Link to the article – https://apnews.com/article/japan-kishida-cabinet-change-funds-scandal-0d99973eed7827adb94320ec68d5101f
Summary – The Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, replaced four of his Cabinet ministers Thursday in an effort to contain the damage from a widening slush fund scandal that has shaken his governing party and his grip on power within it. One of the replaced cabinet members said he submitted his resignation along with the 3 other members in response to the fundraising allegations because this event has “shaken the public trust in politics.” The scandal that happened was that dozens of LDP lawmakers, mostly members of the Abe faction, were suspected of systematically failing to report about 500 million yen in funds in possible violation of campaign and election laws, according to media reports. The money is alleged to have gone into unmonitored slush funds, and each of the replaced cabinet members have emerged as the alleged recipients of suspected kickbacks of unreported fundraising proceeds.
Analysis – For a democratic country and one that is in close relation with America, it surprises me that such turmoil and corruption have a place in their government. Failing to report around $3.53 million dollars and breaking campaign and election laws is not a characteristic of a country the U.S. would usually like to be close allies with. Also just replacing the members does not make up for the crimes committed. Not only is there lasting effects on the population such as lost trust and hate for the government, but there will be lasting effects on how other countries view the Japanese government. Deep infection in a government is never skin deep. These four men getting replaced could not have been the only people from the government involved in the scandal and everyone knows that. This event will leave a mark on the Japanese government and put question marks on how ethically they run for years to come.
Connection to class – This ties into a bit of the idea of national security. The Japanese national security will be weakened because of the event in multiple ways. First, they are dealing with problems in their own government and are taking some focus off of diplomatic relations and therefore losing some connection or attention to possible threats. The other way they’re losing national security is that other countries may see this and not like it, and therefore not want to be as close allies with Japan or at least raise some sort of concern towards Japan’s government and their goings on.