Hokkaido is spending more than $1 million to lobby lawmakers in Tokyo

SAPPORO — Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki said he has instructed city officials to improve the efficiency of business travel after revelations that several top local officials had repeatedly traveled to Tokyo to lobby some lawmakers.

However, Suzuki seemed to justify such numerous visits at a press conference on May 30.

“It is very important to ask for cooperation to advance Hokkaido politics,” he said.

Municipal officials including Sapporo spent about 178 million yen ($1.14 million) over the five years from fiscal 2019 on trips to Tokyo to “inform” about five members of parliament on political issues, according to an investigation by the Hokkaido government. Hokkaido.

The main recipient of the severance pay was Gaku Hasegawa, a member of the upper house of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party from Hokkaido, who was charged with harassment of the government.

In fiscal year 2019, Hasegawa made 238 information visits.

Another member of parliament, unidentified by the Hokkaido government, made 117 information visits, the second most this year.

At the prefectural level, Hokkaido government officials made 50 business trips to Tokyo just to meet Hasegawa in fiscal year 2019.

In fiscal year 2020, Hasegawa received the most visits again, with 194. For 35 of the 194 visits, Hokkaido government officials traveled to Tokyo and spoke only with Hasegawa.

An anonymous member of the Sejm took third place with 58 visits.

According to sources, that member of parliament was likely Takamori Yoshikawa, a former agriculture minister found guilty of accepting a 5 million yen bribe from an agricultural industry official.

Yoshikawa resigned at the end of 2020 after the scandal was revealed.

In fiscal years 2019 and 2020, Yoshikawa headed the Hokkaido branch of the LDP. Together with Hasegawa, Yoshikawa received various petitions regarding local politics.

The two also brought together bureaucrats from various ministries and agencies to review the progress of the policy.

By fiscal year 2023, municipal governments in Hokkaido became increasingly dependent on Hasegawa, and officials traveled to the capital more frequently to meet with him.

As Hasegawa acted as an intermediary with the central government, decarbonization policies, a core tenet of Governor Suzuki’s administration, moved forward. The zero carbon Hokkaido project has also been included in the central government’s policy framework.

However, in late March this year, the weekly Shukan Bunshun published an audio story about Hasegawa making various demands to Sapporo city workers.

They worked on a project to implement a decarbonized special financial and asset management zone.

According to the magazine, Hasegawa used vulgar language and vulgar behavior towards them and increased their overtime hours.