As the news of the Finance Ministry’s document-tampering reverberated throughout the nation, hundreds protesters gathered in front of Prime Minister’s Shinzo Abe’s headquarters on Monday night, calling for him and Finance Minister Taro Aso to resign immediately.
Chanting “Tell the truth!” and “Abe must quit!” the protesters occupied a huge part of the street near the Prime Minister’s Office.
Earlier Monday, the Finance Ministry admitted to making dozens of deletions to 14 documents related to the shady 2016 sale of state land to nationalist school operator Moritomo Gakuen, between late February 2017 and April the same year — weeks after the heavily discounted sale was first reported.
Meanwhile references to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his wife and Finance Minister Taro Aso were removed from documents related to a suspected cronyism scandal.
Abe, 63, swept back to power in December 2012 promising to revive the economy and bolster Japan’s defence. It was a rare comeback for the conservative lawmaker, who quit abruptly in 2007 after a year in office marked by scandals in his cabinet, a deadlocked parliament and ill health.
His ruling bloc won a two-thirds “super majority” in an October lower house poll, helped by opposition disarray.
A 9-11 March survey by the Yomiuri newspaper showed support for Abe’s cabinet has now fallen to 48 percent, down six points from a month earlier. Non-support rose to 42 percent and 80 percent said that the matter had not been handled appropriately.
