Senior farm ministry official to resign in wake of rice scandal

Saturday 27th December, 04:31 AM JST

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5 Comments

outofmydepth at 01:55 PM JST - 27th December

he only got a 2 month 20% paycut. if he resigns, my understanding about how it works here in japan is that he will get to keep bonuses, pensions etc. even after he sent out poisonous rice. i just dont get it. and the farm minister says the scandal is settled for the time being. are there any checks in place so this doesnt happen again. it seems to me that more than those 25 officials were involved and, even now, there are no checks in place. i am off rice except what our family grows.
some14some at 03:40 PM JST - 27th December

He will be transfered to another Ministry or 'amakudari' post is always available.
Philmoscowitz at 07:02 AM JST - 28th December

why are the officials being punished when it was the wholesalers who sold the "rice for inedible purposes" as edible rice? and what country or countries is the imported rice from?
some14some at 07:54 AM JST - 28th December

why are the officials being punished when it was the wholesalers who sold the "rice for inedible purposes" as edible rice? and what country or countries is the imported rice from?

It was Ag.Ministry of Japan who imported inedible rice and sold to Mikasa Food and recommended other rice dealers to buy from Mikasa.
Clearsky54 at 11:25 PM JST - 29th December

The reality of Japan and any other country is: Those who are in power only care about themselves. As long as they did not have to eat the tainted rice, what would they care? It is only when they are hurt or sickened or possibly their family members are hurt or sickened will they even remotely have a clue about what an average person goes through just to survive in this world. Japan is particularly cruel and really, really, really does not care about its populace. I am convinced that everything that 99% of politicians in Japan say is a lie, and the fact that they can just bow and apologize after they are caught and then go back to wining, dining and lying through their teeth is a pathetic comment on how little the citizenry of this country care what their officials, elected or otherwise, do (or don't do).