Reference News Network, December 10 report: According to Japan Yahoo News on December 10, citing the website "Mainichi Shimbun", the financial statement published on November 28 showed that the second district branch of the Liberal Democratic Party in Nara Prefecture, led by Takahashi Hayato, received a donation of 10 million yen from a company, which exceeded the limit stipulated by the Political Funds Control Law. However, recently, people's attention has shifted to another donor organization.
This little-known religious group is called "Kamiyakura", located in Takahashi's hometown of Nara. The above financial report clearly shows that the organization donated 30 million yen to Takahashi's branch on December 13 last year.
Adding the 10 million yen mentioned at the beginning of this article, the total reaches 40 million yen, which is more than 20% of the branch's annual income, making it a major benefactor indispensable for the prime minister.
According to the website "周刊文春" on December 10, the political fund financial statement reported that Takahashi Hayato's fund management organization, the "New Era Policy Research Association," transferred approximately 18.12 million yen to Tairyu Times Co., Ltd. on April 25, 2024, for "data entry work." On September 24 of the same year, they also paid about 19.97 million yen for "envelope and briefing printing and binding costs."
In addition to these amounts, two other organizations, including the second district branch of the Liberal Democratic Party in Nara Prefecture under Takahashi, also made more than ten payments to Tairyu Times Co., Ltd. in the past year.
Shigehiro Uwasa, professor at Kobe Gakuin University, who is familiar with the issue of political donations, introduced that Tairyu Times Co., Ltd. is an affiliated company of the Tairyu religion, responsible for printing the official newspaper of the Tairyu religion, "Tairyu Times."
He also pointed out: "The fact that Takahashi asked this company to handle data entry work proves that she is providing personal information such as member lists to Tairyu Times, indicating a close relationship between the two sides. Now that Takahashi has become the prime minister, the Tairyu religion may likely hope that these affiliated companies will be endorsed by Takahashi on their behalf."
Takahashi responded in writing: "We do not respond to inquiries beyond the legal requirements, and all expenses were used for activities of relevant political organizations." (Translated by Liu Lin)
Original: toutiao.com/article/7582208311030809129/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.