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NewsvineOn Monday, Japanese Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka became the first cabinet-level official to take his own life since World War II in an episode rocking the nation’s political system.
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Matsuoka, who hanged himself in his Tokyo residence, was at the center of a corruption scandal and under investigation for the suspicious expenditures of his own office. The late agriculture minister was also suspected of wrongdoing because of his department’s involvement in suspicious contracts that were awarded to firms that were hired to build roads throughout Japan. Accusations of bid-rigging in the awarding of these contracts have grown into formal investigations of wrongdoing.
Matsuoka’s suicide came mere hours before he was to appear before Parliament to answer questions and explain why he received several large donations from some of the principal companies contracted by the Agriculture Ministry. Shinichi Yamazaki, a top executive of one of these companies, also took his life on Tuesday, one day after Matsuoka. Yamazaki jumped to his death from his condominium in Yokohama, near Tokyo.
In Japan, the bloody turn that the bid-rigging scandal has taken was met with a harsh reaction. Public anger against the nine-month-old government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intensified on Tuesday when reports emerged claiming that Matsuoka’s attempts to come clean had been cut short by his superiors. Abe firmly denied these rumors, but the Japanese public seems to be maintaining its disapproval of his performance in this affair.
Abe’s actions, now falling under scrutiny, include defending his agriculture minister against allegations of misappropriating funds — even though the ministry, housed in a building with free rent and utilities are free, reported huge utility expenses.
Moreover, when the bid-rigging scandal broke, Abe did not act quickly and forcefully. According to the Asahi Shimbun, which attacked Abe for his handling of the situation, this scandal goes deeper than basic political corruption. It underlines the systemic problem of how “bureaucrats landing cushy post-retirement jobs played a role in slicing up the public works pie.”
For Abe, the death of Matsuoka, who had never before held a cabinet-level position when he was appointed by Abe late last year, transforms an uncomfortable scandal into a serious political crisis. Japanese pollsters attribute a six percent drop in the popularity of Abe’s party to public dissatisfaction with the financial scandals. Most believe the suicides will only exacerbate these effects. The elections for the upper house of the Japanese parliament will take place in July, and the shadows extending from the Matsuoka scandals are threatening the performance of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated political life in postwar Japan.
Even if the Liberal Democrats are able to maintain their majority, it is unclear how extensively the Abe government’s agenda will be reshaped by the development of the financial scandals and suicides. Some of Abe’s major priorities have included the proposed removal of restraints on the Japanese military through constitutional amendments, and a more proactive role for Japan on the world stage. Since these priorities were introduced as Abe took the stage late last year, most have questioned whether he could find the political might to realize this agenda.
After July, the question may no longer apply. Tomoaki Iwai, who teaches politics at Tokyo’s Nihon University, sees the upcoming elections as a matter of political life or death for Shinzo Abe.
“Mr. Abe was made prime minister because he was someone seen as being able to win elections,” Professor Iwai told The New York Times. “If he loses, then he’s of no use to the party anymore.”
Contact Peter Durning at pdurning at stanford.edu
Credit: The Washington Post, the New York Times, The Asahi Shimbun