Japan Press Weekly

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2017 May 17 - 23 [POLITICS]

Internal documents show how ‘Kake Gakuen’ came in first

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira at an Upper House committee meeting on May 22 took up the issue of suspicion of wrongdoing in regard to the establishment of a veterinary medicine department at a university run by the Prime Minister’s friend.

Based on a set of internal ministry documents Akahata exclusively obtained from sources close to the government, Koike pointed at the exceptional measures the government took for the sake of a school corporation of Abe’s confidant in accordance with “the wishes of Prime Minister”.

The following is how the ongoing allegations started: The school corporation “Kake Gakuen” operated by Kake Kotaro, who Prime Minister Abe Shinzo calls his “second self”, plans to use Abe’s “special economic zone” scheme to open a veterinary department in Imabari City in Ehime Prefecture. However, the ministries of Education and Agriculture both had a policy of curbing the number of schools of veterinary science. In addition, the Japan Veterinary Medical Association (JVMA) issued a statement in opposition to new veterinary courses in “special zones”. After an abrupt change in the government policy, however, Kake Gakuen was chosen from among several universities seeking to launch a veterinary faculty. As a result, 16.8 hectares of city-owned land (worth 3.7 billion yen) will be turned over for free from Imabari City to the school corporation and a total of 6.4 billion yen in subsidies will be provided for the creation of the new department.

One of the internal documents of the Ministry of Education Koike presented offers a tentative roadmap in favor of Project Imabari on the premise of the opening of the faculty in April 2018. The same document at the same time expresses concern regarding the supply and demand of veterinarians. Koike introduced another internal document of the Education Ministry which sets conditions on the introduction of a veterinary course.

However, the government panel dealing with special zones headed by PM Abe ignored all the set conditions and on November 9 in 2016 decided to approve the creation of a veterinary faculty. The decision in essence forced other universities to abandon their plans.

Holding up a document which states, “The Project Imabari will be appropriate,” Koike stated, “This is indisputable evidence that the decision was made in the interest of Kake Gakuen dubbed Project Imabari.” He demanded that all persons concerned be summoned as witnesses before the Diet and that intensive deliberations be held with the attendance of PM Abe.