Toshikatsu Matsuoka commits suicide.

You have only one life and that life is not yours alone. --Bunmei Ibuki. Takoshikatsu Matsuoka killed himself yesterday. This has been very big news in Japan. There has been some excellent blogging on this at Observing Japan and TransPacificRadio. In particular, I've found several relevant posts at Observing Japan to be really helpful in understanding Matsuoka's activities. [Added: There's now another great blog entry on this at Mutant Frog Travelogue.] Toshikatsu Matsuoka was involved in at least three scandals:

• He reported exorbitant expenses for utilities in his rent-free office. About 28 million yen over five years. These were paid for by the government. Normally utility expenses are roughly zero for most others. No explanation was ultimately given for these expenses. Matsuoka stone walled saying he was in compliance with the law, even if unethical. Abe defended him completely.


• Matsuoka was influential in creating certain government projects for Kumamoto prefecture, where his home district is located. Basically, needless government pork. Not only this, but the bids to determine who would get to do the work were rigged so that the price of the already needless projects got inflated. Finally, as if that wasn't enough, the companies that got awarded the contracts had made political contributions to Matsuoka.


• A organization which was to train young entrepreneurs by charging them lots of big money wanted to be registered as a non-profit organization (NPO) so they could avoid taxes and make even more money than they would have already. There are reasons to believe that Matsuoka, behind the scenes, pushed hard to help this company become an NPO. While at first it was denied, it was later discovered that Matsuoka actually received political contributions from this organization.

These explanations are simplified and in that sense only, inaccurate. I've provided several links below for those who want to make sure they get down the exact facts. Matsuoka was also the one who wanted to create the sushi police. The idea here was to create a large costly government program that would create yet another way the government could uselessly spend the people's money, while giving politicians a share to create a program for certifying official Japanese dishes overseas. However, for various reasons the plan didn't pan out. So far in the media I have not encountered any immediate condemnations of the minister's suicide. Fair enough. But I want to ask is his suicide acceptable? Should we have sympathy for him? I'm thinking here of all the Japanese children, who will learn about Matsuoka's death and have to form an opinion about why someone in such an important position would do such a thing. Let me be very opinionated here, my understanding of this situation is that Matsuoka was only part of a massive web of corruption such that if he didn't kill himself several others faced a great risk of exposure. That is, personally, I regard his suicide as a matter of collective self-defense. I think he was probably protecting all the others who would have been hurt. So is he noble? I would guess that the likes of Shintaro Ishihara would approve of such bravery, as it matches those of the kamikaze he recently glorified in the movie For Those We Love. Not only was the minister scandal ridden, but then he doesn't even pay the price for it. Instead he escapes. I don't doubt he did it for those he loved. And, of course, that's just the problem. He did it only for those he loved. I am interested in how the media will portray his suicide over the coming days. Useful news links for Matsuoka's scandals: [For more recent links to news stories see this entry.]

• 2007/05/29 Farm minister commits suicide / Matsuoka found hanged at lawmakers' housing complex; notes found, The Yomiuri Shimbun; This article has most of the relevant facts.


• 2007/05/29 Matsuoka death shocks politicians / Scandal-tainted farm minister faced pressure from ruling, opposition camps The Yomiuri Shimbun. Good background article.


• 2007/05/29 Tragic death raises political questions Yomiuri Shimbun; Editorial.


• 2007/05/29 Farm minister Matsuoka dies, The Asahi Shimbun; Article giving the basic facts.


• 2007/05/28 Japan minister commits suicide, adds to PM's woes, Linda Sieg and George Nishiyama, Reuters; "Japan has one of the highest suicide rates among industrialized nations, which experts attribute partly to an absence of religious prohibition against taking one's own life and the tradition of committing suicide to atone for failure or to save loved ones from embarrassment." Sounds like nihonjinron to me.


• 2007/05/27 Still can't say where the money went, The Japan Times; "The committee scene was a re-enactment of what happened before. Mr. Matsuoka flatly refused to explain and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe defended him. Both should realize that by refusing to clarify, they are shirking important responsibility as politicians."


• 2007/05/26 EDITORIAL: Forest road bid-rigging, The Asahi Shimbun; "We must also not lose sight of the fact that Toshikatsu Matsuoka, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, received political contributions from nonprofit foundations and companies charged in this case. Matsuoka originally worked for the Forestry Agency. As a politician, he champions the special interests of farming, forestry and fishing related matters. We have to wonder if these donations had any connection with the allocation of public works projects. Although Matsuoka insists he has already returned all such monies received personally, his explanation is rather hard to swallow at this point."


• 2007/05/25 Politicians' loose handling of money must end The Asahi Shimbun; Editorial about Matsuoka and bottled water.


• 2007/05/25 EDITORIAL: Political funds scandal, The Asahi Shimbun; Anger at Matsuoka and Abe's defense of him.


• 2007/05/09 LDP plans bill on fund reports, but opposition scoffs at effort, The Asahi Shimbun; Background on planed bills.


• 2007/04/17 EDITORIAL: Forest roads scandal, The Asahi Shimbun; "J-Green was subject to reforms during the Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi administration, yet it survived by hiding behind the privatization discussion that focused on public highway corporations. In 2003, its status was changed from a public corporation to an independent administration agency, but its mission to promote public projects remained the same. The government should take this opportunity to review the organization, including the options of improving it or abolishing it. Farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who is tasked with dealing with the situation, hails from the Forestry Agency. Because he has his own scars in relation to a political funds scandal, it is unlikely that he is capable of taking a surgical knife of reform to the organization he came from." Not only was he not suitable he was taking political donations from them.


• 2007/04/03 Public firm in bid-rigging probe, The Asahi Shimbun; "Some of the public and private organizations allegedly involved in the bid-rigging were ordered by the FTC to stop the collusive practice in 2001 in relation to other projects. The public organizations, which had won bids, had hired retired officials of the Forestry Agency and the Japan Green Resources Agency. The Forestry Agency is part of the ministry. The agency also offered funds to farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka in the form of political donations and party ticket purchases. Matsuoka, who is embroiled in a separate scandal, is a former official of the Forestry Agency."


• 2007/04/13 Farm minister's group fails to say how ¥86 million spent, The Asahi Shimbun; "The fund management group of beleaguered farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka failed to report details of how it used 86 million yen over nine years for "social expenses," its reports show."


• 2007/03/19 Overseas restaurant certification nixed The Asahi Shimbun; Matsuoka's idea to certify official Japanese food overseas fails.


• 2007/03/15 EDITORIAL/ Matsuoka unfit to serve Asahi Shimbun; The title of the editorial speaks for itself.


• 2007/03/15 Minister's reticence may backfire, Reiji Yoshida, The Japan Times; Good article.


• 2007/03/12 EDITORIAL/Political fund scandals, The Asahi Shimbun; Let's not forget Ibuki was doing the same thing as Mastsuoka.


• 2007/03/10 Matsuoka should ring a bell to recall the truth, The Asahi Shimbun; More anger at Matsuoka.


• 2007/03/08 EDITORIAL/ Farm minister's scandal, The Asahi Shimbun; Some background on the Matsuoka scandal.


• 2007/02/08 Matsuoka friend implicated in NPO scandal, The Asahi Shimbun; Yet another scandal Matsuoka seemed to have been involved in.


• 2007/01/20 Come clean on political funds, The Japan Times; "Common sense dictates that detailed statements and receipts for office rents and for other running expenses should be included in the mandatory reports. Yet politicians are strongly resisting such a change. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki says that changing the system, which would require a large amount of paperwork, would pose "considerable burdens" on political-support organizations."


• 2007/01/11 Groups of 2 ministers filed shady fund reports, The Asahi Shimbun; Let's not forget about Ibuki who was involved in a similar scandal to Matsuoka.


• 2007/01/06 'Amakudari' abuses targeted, The Japan Times; "Farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka admitted Friday that his aide asked the Cabinet office for updates on a scandal-hit donor group's application to become a nonprofit organization, but denied he pressured the office to approve it. ... Matsuoka told a news conference. The group in question is the World Business Expert Forum, which bought 1 million yen worth of fundraising tickets for Matsuoka."


• 2007/01/03 Matsuoka's interest in NPO also questioned, The Asahi Shimbun; "Farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka apparently may have exerted undue influence to gain nonprofit organization status for a group affiliated with a firm already under investigation for suspected investment law violations, government records show. Matsuoka came under media scrutiny last year for failing to report a 1-million-yen political donation from the same group."

Suicide in Japan:

• Everything2: Suicide in Japan Excellent well rounded article.


• TPR Spotlight #1: Suicide in Japan by the Numbers Fascinating article attempting to debunk myths about suicide in Japan. Recommended.


• Morals, Suicide, and Psychiatry: A View from Japan "Because suicide in Japan is viewed as a potentially honorable, virtuous, and even beautiful act of self-sacrifice expressing one's duty to one's group, the western perspective is quite foreign to the Japanese self-conceptual framework. Therefore, since Japanese psychiatry and law have embraced the western medical tradition of viewing suicide as a non-rational response to mental illness, which runs counter to the cultural view that suicide is a moral (and rational) act, I argue that western explanations of suicide present significant cross-cultural problems for Japanese psychiatry." I haven't read this article yet, but it sounds interesting. I think the problem is we need to focus on the persons reasons for taking their life. Those reasons might well be different in Japan. However, that doesn't in any way justify the suicide. The western medicine model is clearly confused because it assumed people commit suicide as if it were the effect of many different causes.


• Suicide as Japan’s major export? A note on Japanese Suicide Culture Mixes nihonjinron, sociology and bad economics into a confusing mess. While never intending, as is typical of such articles, justifies suicide by explaining it as the inevitable affect of certain causes.


• Suicide: Japan's Growing Nightmare "Dr. Nishijima feels that though cases of exhaustion depression and promotion triggered depression due to a huge dependence on the company have been decreasing, frequent absence from work syndrome, aversion depression, avoidant personality disorder and maladjustment stemming from mental disorders have increased. This is why suicide numbers have not decreased." Mental illnesses have been increasing because of modern society? Hardly. More problems are being regarded not as an ethical problem but as a health problem. This, of course, dehumanizes people and contributes to the problems it seeks to resolve.

Upcoming Election Links:

• 2007/05/10 POLITICAL PULSE / Abe Cabinet likely to survive July poll Takashi Oda, The Yomiuri Shimbun; Interesting pre-Matsuoka analysis of the election. How have things changed after Matsuoka's suicide.