What is “Moritomo Gakuen issue”?

 In February 2017, one of the members of Toyonaka-city council, Makoto Kimura, sued the Japanese Government, because they had rejected his requirement of information disclosure.

That’s because Kimura wondered if the state-owned land in Toyonaka had been discounted illegally to Moritomo Gakuen.

Moritomo Gakuen was a private school corporation in Osaka, Japan, which was operated by Yasunori Kagoike. 



Asahi Shinbun reported that Kagoike and his wife had a strong connection with Akie Abe, who is the wife of former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.

Additionally, their kindergarten has educated children about Japanese nationalism that connects to the worship of Imperialism.   

This political scandal was reported widely, and most Japanese were shocked to watch the video in which preschoolers worshipped Meiji Emperor with recitation, which had been forced upon children in elementary schools before 1945.

Moritomo Gakuen was planning to establish the elementary school that educates about the Restoration of Imperialism, and Akie Abe would be the Honorary Principal of this school.  

The statesmen of the opposite parties pursued the Minister of Finance (MOF) and Abe in the National Diet.



The person in charge of MOF explained the reason of reduction was that industrial waste was found in the ground of the site, and showed an unnatural photo as evidence.

Abe stated, “If I and my wife were concerned with this issue, I will resign from the posts of both Prime Minister and membership of the Parliament." 

However, Kagoike had explained the details of the dealing, and exposed dialogue between the secretary of Mrs. Abe and them, afterward he and his wife were arrested as suspects of fraud in July 2017.

The officer of Kinki Local Finance Bureau had committed suicide in March 2018.

It was suspected he had forged the documents and records related to these processes to cover the truth. 

His widow, Masako Akagi published the book I Want To Know The Truth, which described details of her husband’s exhaustion from his job.

She also posted his diaries and posthumous writing that revealed his superior had ordered him to tamper with the documents, and sued the Government to uncover the truth in March 2020. 



Almost of all media outlets rarely report about this matter nowadays as if the Moritomo Gakuen issue had been solved.

However some Journalists and citizen groups have been following it and will continue until the truth is revealed.    

I’ll continue to watch the incidents because I worked on the book Why Did The Government Discount 800 Million Yen? as an editor in 2018.


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