Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

• May 1995 Filed lawsuits against Miyagi and Tokyo
Prefectures;
• January 1996 Coordinated the Second Meeting of
Citizen Ombudsmen,;
• June 1996 A Tokyo Court judgment ordered
Tokyo Prefecture to disclose the names of officials and
attendants in entertainment;
• July 1996 A Sendai Court judgment ordered the
disclosure of names and provided a precedent for the
definition of privacy;
• April 2000 A Sendai District Court ordered the
prefecture police and assembly to disclose certain police
information excluding expenses with providers; and
• June 2001 The Sendai High Court, overturning
the Sendai District Court ruling, ordered the Miyagi
Prefecture to disclose details of food-related expenses
incurred by the prefecture police. (Lapeta)
Campaigns were initiated by filing requests for
information disclosure. Then the Ombudsman,
employing other lawyers, filed lawsuits in case the request
was rejected or disclosure was unsatisfactory. Another
issue that should be mentioned as an outstanding
case is the establishment of the nationwide network.
This network has investigated food and beverage
expenses [shokuryohi], official entertainment expenses
[kankansettai], and empty business trip [karashucchoo].
Then they expanded their experience for nationwide
activities.
Around late 1995, the National Citizen Ombudsman
announced its new target on the karashucchoo. At that
time, the Ombudsmen became well-known and the press
followed their movement closely. After their next target
had been published, progressive governors commenced
their own investigations. A total of 43.6 billion yen was
identified as fake spending by 25 prefectures, 30 billion
yen was called back and more than 20,000 prefecture
officials nationwide were reprimanded or subjected to
disciplinary measures.
This situation allows us to realize that local governments
were forced to follow citizen opinion on the next target
for investigation, otherwise the Ombudsmen would
investigate.
Needless to say, the activities of the Sendai Ombudsmen
and the National Citizens Ombudsmen Organization
caused changes in local government can be claimed
citizen participation in local administration. The
Citizen Ombudsman’s activities sent two clear messages
to governments:
1) insufficient transparency would produce a lower
rating that would reflect badly on both the prefecture
SOCIAL JUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY
405
and its public officials; and
2) lavish wining and dining and falsifying expenses
claims would no longer be tolerated. (Kingston: 2004, 47)
The establishment of information disclosure systems
at the local level was set in motion by the mid-1990s
movements of taxpayers to expose cases of accountbook
juggling in local governments. During the
1990s, Japanese vocabulary was enriched through the
performance of civil society. For example:
• Kan-kan settai, enkai gyosei, and karashccho—describing
some of the seamy realities of public life;
• Kan-kan settai [official-to-official entertainment] refers
to the widespread practice of local government officials
entertaining national government bureaucrats to
curry favor and hopefully tap into central government
funding;
• Enkai gyosei [partying bureaucrats] is the derisive
appellation for officials who enjoy high living on the
public purse; and
• Karashuccho [empty business trip] refers to the claiming
of travel expenses for non-existent business trips.
(Kingston: 2004, 46)
These words came from information disclosure activitities
that lifted the secrecy veil of local governments.
The revelations that emerged at this time dealt a heavy
blow to the public-equals-official society. It was found
that local government officials had made a common
practice of siphoning off public funds through the
manipulation of accounts billed under such categories
as official trips and extra hires, using the funds to
entertain visiting officials from the ministries in Tokyo
as a means of soliciting generous subsidies from the
central government. (Shin’ichi: 1999, 40-41)
The success of information disclosure in Japan depended
on a number of interrelated factors:
1) individuals or organizations’willingness to submit
requests and access government information;
2) knowing how to effectively use requested information
to exercise oversight and participate in policymaking;
3) electing politicians who will support disclosure;
4) highlighting the importance of electing political
leaders who will establish and interpret rules favorable
to transparency;
5) representatives’ stance on information disclosure;
6) building an independent judiciary and judicial
reform;
7) media support; and
8) the strength and autonomy of NPOs. (Kingston:
2004, 67)
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows