{"id":75939,"date":"2026-08-18T03:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T03:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/75939\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T03:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T03:48:08","slug":"editorial-heed-the-lockheed-bribery-scandals-lesson-and-end-money-politics-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/75939\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Heed the Lockheed bribery scandal’s lesson and end money politics in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nFormer Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka is seen leaving the Tokyo District Court on temporary release after he was sentenced to four years in prison over the Lockheed bribery scandal, on Oct. 12, 1983. (Mainichi) <\/p>\n


\n It has been 50 years since former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was indicted in the Lockheed scandal on charges of accepting bribes in response to a request. It was postwar Japan’s largest corruption scandal, with 16 politicians, corporate executives and others facing criminal charges. The problem of “politics and money” remains a chronic disease in this country’s political world even today. \n<\/p>\n


\n The investigation was triggered by testimony before the U.S. Congress in February 1976. It was revealed that aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Corp. — now Lockheed Martin Corp. — had paid bribes to senior Japanese government officials and others to sell passenger jets. \n<\/p>\n


\n The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s special investigation squad launched a probe, and Tanaka was indicted on allegations that he had received 500 million yen (in the range of $1.7 million at the time) in bribes through major trading house Marubeni Corp. Although he maintained his innocence, he was sentenced in both the first and second trials to four years in prison. He died while his appeal was pending. \n<\/p>\n


\n What came to light was the reality of money-driven politics. During questioning over how the 500 million yen had been used, a former prime ministerial secretary prepared a list showing that 20 million yen (around $68,000) each had been distributed to 26 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidates in the House of Councillors election. Politics was distorted under Tanaka’s style, which embodied the logic of the Nagatacho government quarter’s: “Politics is power, power is numbers, and numbers are money.” \n<\/p>\n


\n After his indictment, Tanaka burned with determination to regain his political standing and devoted himself to strengthening his faction. He reigned as a kingmaker until he collapsed from illness in 1985. \n<\/p>\n

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\nShin Kanemaru acknowledges that he received 500 million yen from representatives of the Tokyo Sagawa Express Co. logistics company and indicates his intention to resign as vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, at LDP headquarters in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district on Aug. 27, 1992. (Mainichi) <\/p>\n


\n Even after that, money in politics scandals continued. \n<\/p>\n


\n There was the Recruit Co. scandal in 1988, in which unlisted shares certain to rise in value were transferred to political figures, and the Tokyo Sagawa Express Co. scandal in 1992, in which the logistics firm handed out huge illicit donations to key politicians. Public distrust in politics reached its limit, and the LDP was driven from power. It was the end of absolute LDP dominance stretching all the way back to 1955. \n<\/p>\n


\n In recent years, a slush fund scandal has also come to light involving political fundraising parties held by LDP factions. Yet the LDP, the party at the center of it, has been reluctant to reform. The circumstances under which the creation of the slush funds began and other matters have not been made clear, while lawmakers involved in the scandal have been appointed to key posts. \n<\/p>\n


\n Under the political party subsidy system introduced in 1995 as part of the “political reform of the Heisei era,” more than 30 billion yen (about $188.72 million) is provided to political parties each year. In exchange for using taxpayers’ money to clean up politics, corporate and organizational donations were supposed to be reviewed. But a total ban was never achieved, and “double dipping” — holding one hand open for the public money while collecting corporate and organizational donations with the other — continues. \n<\/p>\n


\n If these bad practices are left in place, public trust cannot be restored. Uprooting money-driven politics is the responsibility of the Diet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka is seen leaving the Tokyo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[436,8,177,179,186,437,180,178,187],"class_list":["post-75939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-editorial","tag-japan","tag-japans-politics","tag-japanese-politics","tag-latest-articles","tag-opinion-analysis","tag-politics","tag-politics-of-japan","tag-the-mainichi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}