The Prime Minister, the Mother, the Aide and the "Scandal"

Image of the "1950's Akira Kurosawa’s Scandal movie**"

Akira Kurosawa’s Scandal was a tough description of the

rising power of the Japanese press and their practices

in the newly-Americanised postwar Japan of 1950.

Kurosawa was outraged by the gutter press actions,

where “personal privacy is never respected”, and by how

the public’s voyeuristic tendency to delve deeper into

the lives of celebrities only encouraged this

disrespect. Stirred to broaden his film’s scope,

Kurosawa made the film a study of personal honor, one

which highlights the need for ordinary individuals to

speak out against injustice and corruption.

Hatoyama, a Bridgestone heir and money politics,

through the Japanese media prism: "It has been

reported, it is believed, according to the sources, he

had trusted the former aide". Anybody sure of something

here or is it an other Philistine instigation?

Quotes:

"Prosecutors have begun considering questioning Prime

Minister Yukio Hatoyama's mother, 87, over an alleged

political donations scandal involving him, sources

close to the issue said Friday.

It has been reported that Hatoyama received a total of

900 million yen from his mother over five years up to

2008 and some of the money may have been recorded as

donations from fictitious donors in his political funds

reports, the sources say.

A special squad of the Tokyo District Public

Prosecutors Office is believed to have decided to ask

her how she started giving the funds to Hatoyama,

president of the Democratic Party of Japan who became

prime minister in September, according to the sources.

Meanwhile, the prosecutors have questioned a former

policy secretary of Hatoyama on a voluntary basis over

the allegations, the sources said.

The former secretary, who was dismissed from the

secretarial job in July with the dissolution of the

House of Representatives, served as treasurer of

Hatoyama's fund-management organization.

He is believed to have denied any involvement in the

alleged false declarations in the prime minister's

political funds reports.

The special squad is examining the source of more than

300 million yen that it believes was falsely declared

in Hatoyama's political funds reports as well as how

the former policy secretary had divided

responsibilities with another state-paid aide who was

in charge of accounting.

''The accounting of the fund-management body was

controlled by the former state-paid secretary,'' the

former policy secretary told Kyodo News earlier.

Hatoyama said Friday that he had trusted the former

aide in charge of accounting and let him do the work

for more than 20 years.

... On June 30, Hatoyama, as head of the then

opposition DPJ, admitted that his political fund

management body made false statements in its annual

reports that donations were made by people who were

already dead or who had never donated." (end of quotes,

agencies)

Mr Ozawa, DPJ Godfather, was himself involved in

dubious political contribution, had said he "wanted to

reform Japanese politics and its political structure

once and for all. "

I remember a statement from a political observer : "The

Japanese have voted for change they don't believe in

and a leader they're not all that crazy about," said

Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Tokyo's

Temple University.

Local media have such fun down here!