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!
