Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife has cut ties with an elementary school whose operator is under fire for buying state-owned land at a rock-bottom price in a furore rapidly developing into a political headache for Abe.
TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife has cut ties with an elementary school whose operator is under fire for buying state-owned land at a rock-bottom price in a furore rapidly developing into a political headache for Abe.
Moritomo Gakuen, an educational institution in the western city of Osaka that also operates a kindergarten promoting patriotism based on Japanese traditions and culture, will open an elementary school in April that had been set to have Akie Abe as honorary principal.
Yasunori Kagoike, who is president of Moritomo Gakuen, heads the Osaka branch of Nippon Kaigi, or Japan Conference, a nationalist lobby group with close ties to the prime minister and his cabinet.
Abe, grilled about the issue in a parliamentary committee on Friday, said his wife had tried to refuse the position of honorary principal but accepted after it was announced in front of parents.
“Despite this, she decided that it would be detrimental for both the students and the parents if she continued and so she told them she would resign,” he said.
