The Kake issue is a "manufactured allegation. A big deal in the Diet for more than half a year. 2017 was a year in which the deterioration of the press was recognized as a significant problem.

January 30, 2018
The following is from an article by Koichi Hagiuda, a member of the House of Representatives, Acting Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party, and former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, published in the monthly magazine HANADA.
Emphasis in the text other than the headline is mine.

The Kake issue is a "manufactured allegation.
A big deal in the Diet for more than half a year 
2017 was a year in which the deterioration of the press was recognized as a significant problem.
Among them, the deterioration of newspaper and television coverage, which still has much influence on the public, is particularly glaring. 
It is natural for politicians to occasionally be subjected to harsh criticism, but it should be based on facts.
However, in the case of the "MoriKake" issue that made headlines last year, the media was rife with factually incorrect labeling and image manipulation and reported innocent people as if they had done something wrong. 
It is unfair to lump the two issues together as "MoriKake." In the case of the Moritomo Gakuen issue, certain areas, such as land management, need to be reviewed by the government and the administration.
However, the Kake Gakuen issue is a "manufactured allegation" itself.

I had no idea that Kakei Gakuen's board chairman, Kotaro Kake, who is establishing a new veterinary school in Imabari City, and Prime Minister Abe happened to be close friends and that this would become an issue and cause a big fuss in the Diet for more than six months. 
In retrospect, it is true that the government, including myself, made a mistake in our initial response.
I was the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary at the time. When the Kake issue first came under scrutiny, the opposition parties were saying things that were so far out of line that it is true that we have given them a curt answer, "What the heck are they talking about? 
However, in hindsight, we should have been more sincere in explaining to the public, not to the opposition party members in front of us, but to the people beyond them, that these were not allegations. 
On the other hand, the Kake Gakuen issue is not a system in which we can enter into the application and approval process and push some deliberate agenda.
In other words, it was the common understanding of all concerned, including private-sector experts, that there was no room for Prime Minister Abe to bring in his relationships and tamper with them to gain an advantage over his acquaintances.
Therefore, we did not consider the "Prime Minister's intention" document on the front page of the May 17, 2017 edition, which the Asahi Shimbun reported as if it were "conclusive evidence" to be a problem at all. 
It had already been reported in April that I was an honorary visiting professor at Chiba Science University, a Kake Gakuen affiliate. So even when this document came out, those involved were joking and laughing, saying, "So the highest level in the Prime Minister's Office is Hagiuda after all.
However, the opposition parties and even the media twisted the facts. They created impressions based on this document and the testimony of former Vice Minister of Education Kihei Maekawa about it, as if it were "conclusive evidence that the administration was distorted through the push of the Prime Minister or some other discovery. 
Of course, there is nothing wrong with the media covering the questions of opposition party members or the opposition parties covering the issues raised by the press in the Diet.
However, we must not twist the facts.
Once you have raised the issue, you are responsible for reporting "what happened due to our coverage and questioning. 
It has been more than 10 months since the initial report, but it goes without saying whether the Asahi Shimbun has fulfilled this responsibility.
To date, no reporter from the Asahi Shimbun has even come to me personally to interview me about the documents concerning me.

The Story of "Hagiuda is Evil"　
At one time, I was pursued by the opposition to the point where they demanded that I testify.
But what has happened now?
No new facts or conclusive evidence of my involvement has emerged from the opposition or the media.
The calls for witnesses to be subpoenaed have completely gone unheard.
Yet, there are no reports that "the allegations have been cleared."
Many people's only impression is that "Hagiuda seems to have done something wrong with the Kake issue," and the situation has been left in limbo.　
For example, during the lower house election in October last year, I was yelled at for explaining the Kake issue when speaking on the street.
After the speech, I approached the person who yelled at me and said, "I will explain it to you, so please tell me something I don't understand." To which the person replied, "I don't know 'something,' but you must be doing something wrong and lying. That's what they said on TV.　
Even those who follow the news a little more closely say, "Hagiuda is a close associate of Prime Minister Abe and has been a visiting professor at a Kake Gakuen-affiliated school and is now a visiting professor emeritus as well. Because he is a person of interest, he must have exerted some pressure or influence on the establishment of the new veterinary school," and they have come to believe the story painted by the opposition parties and the media.　
However, as I pointed out earlier, we are not allowed to get involved in the approval of special zone applications.
There is no fact that I gave any instructions regarding this matter, but even if the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary had instructed us to hasten the procedures for a matter for which the policy for a national strategic special zone had been decided, wouldn't it be out of line to call that pressure?

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