scandals involving malfeasance in office have embarrassed the Sato government. The Japan Socialist party, as a result, has demanded the resignation of the cabinet en bloc or dissolution of the House of Representatives and the holding of new elections. Other opposition parties have added their voices to the clamor.
The most spectacular case was that of the Liberal-Democrat Shoji Tanaka. He was charged with using his position in the Diet to gain huge personal profits through fraud and blackmail. As a result he was ousted from both the Diet and the party.
Another case involved Transportation Minister Seijuro Arafune. Among other things he ordered express trains to stop at a small town within his constituency. He was also involved in irregularities in a restaurant at a railway station. Arafune's. defense reflected the prevailing atmosphere of corruption in the Japanese government. "This much should be condoned," he argued. "Everybody else is doing it," he added. And he topped this off with the declaration, "I did nothing wrong!"
As. a result, Sato decided to let Arafune. go. When former Defense chief Sensuke Fujieda returned from a trip to Eastern. ‘Europe October 13, Sato gave him Arafune's | post. However, he made up for this move by giving Arafune another important position, presumably due to the factional situation inside the Liberal-Democratic party.
The public reaction to the scandals was such that Kazuo Kuroda, writing in the October 15 Japan Times noted "a danger" that they may lead some people to believe "that Gen. Tojo's Japan or Mao Tse-tung's China is cleaner."
HOW