“Memory Album Strategy” The three “former prime ministers” who pushed Hashiro to bid for the Olympics The reality of the operation written on his blog: Tokyo Shimbun TOKYO Web

Ishikawa Prefecture Governor Hiroshi Hase’s statement that he gave an expensive album to a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) using confidential secret funds (Cabinet Secretariat reward funds) during the bid campaign for the Tokyo Olympics. Blogs that support the content have also been discovered, drawing attention to the veiled reality of the Olympic bid. What was the origin of the Tokyo Olympics, which were forced to take place amid a situation where national opinion was divided into two due to the coronavirus pandemic? (Takuya Kishimoto, Joe Miyahata)

◆Yoshihide Suga: “Prime Minister Abe also strongly hopes for a successful bid.”

“The whole Olympics was full of corruption, but we need to find out whether the bid was also full of money.”

Atsushi Azumi, chairman of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters on the 21st, mentioning the need to invite Hase as a witness. At the House of Representatives Budget Committee on the 22nd, Ritsumeikan Representative Tatsumaru Yamaoka stated that Hase’s comments matched his past blog, “Hase Diary,” and said, “This is an act that is suspected of violating the IOC’s ethics rules. It would be a big deal if it had been used.”

Hase became the head of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Bid Promotion Headquarters in March 2013, and wrote daily about his activities on his blog. The description of April 1, 2013 was the one that Ritsumei criticized. “At 3:20 p.m., I will go to the Prime Minister’s Office. I will report to Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga the Olympic Bid Headquarters’ activity policy and ask for his understanding,” he wrote, enumerating the policy, including “Opinion Album Strategy.”

Hase said in a lecture in Tokyo on the 17th of this month that he had made an album containing photos of all 105 IOC members from their athlete days as a souvenir, saying, “I used secret secret funds from the Cabinet Office. Each album costs 200,000 yen.” revealed. Although he later recanted, the “album strategy” is in line with what he said in his speech. The Chief Cabinet Secretary is in charge of confidential funds, and it would be natural for him to report to Yoshihide Suga, who was in charge at the time. It was also recorded that Suga had encouraged him, saying, “This is something that Prime Minister Abe strongly desires, so please work together with the government and the party to firmly win the bid!”

◆I asked former Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose about his blog post.

The blog also includes the words “Tomodachi Strategy.” Although it is not clear from Hase’s statement, in January 2013, Naoki Inose’s “Governor’s Room” website of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government during his time as governor states that “the important things are the friend strategy and the bond strategy.” At a Bid Committee meeting, he exclaimed, “Operation Friends is a nation approaching IOC members, including business relationships with people in private companies, and gaining votes one by one.It’s an all-out national war.” It is said that

It also states that “Operation Kizuna will approach IOC members through each sports organization.” He asked Inose’s office what the operation was, but received no response by deadline.

The blog also includes correspondence with the business that appears to have created the album. At a press conference on the 22nd, Hase admitted that “what is written in the blog is true.” He once again contacted the Ishikawa Prefectural Governor’s Office to find out their true intentions, but they responded, “We have not received any individual interviews regarding the Olympic bid.” He also asked Mr. Suga’s office to confirm the contents of his blog, but the reply he received was, “We are not aware of your question. We have heard that Mr. Hase has retracted his statement.”

◆Abe administration spent more than 8.6 billion yen in confidential funds

Why did Hase take on the role of promoting the Liberal Democratic Party? Political journalist Hiroshi Izumi said, “Mr. Hase pursued the bid after being bought by Yoshiro Mori, Shinzo Abe, Mr. Suga, and others due to his popularity as a wrestler.The contents of his blog suggest that he is using confidential funds to pacify Mr. Hase. There is some truth to the fact that he did so.”

“The total amount of confidential funds spent by Mr. Suga while he was Chief Cabinet Secretary exceeded 8.6 billion yen.It is difficult to realize this, but if Mr. Hase is subpoenaed as a witness, Mr. Suga will also be targeted.”The suspected “cherry blossom viewing party” ‘s spending will also be revived.It will be a blow to Mr. Suga, who is aiming to replace Kishida, and will benefit Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

◆ Traveling around the world as the Liberal Democratic Party’s “actual force”

If you follow Mr. Hase’s blog, you can see that he was actively involved in bid activities.

The year 2013, when the issue was mentioned, was the year when the venue would be decided. In March, the IOC evaluation committee toured the three finalist cities of Tokyo, Madrid, and Istanbul, and the race to bid for the Games was reaching its climax. According to his blog, Hase visited Peru in April, St. Petersburg, Russia in May, and Moscow in August. Until it was decided that Tokyo would be held in September, he had been writing about his meetings with important figures from sports organizations around the country.

Ryoichi Kasuga, a former Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) councilor and Olympic analyst who was involved in the bid for the Nagano Winter Olympics, said of the party’s promotion headquarters, “It’s not good for politics to get into sports, but at the Tokyo Olympics, it’s important to “Even so, it is unusual for a live-action unit within the Liberal Democratic Party to be involved in such activities.”

◆Although “according to current ethical standards, albums are out”, at the time

At the time, the host site was decided differently than it is today, with each IOC member casting one vote from among multiple candidate sites. Mr. Kasuga speculated, “The idea of ​​“Operation Tomodachi” was probably to create as many friendly committee members as possible who had a goodwill for Tokyo and to get them to vote,” adding, “Originally, it was a project that was held in the sports world. When interacting with people from other countries, there is a custom and culture of giving souvenirs to show friendship.”

The IOC’s code of ethics prohibits giving or receiving gifts to Olympic officials. On the other hand, the bidding rules at the time allowed gifts within the customary range that were not expensive.

“Under current ethics rules, if you give away an album that costs 200,000 yen each, you’re out.However, the Tokyo Olympics bidding campaign was before the standards became seriously strict, so the old trends remained.” Mr. Kasuga. It is believed that Hase’s comments may have been a vestige of an era when expensive gifts and entertainment were commonplace.

◆After failing in the bid in 2016, “I don’t care what I pretend to be”

Regarding the bid for the Tokyo Olympics, it was reported that a Singaporean consulting firm that had signed a contract with the bid committee funneled a large amount of money to the son of a former IOC member. French judicial authorities are currently questioning former JOC president Tsunekazu Takeda regarding this matter.

Ituro Goto, a freelance journalist who is knowledgeable about the Olympics, said, “After failing to bid for the Olympics in 2016, Japan’s politics and the IOC, which decided to bid without worrying about their pretense, are coming to terms with money.Even though Hase is handing out albums, I feel like that’s the case,” he laments.

◆“There is a possibility that various things were done under the initiative of the government.”

Sports journalist Gentaro Taniguchi also noted Hase’s comments, saying, “It suggests that various things may have happened in the government-led bid campaign.”

Taniguchi believes that after the failed bid for the 2016 Olympics, the lead in bid activities shifted from the Tokyo metropolitan government and the bid committee to the government. It is well known that Mr. Abe, who was Prime Minister at the time, and Mr. Mori were at the center of this, and Mr. Hase entered politics at Mr. Mori’s invitation. “It was symbolic that the two of them attended the telephone conversation with Chairman Bach who decided to postpone the bid, and that Mr. Abe essentially took charge.The Mori-Abe line promoted the bid, and Mr. Hase played a part in it. If secret secret government funds were used, that’s the best evidence of government initiative.”

Of course, giving away expensive albums is a problem, but Taniguchi says it’s only a superficial issue.

“If the album was made with confidential funds, there is no way that it was Mr. Hase’s personal play.We will investigate what the government did to bid for the Tokyo Olympics and what was behind Mr. Hase’s work.” It is necessary. In that sense, Mr. Hase’s comments and blog provided important clues.”

◆Desk memo

Even with less than a year left until the next Olympics, new problems will arise at the Tokyo Olympics. Even after the bid was decided, confusion continued over issues such as the design of the National Stadium, the emblem, the coronavirus pandemic torch relay, and misogynistic comments. The trial for corruption and bid rigging is still pending. How much stress had he put himself through? Are the lessons being learned from Sapporo’s bid? (Book)