Political Violence that Shakes the Foundations of a Law-Abiding Nation

8/11/2023
Text: Satoru TANAKA, Japan, Researcher and Translator

“Suspicious death of ex husband of high ranking government official wife and suspicion that the same high ranking official was negotiating the case (Part II)” (*The preceding text is the "note" post on 7/31/2023)

On July 6, 2023, a weekly magazine scooped an incident.  Since then, the same magazine has published scoops every week.  On SNS, this is causing a big fuss as a big incident that shakes the foundation of the rule of law nation. However, since the conventional media such as terrestrial TV and major
newspapers are silent, there is a phenomenon that the details of the incident do not penetrate to the people who do not use the Internet very much.  In a democratic country, information should be shared with all citizens, but there is a "distortion" in information diffusion.  

The contents of the incident are as follows.  There is suspicion that the wife of a high ranking government official was involved in the suspicious death of her ex husband, and that her current husband (a high ranking government official) tried to cover up the incident.

This high ranking official is so shrewd that he is rumored to be the power of the shadow and plays the role of organizing many policies and raising them to the prime minister.  Prime Minister Kishida is also a person who has full trust.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the leading opposition party, requested that high ranking government official attend a hearing to be held in the Diet on August 1, and also invited the Cabinet Secretariat and the National Police Agency.  However, high ranking government official were absent, and officials from the Cabinet Secretariat and the National Police Agency provided inadequate responses.

On the other hand, the situation surrounding the government is extremely bad.  A combination of scandals and policy missteps have caused the party's approval ratings to plummet.  Government officials whom the Prime Minister relies on go in and out of the back door of the prime minister' s office for 
fear of being pursued by the media.  The government is dysfunctional.

No matter how you look at it, the Kishida administration is in a state of no success.  Therefore, the prime minister is considering renewing the members of the cabinet at an early stage to overcome the predicament.   Some speculate that the Cabinet reshuffle will take place in early or mid September at the earliest.

Perhaps the media's inaction has paid off, but the affairs of high ranking government official remain elusive to the common people.  Intelligent people are very concerned about this state of affairs.  This is because the silence of media, who should monitor power and denounce wrongdoing, creates a sense of déjà vu of the World War II social situation.  One of the reasons for the outbreak of the previous war was that the media flattered the military and misled the public.  This fact is undeniable to historians.

So far, apart from some news agencies in Asia, major overseas media have not reported on this major scandal.  The expatriates in the field must be sending hot news, but what are the headquarters desks afraid of?  I don't want people to say, ``The Japanese government is denying the foul play.  ''  We keep believing journalist's grit, even if it's about other countries.

There is also bright material.  We now have better means.  It is the world of the Internet where individual citizens can send information.  No tyrant or agency can stop all information.  If such a person betrays the people's trust, it will be a stain that cannot be erased, and will forever be criticized by the people.  It clings to one's children, grandchildren, and even to descendants. To put it in an exaggerated way, the record will continue to remain until the end of the universe that we have never seen.

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