TOKYO: An endorsement by the wife of Japan's prime minister of a new elementary school run by a man with ultra-nationalistic views has been removed from the school's website amid an escalating controversy over the low price the school paid for government land.
The scandal surfaced after Japanese media reported that the state property in Osaka was sold in 2016 for 134 million yen ($1.2 million), one-seventh of its appraised price. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has denied he or his wife Akie had any influence over the land deal.
The same school operator runs a kindergarten with a curriculum said to resemble that of pre-World War II Japan. It plans a similar approach for the elementary school, which is set to open in April, pending final approval by Osaka prefecture.
The scandal has dominated the parliamentary debate, with opposition lawmakers summoning finance and education ministry officials to clarify how the school obtained the large discount.
Nobutaka Sagawa, an official at the Finance Ministry, which oversees state land transactions, told parliament this week that the land was initially appraised at 956 million yen ($8.5 million), but that was reduced after industrial waste was found at the complex, leading to the deduction of an 820 million yen ($7.3 million) cleanup cost. He denied any illegality or political influence in the process. Officials said the waste removal was not compulsory, and they could not confirm whether the school had actually done it.
Akie Abe agreed to become honorary principal of the elementary school, "Mizuho no Kuni" (The Land of Rice)," after visiting the kindergarten, also run by Yasunori Kagoike, a few years ago.
In a message posted on the school website, she wrote that she was deeply impressed with Kagoike's "passion for education" and that the school's moral education fosters Japanese pride and strong principles among children. The message and her photo, which were on the website on Wednesday, were no longer there on Thursday. Abe's office refused to comment, and phone calls to the school were not answered.
The school and Kagoike have also drawn attention over a note distributed to parents of its kindergarten children that criticised Koreans and Chinese, prompting Osaka prefectural officials to question the school, which later apologised.