Germany has a lot of inexplicable political scandals, simply because standards are so high. Japan, not so much.
There is one recent Japanese scandal which does on its face indeed seem scandalous, even by the lax standards of this glorious hemisphere ... but which upon further investigation seems to be the opposite of a scandal.
Yoichi Miyazawa, the trade minister, got in some trouble last week because his people spent public money to frequent an S&M club. Meh. The amount was only $170. Of course it should not have been expensed, but neither should $170 in tickets for the Equalizer.
But that’s not the non-scandal. The non-scandal is that Minister Miyazawa turns out to own 600 shares in Tepco. Tepco, you might recall, is the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. And Miyazawa’s ministry would ultimately be responsible for regulating Tepco. A clear scandal!
Well, maybe. Miyazawa owned those shares before the 2011 tsunami.
In other words, after taking an 80% loss the Minister Miyazawa has held on to some flatlining shares. It does look bad, I will admit, and he should sell them. But a serious scandal this really is not. Or am I missing something?
Miyazawa has attempted to brush off criticism of his ownership of 600 Tepco shares. Seems like a minor issue to me especially if he got them when they were much more expensive.
Posted by: Charles Barker | January 18, 2015 at 12:38 AM