With a questionable land deal and allegations of racism, the scandal is shaping up to be the biggest of Abe’s tenure.
TOKYO — Japan’s prime minister is facing the biggest crisis of his tenure, caught up in a burgeoning scandal that involves a shady land deal, allegations of a coverup and a kindergarten sending out notes about “wicked” Koreans and Chinese.
Shinzo Abe strongly denies any wrongdoing, and his wife, Akie Abe, has resigned as “honorary principal” of the planned school at the center of the firestorm. But the scandal shows no sign of going away anytime soon.
“There are so many questions that need to be answered,” said Koichi Nakano, a professor of political science at Sophia University and sharp critic of the Abe government. “We don’t know whether Abe was directly involved, but even if he wasn’t, this will still hurt him.”
It all started with a local story about hate speech.
Tsukamoto kindergarten in Toyonaka, Osaka prefecture, sent a letter to parents in which it described Korean residents of Japan and Chinese people as having “wicked ideas,” using a derogatory term for Chinese.
Yasunori Kagoike, the chairman of the organization that runs the private kindergarten, has admitted to sending the letter.
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A separate note said, “The problem is that people who have inherited the spirit [of Koreans] exist in our country with the looks of Japanese people.” Kyodo News reported the contents of the letter, citing a copy obtained from a parent.
A video from a sports day in 2015, also obtained by Kyodo, shows a child at the school saying: “We want China and South Korea, which portray Japan as a villain, to be repentant. We’ll root for Prime Minister Abe.”
Osaka is home to a high proportion of Japan’s ethnically Korean residents, a legacy of Japan’s colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century.
Children aged 3 to 5 who attend the private kindergarten sing the national anthem in front of the Japanese flag and recite the Imperial Rescript on Education, an 1890 tract that calls on Japanese to “offer yourselves courageously to the state” to “guard and maintain the prosperity of our Imperial throne.” The rescript was abolished after Japan’s defeat in World War II, when the emperor’s role in Japan was reduced to that of a ceremonial figurehead.
The kindergarten, whose website says it will teach children to “respect the courtesy of Japanese and foster patriotism,” apologized for the “misunderstanding” about its statements.
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But the scandal really erupted when it emerged that Moritomo Gakuen, the educational organization that runs the kindergarten, had bought a plot of land for what it hoped would become the “Shinzo Abe Memorial Elementary School” at a vastly reduced price.
