There's this Governor of Tokyo called Yōichi Masuzoe (Wiki-ed him here) and he recently has been the center of many accusations concerning using government cash to do fun things with his family.
Now, it's actually not unusual for a political guy to be accused of using government money for personal enjoyment. I remember one political guy had to
step down and retire from his position because his people stopped supporting him and were very disappointed in his actions. He admitted his actions and left to work on his parent's farm or something like that. But for some reason this time it's not going as smoothly as the accusers had hoped.
Masozoe keeps saying things like "Oh, well, let me look into that." or "Since the receipt doesn't show it clearly, I will contact the hotel and ask them to print out the receipt again if it is possible." or "I went to that baseball game for the sake of the 2020 Olympics. Baseball might be one of the games and I wanted to learn more about it and talk with people there." or "Let us not get too heated about this now. It is not good for the upcoming 2020 Olympics. You need to reconsider your opinion of telling me to resign after the 2020 Olympics. I am not trying to hang onto the position of Governor of Tokyo, I assure you that."
I just watched this on TV (here is some information but it's in Japanese). It was apparently a 4 hour meeting and accusational party with a LOT of evidence (like receipts and stuff). Here is one of the things he was accused of and his response to the accusation. HERE. You can search through that site for more info I think.
So, if I was Dr Phil I would say,
You know, in my opinion, it looks like Masuzoe thinks everyone will eventually let it slide and start focusing on elections and the 2020 Olympics and then he will later be known as the man who successfully held the 2020 Olympics. It's just what it looks like, I'm not saying it is and I don't have any evidence or anything but it LOOKS like that.
Let me give two assumptions, or scenarios. One is that the accusations are true and he did use the Government money for personal pleasures. Two is that all those accusations are wrong and all he needs to do is gather enough evidence to prove the accusers wrong.
Let's first assume that he did use the Government money for personal pleasures like taking his family on vacation or buying art work. If it is true than I think he would be better off and better liked if he just admitted to making bad choices and apologizing to everyone.
We are all human. We aren't perfect. We make bad decisions from time to time and it looks real bad if we keep covering up our tracks. Masuzoe probably didn't intend to go as far as he did and maybe he really did think no one would ever find out. But now he's cornered himself and we all know the accusations to be true. Apologizing and admitting to the truth will be hard, but the best decision he will make in his life.
NEXT! Let's assume the accusations are all false and what Masuzoe is saying is actually true. Well then, what he needs to do is provide good evidence. Hire a detective and dig out all that information and present it to everyone to prove his innocence. No one would be able to say he is wrong if the evidence shows he is right and not lying. The people he met can be privately interviewed by a person who has no contact with Masuzoe to confirm that they met him for governmental or political reasons. This third person can be handpicked by the detective or by the accusers.
Confirm that maybe he had actually only talked to some players to get an idea about baseball at the Olympics and actually didn't see the baseball game at all. Confirm that he did everything for political reasons.
Then everyone who accused him would need to apologize and all the citizens who doubted him will apologize as well.
These are two scenarios. The first scenario he would probably need to take responsibility and resign from his post. He did this to himself and the 2020 Olympics doesn't have to be held by him. The second scenario he can keep his position proudly and not shame anyone for being a liar because he had been telling the truth the whole time.
Either way, he needs to be more clear about it. I won't say which one I think is true but being clear is the first step toward whichever scenario. He needs to make clear his statements.
Scandals after scandals after scandals, ah, what has Japan come to? *throws arms up in air*
See ya later, alligators! :D
2016/June/06: UPDATE!
Masuzoe resigned apparently. He did cry a little and plead not to make him do it but he apparently did resign from his post. Well, it was his doing. He just got a little ahead of himself and thought maybe he could get away with it. And then he decided to draw it out for almost a year. Geesh. People make mistakes and bad choices, we get it. We would understand if he just went ahead and apologized in the beginning. I'm pretty sure not many citizens would be disappointed in him if he had just straight up said he made stupid choices and he is sorry in the beginning of all this. Well, now he knows that maybe drawing out the disputes wasn't such a good method. His dream of waving the Olympics flag at the 2020 Olympics finale is crushed. But maybe he will still get to go to the games with his family, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment