[Editor's Note]

The long-term rule of the Liberal-Democratic Party which, except for a short period in 1993, has been in power since 1955, has led many commentators to refer to Japan's 'structural corruption'. The LDP's position in power has been sustained through the rural vote, which has been maintained by pork-barrel projects and a close relationship between local political heavyweights and the ministries, particularly the Ministry of .Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Construction. At the same time, the link between the bureaucracy and the LDP includes cases of former officials of these ministries running for a Diet seat on the LDP ticket. The case below is illustrative of the corrupt ties between local politicians and ministry bureaucrats.

On the fifth of January 2000, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced two personnel changes when MORITA Masashi, the vice-director of the Structural Reform Division and HONDA Koji, the vice-director of the Livestock Promotion Division, both resigned. As far as Morita is concerned, a gift of expensive garden trees presented by the head of the village of Niiharu village in Gunma Prefecture was discovered and, similarly, in the case of Honda, suspicion arose over illicit connections with livestock dealers. 

According to observers, as both of the suspected officials have now "retired", they are likely to have been forced out of their posts before an investigation could be initiated by the public prosecutor.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries stressed, however, that it was nothing more than a 'routine change of personnel totally unrelated to the reported suspicion of corruption'. No action was taken by the Ministry, save for an oral warning to Morita by TAKAGI Yuki, the permanent vice-minister, indicating it was 'conduct which may cause misunderstanding on the part of the public'.

It is highly questionable whether the Ministry has any intention to get to the bottom of the matter. In fact, the Structural Reform Division is an 'independent kingdom' within the Ministry, holding the budget for the agricultural public works, such as land improvement projects, and irrigation and drainage (estimated 1.2 trillion yen). Even though it has been said that 'it is not for farmers but for the construction industry', the budget has never been cut and no investigation has been conducted against this suspicion of corruption. 

The suspected bribery involving the two retired high-ranking bureaucrats raises two questions. First, are these bureaucrats of the Structural Reform Division, backed up by the agriculture-related national budget, not enjoying a "sweet life" at the expense of the taxes locally levied by municipalities, towns and villages? Second, as a result of arbitrary appropriation of the budget tied to personal interests, are there not many public works that are, in effect, unnecessary in terms of public interest? A thorough investigation into these two questions is badly needed in order to expose the realities of Japan's agricultural politics.

I have been pursuing the suspicion of Morita's involvement in corruption since October 1999. In the course of my investigation, I came across information on the 'VIP treatment' offered by a village official to the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

According to that official, 'To receive high-ranking national officials by throwing a fancy dinner party and presenting expensive gifts is customary. When Morita came to the local hot spa with his wife, we welcomed them at the railway station and took them to and from the hotel using the official car of the head of the village office. When they left, we bought the tickets for the bullet train (shinkansen) out of the budget of the village office and gave them as a present. When his wife came over alone for hiking, we offered the use of the official car. We also presented a truckload of garden plants when Morita built his new parental home in Shimane which is quite far from here.'

Morita, 55 years old, is a graduate of the Agricultural-Industry Department of one of Japan's top-ranked national universities, the University of Kyoto. He joined the Ministry in 1968 and from 1983, when he was temporarily transferred to the Agricultural Administration Department of Gunma Prefecture for four years, he formed a close relationship with Niiharu village. Following his return to the Construction Department of the Structural Reform Division of the home office in 1989, he became the head of the planning section in 1995, the head of the Construction Department in 1996, and finally in August 1998, he climbed the career ladder and became the vice-director of the Division. What we mean by 'vice-director' is quite simply the highest post possible for those who enter the ministry to follow a career as a technical expert. 

Following the example of his predecessors, he was expected to run for election to the House of Councilors, the upper house of the national Diet which includes a number of former bureaucrats representing functional interest organizations as members of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party. In fact, SUDO Yoshitaro and SATO Akiro, who are former vice-directors of the Structural Reform Division, were both elected to the upper house on the LDP ticket from proportional representation districts. 

On the other hand, the head of the village, SUZUKI Kazuo, who has entertained Morita, insists that '"the task of the village head is to channel the money from the central government to the locality." It has been common practice in the village to entertain the officials of the central or prefectural government at so-called "social gatherings" and send mid-year and year-end presents to the central and prefectural civil servants and Diet members. 

If we look at these two people, it is clear why Suzuki, the head of the Niiharu village staged an "entertainment offensive" in respect of Morita. By making a strong connection with the Structural Reform Division, which holds the public works budget of more than 1 trillion yen, Suzuki was trying to bring profitable agricultural projects to the village. Suzuki's successful temptation of Morita is also illustrated by the monument built near the main bridge of the village, which was constructed using the subsidy from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. We here find engraved the names of Suzuki and Morita. It is quite unprecedented for the names of civil servants still on active service to be engraved on a public place. This bridge has lighting equipment which costs approximately 7 million yen ,and at night, it is illuminated as symbol of the village. It seems that Suzuki does not care about the criticism that it is 'a publicity stunt using the national budget'.

It is probably as a result of the "entertainment offensive" that a number of dubious public works projects have been undertaken in the village, especially land development projects. For instance, a new community center was built by using funds allocated to "land development" and the subsidy for constructing a public facility, both acquired from the central government budget. This was a double acquisition of 'money derived from national taxation'. In addition, in the case of a farm road bridge, the total cost has shot up to 3.4 billion yen and it is still under construction. Despite this enormous expense, it will be used by only several families and a tiny farming equipment business. It is no surprise that the local inhabitants consider the whole thing "a monumental waste." 

Thus, although Niiharu village is just one example, it points to the widespread practice of local politicians using "entertainment offensives" from below, coupled with the abuse of power from above, that has given rise to dubious "public works" projects in many parts of Japan.

SEKAI, vol. 672 (March 2000).