For all the shouting from the rooftops, political reform in Japan has made little headway. The latest reminder is the arrest of Kanju Sato, a former Lower House veteran of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, on charges of embezzling the salary of a state-paid secretary.
In 1994, the coalition administration of then-Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa -- which came into power in August 1993 (and ended the one-party rule of the Liberal Democratic Party) -- launched a crusade for clean politics. The 10 years since, though, look like a "lost decade."
Indeed, politicians seem incorrigible when it comes to money matters. Already five Diet members, including Sato, have been arrested for pocketing the salaries of their public secretaries. And two Lower House legislators have been apprehended for buying votes in November's general election.
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