The culture of corruption in Japan is severe.
"What is common sense in the world is nonsense in Japan; what is common sense in Japan is nonsense in the world." This endlessly repeated paradox aptly describes the strange land of Japan.
The same applies to building homes. Humans spend 70-80% of their lives in their living environments, yet Japan’s housing environment ranks as the worst among major developed countries. By the standards of other advanced nations, about 60-70% of Japan’s buildings would be issued demolition orders due to poor environmental performance (in countries like the UK, rental properties that fail to meet environmental standards are subject to such orders). Do you know this terrifying fact?
And who allows this to continue? It’s the construction industry cartel, parasitic bureaucrats, politicians, and the media who collaborate with them—because that's where the profits lie.
Humans live by influencing their environment and being influenced by it. The "climate" formed through these interactions cannot be changed overnight. However, when this climate deviates from fundamental principles and norms, it eventually reaches its limits, causing organizations and societies to lose sustainability and face the risk of collapse. This universal principle applies to any society or organization.
Even in today’s Japanese society, this principle serves as a critical warning. Specifically, it is essential to address four key issues: ensuring fairness and transparency, clarifying responsibilities, formulating measures to prevent recurrence, and building trust. Only by achieving these goals can we restore the reliability of society and organizations and pave the way for a healthy future.
First, ensuring fairness and transparency is crucial. Internal investigations alone make it difficult to eliminate conflicts of interest among stakeholders completely, and it is unlikely to regain the trust of viewers and sponsors. Therefore, it is important to establish third-party committees appropriately and conduct independent and transparent investigations.
Next, clarifying responsibilities is required. By accurately identifying what happened and demonstrating how it was addressed, all stakeholders can fulfill their responsibilities and lay the foundation for regaining societal trust.
Additionally, formulating measures to prevent recurrence is necessary. By identifying structural problems within the current governance system and implementing specific and effective measures, similar issues can be prevented from recurring.
Finally, regarding transparency and trust-building, it is essential to publish the investigation results and subsequent responses, demonstrating a willingness to confront past shortcomings. This approach helps rebuild societal trust and sets a clear path for further improvement.
The voices of victims deceived by certain organizational powers highlight the lack of such efforts in the current state of Japanese society.
★★Below is the voice of victims of Japan's deeply rooted culture of corruption:★★
Victim X: “I was shocked and distressed by the figure of 90 million yen being thrown around as if it were true. I have never received such a large amount of money. I have no idea why this figure is being mentioned.”
Another point X wanted to emphasize was Fuji TV's response. As the controversy grew, Fuji TV continued to deny its involvement. After Nakai (a prominent figure) made a statement, Koichi Minato, the company’s president (72), sent an email to Fuji employees, saying, “As president, I will do everything in my power to protect all of you (Fuji employees),” without addressing the allegations involving Executive A of Fuji TV. X sighed in response to this.
“It’s undeniable that the incident stemmed from a gathering organized by Executive A of Fuji TV. Right after the incident occurred, I consulted someone from Fuji’s announcer department leadership. With all the media coverage and Fuji even replacing programs, their continued denial of involvement is shocking, but at the same time, I can’t help but feel resigned, thinking, ‘That’s just the kind of company they are,’” X remarked.
★★Above are the voices of victims of Japan’s deeply rooted culture of corruption.★★
The sexual exploitation scandal involving this television network, following the recent sexual abuse issue at Johnny & Associates, has been covered by media outlets worldwide, significantly damaging the reputation of Japan and its people. Japan and its citizens have suffered a tremendous loss of national interest and pride.
Now is the time for us to act, to prevent these major issues stemming from Japan’s corrupt culture from affecting future generations. Each of us must reflect on what we can do to restore trust in society and organizations and take action. This is the first step toward building a future where our children and grandchildren can live with peace of mind.