Reference News, December 26 - According to Kyodo News, on December 26, Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Hayashi Yoshimasa made a public apology at a press conference. The reason was that the campaign team of Hayashi submitted corrected financial reports for the activities during last year's House of Representatives election to the Yamaguchi Prefectural Election Management Committee, and the labor fee items paid to 13 people were deleted.

He said, "The private secretary handled the report improperly, causing trouble for everyone, and I sincerely apologize for this." Regarding his own position, Hayashi denied the possibility of resignation, stating, "I will continue to fulfill my duties as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications and take thorough measures to prevent such incidents from happening again."

According to Hayashi, the involved secretary explained during an inquiry: "We needed to return unused election funds to the office, and we conducted improper financial handling to avoid cumbersome procedures. The 130,000 yen was spent after the election." It is reported that the secretary has received a reprimand.

Hayashi is an elected member of the third electoral district in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Regarding the issue of labor fees, several recipients previously stated in the report that they did not provide services or receive payment, which raised doubts about the content of the report. On December 25, a person related to Hayashi's campaign team applied to the Election Management Committee for correction, deleting the record of payments totaling 130,000 yen to 13 residents in Yamaguchi Prefecture's Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Additionally, according to the website of Japan's Asahi Shimbun, on December 26, it was learned that 12 statistical data published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) did not include the number of students in special education schools (Toku-kou). After discovering that the university enrollment rate calculation did not include the number of graduates from special education schools, MEXT began an investigation into the matter.

On December 26, the MEXT released the results of the investigation. This revision covered data spanning 77 years, which is rare in basic statistical data.

Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Matsamoto Hiroyuki formally apologized at a press conference following the cabinet meeting, saying, "We are deeply sorry that we failed to identify the problem and allowed it to exist for many years. I sincerely apologize for this."

He also said, "In the future, we will strictly verify the data, and if any modifications are needed, we will immediately address them." He also revealed that three officials, including the director of the Comprehensive Education Policy Bureau, who were directly responsible, have received warnings from the vice minister.

In addition to the university enrollment rate, the issues exposed also include high school enrollment rates, the percentage of high school graduates who directly enter the workforce, and so on.

These data have always been important references for policy-making as materials for discussions by the Central Council for Education (a consultative body of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology).

The largest change in data before and after the revision was in the "entrance rate of new students to universities and junior colleges (male)" in 2024, which dropped by 1.7 percentage points from 60.7% to 59.0%. The "university enrollment rate" for the 2024 fiscal year was also revised from 59.1% to 58.6%.(Translated by Liu Lin, Ma Xiaoyun)

Original: toutiao.com/article/7588145554287493647/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.