Japan Press Weekly

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2011 November 2 - 8 TOP3 [TOKYO]

DPJ and LDP used 31 million yen of Tokyoites’ tax revenues for overseas trips

Tokyo assembly members of the Democratic and Liberal Democratic parties spent 31.7 million yen on four overseas trips in 2009 and 2010. This was disclosed by Japanese Communist Party metropolitan assembly members at a press conference on November 4.

During the “study tours,” the members of the two parties booked business class seats on flights, chartered private cars when they could have used public transportation, and took a riverboat tour at a famous tourist sight.

Both the DPJ and LDP carried out two overseas trips respectively in 2009 and 2010, with an average cost of 1.59 million yen for each traveller.

The DPJ in December last year spent 11.1 million yen in tax money to tour 8 cities in 6 European countries to study local policies promoting travel by bicycle. Due to inclement weather, they cancelled their visit to Groningen, Holland, and chartered a private car for transportation that cost an additional 1 million yen.

In February 2010, LDP representatives in Tokyo went to 10 cities in their trip to Sydney and Singapore, using 6 million yen on public funds. They touched upon only 2 out of the 10 cities in a report on the tour, which included plagiarized text and photos from Internet sites.

With the use of 5.56 million yen, the LDP also sent its members to Europe in November last year under the pretext of conducting a river survey. Without being accompanied by an interpreter, they went on a tour boat excursion on the Seine River, a popular sightseeing attraction in Paris.

Four LDP members recently left for South America on November 4, while the DPJ sent 3 members to Europe on November 6, both to study cities hosting the Olympics. The total amount of Tokyo’s tax money spent for the two trips is 14.52 million yen.

At the press conference, JCP metropolitan assembly member Oyama Tomoko called for the cancellation of overseas “study” trips, stressing that they cannot be justified as beneficial to Tokyo residents.