Doesn’t the name Moritomo Gakuen ring a bell? It should. Let me tell you about the Moritomo Gakuen scandal. It’s a story that reached the highest levels of Japanese politics.
Moritomo Gakuen is a private school operator. It became infamous in 2017. This was due to a political scandal involving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife, Akie.
The story of Moritomo Gakuen begins with Yasunori Kagoike. He started a kindergarten with a nationalist curriculum. Children recited the Imperial Rescript on Education daily. This practice was common in pre-war Japan.
The kindergarten sought to become an elementary school. Kagoike tried to buy government land in 2013. He couldn’t afford it at the time.
In 2015, he negotiated a lease with the option to buy. Akie Abe was named honorary principal of the planned elementary school. It was to be named Mizuho no Kuni.
The scandal erupted in February 2017. Asahi Shimbun reported a sweetheart deal. The government sold land to Moritomo Gakuen for a fraction of its value. The price was ¥134 million. The land was valued at ¥956 million.
The Ministry of Finance claimed industrial waste justified the discount. Cleaning up the waste would cost ¥819 million. But how the ministry calculated this cost remained unclear. The government even paid Moritomo Gakuen ¥131.76 million for decontamination. This reduced the government’s earnings to just ¥2 million.
Adding fuel to the fire, records of the transaction disappeared. The Ministry of Finance said they were destroyed. This followed government document retention laws.
Akie Abe resigned as honorary principal. Moritomo Gakuen removed her endorsement of the school. The endorsement praised its nationalistic moral education.
Prosecutors suspected fraud. They believed Kagoike and his wife falsified teacher and student numbers. They also inflated construction costs to get state subsidies. The couple was arrested in July on fraud charges.
Lawrence Repeta, a law professor, saw the scandal’s impact. He believed it influenced the timing of the 2017 general election.
Adding to Moritomo Gakuen’s woes, Osaka City sued the school. They demanded ¥61 million in improperly received day care subsidies.
In October 2017, Moritomo Gakuen declared bankruptcy. It sought to write off 97% of its ¥3 billion debt.
The Moritomo Gakuen scandal exposed more than just financial irregularities. It revealed deep divisions over education and nationalism in Japan. It tested Prime Minister Abe’s leadership. It left a lasting mark on Japanese politics. The story of Moritomo Gakuen remains a cautionary tale. It highlights the importance of transparency and accountability in government dealings.