{"id":7904,"date":"2022-02-02T14:07:22","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T05:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tansa-en.test-server.world\/?post_type=investigativejournal&p=7904"},"modified":"2022-02-02T14:07:22","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T05:07:22","slug":"daikin-chairman-head-of-former-osaka-governor-supporters-organization-9","status":"publish","type":"investigativejournal","link":"https:\/\/tansa-en.test-server.world\/?investigativejournal=daikin-chairman-head-of-former-osaka-governor-supporters-organization-9","title":{"rendered":"Daikin chairman head of former Osaka governor supporters\u2019 organization (9)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n\n

Fusae Ota, now a Diet member in the House of Councillors (Liberal Democratic Party). Taken from the House of Councillors website.<\/p>\n \n

In 2004, Osaka Prefecture was notified that the world\u2019s highest recorded level of toxic chemical PFOA was spreading through its rivers following a survey by Kyoto University Professor Akio Koizumi and his team.<\/p>\n

The researchers had also located the source of the pollution: Daikin Industries\u2019 Yodogawa Plant. Although Koizumi recommended conducting a survey to determine the level of PFOA in plant workers and nearby residents, the prefectural government hesitated.<\/p>\n

One reason for the government\u2019s slow response may have been the presence of Daikin Chairman Noriyuki Inoue as head of a supporter\u2019s group for then prefectural governor Fusae Ota.<\/p>\n

Prefectural governor at Daikin festival<\/h2>\n

It was August 2007, five years after Inoue had become chair of Daikin\u2019s board, and the company was hosting its 36th annual Bon Dance Festival<\/a> at the Yodogawa Plant in Settsu City, Osaka Prefecture. The event, which is open to the community, had originally been planned by Inoue himself. That night, among a crowd of roughly 2,500 community members and other stakeholders, Inoue, clad in a yukata, was beaming.<\/p>\n

Prior to leading the company, Inoue had worked as deputy manager of the Yodogawa Plant.<\/p>\n

The plant, which had been developing and producing fluorochemicals, had a history of polluting the community since the 1950s. Incidents included a fluorine gas leak that withered crops, and residents who had been forced to evacuate once even marched on the plant. Inoue organized the Bon Dance Festival, and in 1973 he was put in charge of the company\u2019s new community affairs section, whose job it was to deal with residents.<\/p>\n

Inoue went on to rise through the ranks, becoming a director in 1979, president in 1994, and chair of the board in 2002.<\/p>\n

The 2007 Bon Dance Festival had a special guest join the 2,500 Settsu residents: Fusae Ota, then governor of Osaka Prefecture.<\/p>\n

What had brought the governor to a single company\u2019s event?<\/p>\n

Daikin biggest corporate supporter at Ota\u2019s political fundraising parties<\/h2>\n

Chairman Inoue was also head of an Ota supporters\u2019 organization called \u201cOsaka Takes On the 21st Century.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization was formed in 2000 when Ota ran for prefectural governor. It was comprised of big names in the region\u2019s business world who had high hopes for Ota, a former bureaucrat in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and who aimed to oust her predecessor, Knock Yokoyama. Originally headed by Yoichi Morishita, chairman of Matsushita Electric Industrial (now Panasonic), Inoue took over as the third leader of the group in 2006.<\/p>\n

The supporters\u2019 organization helped fund Ota\u2019s political activities. According to a 2007 survey conducted by Takeshi Miyahara, then a member of the Osaka prefectural assembly affiliated with the Communist Party, between 2000 and 2006 the following funds were received by Ota\u2019s fund management group, the \u201cFu-chan Supporters\u2019 Association.\u201d Donations from \u201cOsaka Takes On the 21st Century\u201d accounted for nearly half of the total.<\/p>\n

\u30fbOsaka Takes On the 21st Century: 31 million yen (about $270,000)
\n\u30fbOsaka Governor Fusae Ota Supporters\u2019 Association: 28 million yen (about $243,000)
\n\u30fbGovernor Ota herself: 2 million yen (about $17,000)
\n\u30fbOther: 1.57 million yen (about $14,000)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, where did \u201cOsaka Takes On the 21st Century\u201d get its money?<\/p>\n

The largest source of income was so-called political fundraising parties, which make a profit by selling admission tickets while offering only limited food and drink. These parties raised more than 40% of the organization\u2019s income, totaling 181.53 million yen (about $1.6 million) from 2000 to 2006.<\/p>\n

Daikin bought admission tickets almost every year. In 2003, 2005, and 2006, respectively, it bought 1 million yen (about $8,700) worth of tickets, the most of any corporate participant.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n

Daikin Industries\u2019 Yodogawa Plant<\/p>\n \n

Brushing off underweight birth rate<\/h2>\n

The above-mentioned prefectural assembly member, Miyahara, specifically examined the relationship between Daikin Chairman Inoue and Governor Ota as he investigated the funds from \u201cOsaka Takes On the 21st Century\u201d and the \u201cFu-chan Supporters\u2019 Association.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miyahara was also concerned about PFOA. He felt that despite Koizumi\u2019s 2004 survey finding the world\u2019s highest level of PFOA pollution in an Osaka river, nothing had been done to address the problem. Most worrisome of all, data showed rates of both low birth weights and cancer deaths in Osaka Prefecture to be higher than the national average.<\/p>\n

In September 2007, Miyahara asked Ota about the issue at a prefectural assembly session.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe highest concentration of PFOA was found in river water near the Aigawa River Basin Sewage Treatment Plant. It was 67,000 nanograms per liter, the highest recorded level in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPollution from Daikin is why the level is so high there. I was told a survey of the area will be conducted soon, but it\u2019s my impression that things are moving incredibly slowly. No one\u2019s even asked Daikin about its PFOA emissions and efforts to reduce them yet. I cannot understand why the survey around the plant and inquiries to the company are taking so long. Please explain.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the latest statistics, the rate of low birth weights \u2014 babies born weighing less than 2,500 grams \u2014 in Osaka is much higher than the national average. Unfortunately, we also have Japan\u2019s highest cancer mortality rate. The maternal mortality rate is also above the national average. I worry PFOA is already affecting mothers and babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Ota\u2019s response was far from reassuring.<\/p>\n

\u201cScientific knowledge has advanced a lot in recent years,\u201d she said, \u201cand there are many substances which we are beginning to suspect are dangerous. In this context, we are taking a leading role in the PFOA issue, not lagging behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, residents in Settsu City were found to have high levels of PFOA in their blood even in 2021. If Ota had taken action against Daikin as Miyahara pressed in 2007, subsequent harm may have been lessened. Had Ota hesitated because Daikin Chairman Inoue was head of one of her supporters\u2019 organizations?<\/p>\n

To find out, Tansa sent written questions to Ota, who now serves as a member of the House of Councilors (Liberal Democratic Party), and Inoue. Their answers were as follows.<\/p>\n

Ota: \u201cIt\u2019s my understanding that the two matters are completely unrelated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inoue: \u201cI will refrain from answering questions about individual matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Tansa obtained documents that contradict Ota\u2019s response that the prefecture was \u201ctaking a leading role to address the PFOA issue,\u201d which we will share in the next article.<\/p>\n

To be continued.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

(Originally published in Japanese<\/a> on Jan. 28, 2022. Translation by Annelise Giseburt.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","investigativejournal_category":[82],"investigativejournal_oneshot":[],"class_list":["post-7904","investigativejournal","type-investigativejournal","status-publish","hentry","investigativejournal_category-pfoa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tansa-en.test-server.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/investigativejournal\/7904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tansa-en.test-server.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/investigativejournal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tansa-en.test-server.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/investigativejournal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tansa-en.test-server.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tansa-en.test-server.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"investigativejournal_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tansa-en.test-server.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Finvestigativejournal_category&post=7904"},{"taxonomy":"investigativejournal_oneshot","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tansa-en.test-server.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Finvestigativejournal_oneshot&post=7904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}