VOX POPULI: Seven years on, the Moritomo Gakuen scandal still unexplained

“Spotlight” is a 2015 U.S. film based on a true story of The Boston Globe’s team of reporters exposing extensive child sexual abuse by Catholic priests and the systemic cover-up of the scandal.

In one memorable scene, one of the reporters meets with a judge and requests access to a document that has been submitted to the court for evidence.

But the judge tells him with a scowl that the document in question is highly classified and demands to know who at the newspaper will take responsibility if the document gets published.

The reporter immediately replies with a question that goes to the effect: “But if we don’t publish it, who is going to take responsibility?”

According to a reporter of the local newspaper on which the movie was based, the above exchange really did take place before the court released the document.

The film reminds me of the sorry reality of information disclosure in Japan.

Incredible fuss is made over the possibility of problems emerging because of the disclosure, whereas no one who decides against disclosure has their responsibility questioned.

Something is quite amiss in this.

It was on Feb. 9 exactly seven years ago that The Asahi Shimbun first reported on the so-called Moritomo Gakuen scandal.

Why did the government sell its land at a whopping discount of 800 million yen ($5.35 million) in such a murky way?

Why did the Finance Ministry falsify its documents?

These questions remain unanswered to this day.

No progress has been made in the disclosure of official documents that are crucial to anyone’s understanding of this scandal in its entirety.

In a lawsuit demanding the disclosure of documents the Finance Ministry submitted to prosecutors, even whether those falsified documents exist has not been revealed.

Official documents are meant for disclosure “in principle,” says the government. Well, talk is cheap.

By obscuring reality, are we not allowing irreparable damage to be made to what is truly important but invisible to the eye, such as the future of our democracy and social justice?

Who is going to take responsibility--and how--for not revealing the truth?

The Moritomo Gakuen scandal is definitely not over.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 9

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

Very good!（96）