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After masterminding the historic electoral victory of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) last year, the party's co-founder and Secretary General, Ichiro Ozawa, has once again found himself in the national spotlight. But rather than basking in the glory of pulling off a successful election, Japan's so-called Shadow Shogun finds himself under investigation by the powerful Public Prosecutors Office on suspicion of wrongdoing in a controversial land purchase...
...Just days into the spring Diet session, Ozawa, probably the DPJ's most powerful politician, casts a shadow not only over Diet deliberations but also the competency of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's administration. While scandals come and go in Japan, some observers wonder if the young government that swept the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) out of more than five decades of single-party rule is resilient enough to ride this storm, with the Upper House elections slated for July. (See pictures of Japan's relationship with the world...
...Ozawa has had many run-ins with the Prosecutors Office over the course of his career, as have many of Japan's political élite. Last May, then DPJ president Ozawa stepped down from that post following the arrest of his top aide, Takanori Okubo, who is now on trial for accounting irregularities and illegal donations from a large construction company that allegedly wanted to win contracts in areas where Ozawa has political influence. Ozawa bowed to cries for his resignation from within the party just months before August's Lower House elections. That move, however, did not satisfy...
...million yen ($4.4 million) came to be used to buy residential land in western Tokyo in October 2004 to build housing for Ozawa's aides. Rikuzankai, Ozawa's funds-management body, failed to properly report the sum and could be in violation of Japan's Political Fund Control Law for misreporting the funds, not logging the land purchase properly and concealing an illegal donation from the construction company. Ozawa has apologized to the Japanese people for any "misunderstanding" in misreporting the funds, saying there was no criminal intent. It is reported that Ozawa will submit to prosecutors' questioning this weekend...
...Addressing the DPJ's annual party convention last week, Ozawa said, "During the 40 years of my political career ... I have carried out my endeavors with only one aim in mind, that is to see parliamentary democracy, a true democracy in which changes of government are possible, established in Japan." The result of his questioning this weekend will likely fall somewhere between taking the entire DPJ ship with him and his ability to stage a great recovery...