Japan Press Weekly

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2016 July 13 - 19 [POLITICS]

LDP-backed Tokyo gubernatorial candidate was director of TEPCO

It has come to light that Tokyo gubernatorial candidate Masuda Hiroya, who is backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties, had until quite recently served as an outside director of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings. TEPCO is the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant which was crippled due to a nuclear meltdown following a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Masuda was an official of the former Ministry of Construction. After serving three terms as governor of Iwate Prefecture, he worked as the Internal Affairs Minister between 2007 and 2008. In June 2014, he assumed the post of outside director of TEPCO.

At last month’s general meeting of stockholders of TEPCO, Masuda was reappointed as an independent director and doubled as chair of the committee to nominate candidates for directors. On July 13, the day before campaigning for the gubernatorial election kicked off, Masuda announced his resignation as an outside director.

The information made available for the stockholders’ meeting shows that Masuda owns 1,902 shares in TEPCO.

At a joint press conference of gubernatorial contenders hosted by the Japan National Press Club on July 13, Masuda said, “I endorse the government policy of restarting nuclear power reactors if their safety is confirmed.”

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Ex-Defense Minister Koike Yuriko, also running for the governorship, is well known as an ultra-rightist politician in the LDP.

Koike had served as a deputy secretary-general of the parliamentarians’ organization supporting the Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi), which promotes the glorification of Japan’s past war of aggression.

When Koike was posted as the Environment Minister in the Koizumi Cabinet in 2003, in response to a survey by the Mainichi Newspapers, she said that “Japan should consider arming itself with nuclear weapons.”

In 2006, when she was the Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, she said, “Okinawa’s local media is similar to the Arab media in its stance promoting anti-Americanism.”

Past related article:
> 4 opposition parties agree to field joint candidate in Tokyo gubernatorial race [June 22, 2016]