The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office Special Investigation team is investigating the office of the Japan-U.S. Peace and Culture Exchange Association in connection with the bribery case involving former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya. A U.S. subsidiary of Yamada Corporation, a defense equipment trading company, is alleged to have supplied the association with a slush fund to the tune of ¥30 million.
The association is a Foreign Ministry-controlled corporation developed from an organization founded by former lawmaker Shigeharu Kasai in 1947 with the aim of increasing culture and friendship exchanges between Japan and the United States. However, in reality it seems to function as a vehicle for strengthening and perpetuating the Japan-U.S. military alliance. The association's board of directors include former Japanese defense chiefs and ministers, the defense "tribe" of lawmakers, presidents and CEOs of Japan's major defense industries, as well as former high-ranking U.S. government officials and foundation chairmen.
The themes of The 10th Japan-U.S. Security Conference held in early November under the auspices of this association included "Japan's Future Strategic Planning," "New Missile Defense Planning," "Missile Defense and Japan-U.S. Technology Exchange," and "The Nation's C-X and P-X Development."
The association's proposals, as result of this conference, will certainly sway Japan's procurement of defense equipment. U.S. military realignment issues involving the Futenma-to-Henoko relocation and missile defense are no doubt intertwined. So we must keep our eyes open to how far the police investigation goes in exposing this body's nature inside and out.
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