Japan Press Weekly

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2017 May 31 - June 6 [POLITICS]

Ex-Education Ministry bureaucrat: PM Abe’s aide exerts pressure to open veterinary school

Former Administrative Vice Education Minister Maekawa Kihei on May 30 published a statement that reveals that he was being pressured by Prime Minister Abe’s close aide to speed up procedures for opening a Kake Gakuen veterinary school.

Akahata on the same day reported this based on testimonies that Akahata obtained from sources in the Education Ministry.

According to the statement, in early September 2016, PM Abe’s special advisor Izumi Hiroto called Maekawa to the Prime Minister’s Office. In talks at the advisor’s office, he said, “I hope the Education Ministry will accelerate its pace of the handling of the plan to set up a veterinary school in a national strategic special zone.” Izumi went on to say, “I’m making this demand on behalf of the Prime Minister as he can’t do this himself.”

In reply, Maekawa said that he understood what the Abe’s aide said. After the talks, he just informed a relevant department of the Education Ministry that he met with Izumi. Maekawa, however, made no report about his conversations with the PM Abe’s aide to Education Minister Matsuno Hirokazu.

In mid-October 2016, Maekawa was again summoned to Izumi’s office and asked about the Education Ministry’s response to the veterinary school issue.

The timing of the talks that Izumi held with Maekawa coincided with the time when the Cabinet Office pushed the Education Ministry to allow the school corporation Kake Gakuen operated by PM Abe’s close friend to open a veterinary school in April 2018 by using the phrase, “the prime minister’s intent”.

Past related articles:
> Ex-Vice Minister of Education: Documents are genuine [May 26, 2017]
> Suspicion of nepotism surrounding private university operated by Abe’s friend [May 21, 2017]