1,400 bureaucrats received favors from cabbies, 151 punished

Thursday 26th June, 06:03 AM JST

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Latest 15 of 21 Total Comments Show All

GW at 09:36 AM JST - 26th June

The media & most commenting on this fiasco are pennywise & pound foolish, sure the beer/favours from tax drivers is wrong & needs to be punished but the bigger wrong is the wasted money on taxis & overtime!

This is what needs to happen(but wont)

no beer/favors from taxi drivers no riding home evernight at MY expense! no wasteful overtime payments If these incompetents cant get their job done 9-5ish fire`em.

If there is genuine work that happens at night change their damn hours to 9pm to 6am, then they have ALL DAY to get the train to work & ALL DAY to get the train home, end of problem & waste.

Of course the only thing that will happen is they will crack down on the beer & snacks & a short term cutback on taxis home.

It is abundantly that all these ministries have massive amounts of yen to throw around, Hey Fukuda how about cutting all budgets by 15%(shud be easy) & freeze spending for 10years & then review, its very clear the govt/beaurocrates dont need anymore taxes from us. Its no wonder so many companies & people cheat on taxes when we have to witness this, I am tempted to buy a new car & lots of unnecessary crap for the office to cut my taxable income to save on taxes & health insurance etc, this is insane
noborito at 09:41 AM JST - 26th June

1 in 9. Nice odds of not getting punished. Seeing I am sure there is some kind of seniority system I bet the odds are even higher depending on your age.
desmosedici at 09:50 AM JST - 26th June

I think people are more angry about these wussies taking cabs to get back home from their favourite snack bars than the beer coupons. I don't believe for a moment that all these people are working till after midnight. At 4 they are likely looking at the clock. Check the times on their receipts and have them pay the money back and do away with such stupid perks. 383 people from the tax agency. Well, during an audit, these same tax people can give you a hard time over a 250 yen parking receipt.
fds at 10:56 AM JST - 26th June

Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said in a statement he is taking a hard look at the matter and that he will give up one-fifth of his salary for one month.

the perpetrators and their supervisors should all be giving up a portion of their salaries! but of course they would never do that unless forced to.
seimei at 11:33 AM JST - 26th June

"...600, the largest group, belonged to the Finance Ministry..."

Should I point out that Fukuda used to be the Finance Minister?
tokyotom at 11:35 AM JST - 26th June

agree, far too many taxis, they are desperate for business those todai grads have been so coddled from the time they were born, they think they are entitled to everything watching "change" every week on Fuji TV, change my @#%T!
faulkmore at 11:56 AM JST - 26th June

Keep in mind the j gov't wants, but won't just a pipe dream, to increase the number of foreigners to 10% of the population by some arbitrary date that no one can remember and won't matter anyways. 10% of foreigners paying taxes so J's can go our whoring and boozing.

What will actually happen is the j population could crash. And foreigners come to the cough rescue way after the fact. poetic justice...
faulkmore at 12:00 PM JST - 26th June

The bureaucrats should be given a medal and a raise. In reality this is what most likely would happen. Come on people this is not news. J gov't is corrupt say it ain't so...

Everyone calling for the bureaucrats to be punished, are to be blessed next time with a j girl that no one wanted. Enjoy...

Dave Faulkmore

usguyintokyo.com
suckit at 12:08 PM JST - 26th June

i think that Government people should get bribes and what not. how esle does the world go round?
terebiko at 12:59 PM JST - 26th June

Let's remember, this was not a real investigation, it was a voluntary survey. I'm surprised the number is so high. If they did a full-blown investigation, I'm sure the number would be far higher.
smithinjapan at 05:36 PM JST - 26th June

I love how bureaucrats vow to 'work to try to prevent' recurrences of such things, but never actually vow for against a recurrence.
PepinGalarga at 06:15 PM JST - 26th June

there should be more investigations to find out what exactly these people were doing until 12:30. Every time i hang out in those govt areas all the buildings and streets are empty. Taxis are not lined up waiting in any govt buildings, they DO line up in hostess/bars/salons/hahahaa

Reminds me of when i was working in wall street firm in New York, where slackers would appear to work until 8:30pm (all they did was surf the net, gossip or eat their company paid dinner at their desks). After 8:30 they could take car service home for free every night, even all the way out to connecticut ($150-200 one way). Then they get extra brownie points because their bosses think they are working hard, so they get double benefit, when all they are is brown nosers that added zero value to my group. We all knew who they were, and they were the first ones to go. Same thing should happen in Japan.
taikan at 06:56 AM JST - 27th June

The primary thing that most of the comments about this article reveal is that the writers have no understanding of the way the Japanese government works.

When the Diet is in session, many government employees have to remain in their offices until the day's session concludes, sometimes late at night, because if a Diet member poses a question the ministry has to provide a response the next morning. If a Diet member actually does pose a question, then all of the people in the appropriate office stay until the necessary information is obtained and a response is prepared. As a result, on many nights when the Diet is in session there are hundreds of bureaucrats who are required to stay at work until after the last trains have left Kasumigaseki.

In response to the comment about all the overtime being paid to the government workers who stay late at the office, the fact is that they don't get paid overtime. They do, however, get government-paid taxi rides home. Most of the ones I met when I was dealing with the Japanese government would have preferred to go home earlier. However, as with many high-ranking officials in governments in other countries, they felt it was their duty to remain at work as long as necessary, despite the negative impact on their family life.

As for the comment that taxis aren't lined up in the streets, that's because they usually are in the off-street parking areas (many of which are closed to the general public) behind the buildings.

For those non-Japanese who think there are too many Japanese government officials, I suggest you compare the percentage of the population working for government in Japan with the percentage working for government in your country of origin. The United States, for example, has far higher percentages of government employees than Japan.
PepinGalarga at 01:20 PM JST - 27th June

taikan: thats a lot of first-hand information there, thank you for that.

now, HOW DO I SCORE FREE BEER IN THE TAXIS??!!!?? hahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
taikan at 02:49 PM JST - 27th June

PepinGalarga -- That's easy. Develop sufficient devotion to your work that you regularly stay at work until after the last trains have left the downtown area. Assuming you can get to that level, then all you have to do is make it a habit to go to Kasumigaseki and catch a cab at the entrance to the inner parking area behind one of the ministy buildings. However, don't expect to see me there.