister Abe―yet another scandal involving a private school operator with ties to him and dubious government land dealings has emerged―this time in Okayama Prefecture.
Abe really seems to have problems with education.
Who can forget that Abe’s previous handpicked minister of education had strange ties to the yakuza and a chain of sexual massage parlors, some with school girl themes?
Perhaps it’s time for Abe to step down, chill out, get high with his wife and enjoy Japan’s traditional pot culture, commingling with the gods. That would be good for him and probably good for Japan.
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