Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

SOCIAL JUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Mihariban 1990: Request for information on school budget.
Aug 1997-July 2001: Campaigned on “Anti-Olympic Movement”
(Mihariban, The Osaka Needs No Olympics Union, Osaka-wan Kaigi (Osaka
Bay Council)) (Asahi News Service, 25 August 1997)
Jan. 1999: Requested information on payments to two Olympic advisors.
Following this, IOC voting members were not be allowed to visit 2008 bid
cities and candidates were not allowed to give them gifts.
March 2000: Protested against subway construction. (Japan Economic
Newswire, 12 March 2000)
April 2001: Requested performance or sales data from Universal Studio Japan,
of which the City of Osaka holds 25% of shares as majority shareholder.( Japan
Economic Newswire, 13 April 2001)
July 2001: Requested details of 2.75 billion yen of expenses spent for the
Olympic bid campaign. (Japan Economic Newswire, 13 July 2001)
Sendai Ombudsman October 1996: Requested the Miyagi prefectural government disclose
information related to food expenditures for the police during police
conference. The prefecture refused.
Dec. 1996: Filed lawsuit to demand information on food expenditures.
In April 1998, the district court turned down the Ombudsman’s demand
but the Sendai High Court overturned the lower court decision on 17 Mar
and ordered the Miyagi prefectural government to disclose documents on
expenditures of the prefectural police and assembly. Therefore, in April
2000, the Sendai District Court ordered the prefecture to reveal most of the
information on the expenditures.
Sept. 2000: Filed lawsuit against 9 current and former police officers
for reimbursement of such food expenditures. In March 2002, the
Sendai District Court ordered these 9 officers to reimburse a part of food
expenditures. (Japan Economic Newswire, March 25, 2002; Asahi News
Service March 21, 2000)
Feb. 2001: Requested information on police expenses from Sendai
Prefecture; request was rejected.
April 2001: Filed lawsuit against Sendai prefecture. The Sendai District
Court, in Jan 2003, ordered the Prefecture to disclose the amount paid to
informers during investigation but keep confidential on identity of informers
and purpose of payment.
June 2001: Filed lawsuit to seek information on prosecutor’s research
fund. The Sendai District Court, in Dec 2003, ruled the Sendai High Public
Prosecutor’s Office misappropriated money allocated to it for research
activities around 1993 but refused to order disclosure of how the alleged
slush fund had been spent. (The Japan Times, 2 Dec. 2003)
Oct. 2003: Requested information on investigation fund and found that this
fund was spent for parties to entertain police.
403
Information disclosure request
Information disclosure request
Information disclosure request
Information disclosure request
Information disclosure request
Information disclosure suit
Resident suit to claim
damages from contractor
on behalf of police agencies
(derivative suit)
Information disclosure request
Information disclosure suit
Information disclosure suit
Information disclosure
request
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows