Mass media is doing a bit of soul-searching and asking questions about the reelection of Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito.

In what became a nationally covered "scandal," both regional and national print and broadcast media devoted hours of airtime and column space every day for months to his alleged power harassment case. This type of media behavior is common in Japan, where traditional mass media often enter a feeding frenzy whenever a scandal breaks, giving extensive coverage to even the most trivial details, no matter how insignificant."

Saito was first elected as the governor of Hyogo in 2021 for a four-year term. Since 1962, every new Hyogo governor had been the immediate deputy governor before ascending to the top position, with each retiring governor passing the baton to their deputy. Saito broke this tradition by running on a reformist platform that emphasized economic growth and full transparency in decision-making. He publicly challenged several major projects initiated by his predecessor, which seems to have made him some enemies along the way.