SNA (Tokyo) — The following stories were reported today by the Shingetsu News Agency.

Moritomo Gakuen Scandal

—Nobuhisa Sagawa’s sworn Diet testimony has begun.

—Nobuhisa Sagawa is testifying that no direction came from the Prime Minister’s Office to forge the Moritomo Gakuen documents.

—Nobuhisa Sagawa is testifying that the plot to rewrite the document came entirely from within his division of the Finance Ministry. It looks like Sagawa is fully prepared to fall on his sword (once again) to protect his political masters. They chose their servant well.

—Nobuhisa Sagawa says he “lacked courtesy to the Diet” in his earlier testimony when he refused to answer so many questions citing Finance Ministry policy.

—Nobuhisa Sagawa denies that First Lady Akie Abe’s involvement with Moritomo Gakuen had any influence whatsoever on the land price negotiations with the Finance Ministry.

—Nobuhisa Sagawa refuses to answer question why First Lady Akie Abe’s name was removed from the Moritomo Gakuen documents.

—Nobuhisa Sagawa repeatedly states that he is in danger of prosecution, so he refuses to answer many questions about the Moritomo Gakuen documents. For example, he won’t even say what his motive was in ordering the documents rewritten.

—It appears that Sagawa’s game plan is still to kiss the asses of his superiors. He wants to absolve all the senior politicians and still refuse to clarify what actually happened and why it happened. He apparently thinks that powerful men will find a way to bail him out.

—So it continues, build a wall around the Prime Minister and First Lady. Compartmentalize. Lower level officials took it upon themselves to break the law to protect the Abes. Kagoike is just a liar. Toshio Akagi’s suicide forgotten. Look! Kim Jong-Un!

—Nobuhisa Sagawa’s “testimony” now degenerating into a farce in which, after declaring his political masters innocent, he refuses to explain anything about what happened, citing his own legal jeopardy.

—Moritomo Gakuen Scandal: What happened? No comment. When did it happen? No comment. Why did it happen? No comment. The only thing Nobuhisa Sagawa wants you to know is that it surely, definitely, absolutely had nothing to do with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

—Nobuhisa Sagawa’s date with the House of Councillors now completed. In the afternoon we will be treated to a replay of the farce in the House of Representatives. Or will Sagawa slip up and actually say something other than that Shinzo Abe is innocent?

—Guess we now know why Shinzo Abe told his followers “don’t worry” at the Chinese restaurant the other night. He already knew that the fix was in with Nobuhisa Sagawa.

—Protesters have gathered outside the National Diet Building demanding that Nobuhisa Sagawa “Speak the Truth!”

—Nobuhisa Sagawa’s efforts to shield the government go so far as to claim that there was “not one mention of First Lady Akie Abe” within the Finance Ministry as they negotiated the land sale for Moritomo Gakuen and as Yasunori Kagoike cited her support in negotiations.

—Kihei Maekawa and Nobuhisa Sagawa: Maekawa tells the truth and is pursued vindictively by ruling party lawmakers; Sagawa lies to the nation and awaits the protection of the powerful. It’s just one reflection upon the corruption of Abe-era Japan.

—Returning to the political game rather than the overall truth, it should not be forgotten that Nobuhisa Sagawa, who is now testifying that he is in legal jeopardy for falsifying documents, is the same fellow Abe and Aso were previously calling the “right man” as National Tax Agency head.

—NHK reports that Nobuhisa Sagawa refused to answer lawmaker questions on 46 separate occasions today. Not surprisingly, the opposition is complaining that his “sworn testimony” has proven meaningless.

—National Tax Agency claims that it discarded all of Nobuhisa Sagawa’s daily schedules from his short tenure as head of the organization. They contend it is their practice not to keep these recordings for more than a day. File another one under “Write It and Make It Disappear!”

—Asahi Shinbun reporting that Liberal Democratic Party executives are celebrating Nobuhisa Sagawa’s stonewalling of the Diet as a great “victory” which will allow them to reject opposition demands to call First Lady Akie Abe as a sworn witness before the Diet.

—Jiji Press reports that the protest group outside the Prime Minister’s Office and the Diet this evening grew to over 1,000 people.

Politics

—Tokyo passes its budget through the Assembly based on the votes of Tokyoites First and Komeito, but the Liberal Democratic Party votes against the capital’s budget for first time since 1977. They do so to show their hostility to Governor Yuriko Koike, who left their party.

International

—Hakodate District Court hands a thirty-month jail term, suspended for four years, to the captain of the North Korean fishing boat who looted goods from an uninhabited island last November.

Economy

—Abe Cabinet approves the TPP 11, or Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and forward it to the Diet for ratification.

Technology

—Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga confirms that the Japanese government also is investigating Facebook over possibly illegal leaks of personal information about its users.

Society

—Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko have begun what is expected to be their final visit to Okinawa, at least in their present offices.

—Ministry of Justice reports that the number of foreigners in Japan reached a record high of 2,561,848 by the end of 2017. In particular, there was a significant growth in the number of Vietnamese coming to live in Japan last year.

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