Latest news with #Hyogo
Japan Times
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Hyogo governor referred to prosecutors over alleged vote-buying
Police referred Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito to prosecutors Friday on suspicion of vote-buying over his alleged payments to a public relations company for campaign activities in the prefecture's gubernatorial election last November, people familiar with the investigation said. The prefectural police sent papers on Saito, 47, to prosecutors after a criminal complaint was filed last December over the governor's alleged payments in violation of the public offices election law. The police also sent papers on the 33-year-old president of the PR firm. Saito has also been referred to prosecutors for an alleged breach of trust related to a victory parade for local baseball teams. The governor has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Speaking to reporters in Kobe on Friday, Saito said, "There is no change in my recognition that I've acted in compliance with laws, including the public offices election law." The PR company president has not responded to requests for comment. Saito is suspected of paying ¥715,000 to the PR firm on Nov. 4 last year for work on his re-election campaign, which included planning a PR strategy and managing the campaign's social media presence. The PR company president said in an online post on Nov. 20, 2024, three days after the election, that her company had been tasked with overall PR activities by Saito's team. The governor later refuted her claim during a news conference. In December, a lawyer and a university professor filed a criminal complaint against Saito over the alleged payments. After the PR firm refused to cooperate adequately with requests for voluntary questioning and document submissions, investigators seized evidence, including a smartphone, during a raid on the company's office in February. Saito first took office as Hyogo governor in August 2021. After being ousted from the post by the prefectural assembly last September over harassment allegations, he won re-election two months later.
Japan Times
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Hyogo governor slapped with criminal complaint over information leak
A criminal complaint was filed Tuesday against Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito and two others over the leak of private information relating to a whistleblower in the prefecture. Kobe Gakuin University professor Hiroshi Kamiwaki filed the complaint with the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office, alleging violations of the confidentiality duty under the local public service law. The complaint also targeted former Vice Gov. Yasutaka Katayama and Chiaki Inomoto, former head of the prefecture's general affairs department. According to the complaint, Inomoto showed three prefectural assembly members in April 2024 a printed copy of the private information, which had been stored on a computer for official use. The information was regarding a former senior prefectural government official who wrote and distributed a document alleging harassment by Saito, and who died in an apparent suicide July that year. Saito instructed Inomoto to inform the assembly members of the private information, while Katayama approved the leak after hearing from Inomoto about Saito's order, according to the complaint. A third-party investigative committee set up by the prefecture said in a report May 27 this year that Inomoto leaked the private information, likely at the instruction of Saito and Katayama. The committee found that there is a "certain persuasiveness" to the assembly member side's belief that the leak was likely aimed at weakening the credibility of the harassment allegation by casting doubt on the whistleblower's character. Saito has denied his involvement, saying he never ordered the leak. He said the prefecture will not seek criminal charges over the matter. The governor is subject to a separate criminal complaint, which alleges that he paid a public relations company for campaigning activities in the Hyogo gubernatorial election last November. Prefectural police and Kobe prosecutors raided sites linked to the company in February this year.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mitsubishi Electric to Conduct Demonstration Using CO2 Capture Machine Developed by ITRI in Taiwan
Highly efficient CO2 capture expected to contribute to comprehensive CCU system for achieving carbon neutrality. TOKYO, June 09, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it will launch a demonstration of technology to capture CO2 from flue gas, using a CO2 capture machine developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and installed at Mitsubishi Electric's Advanced Technology R&D Center in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture on June 9. The demonstration will last until September 2027. In April 2024, Mitsubishi Electric and ITRI concluded a basic agreement to cooperate on research targeting sustainability technologies. Since then, they have been engaged in research and development aimed at mitigating climate change through carbon dioxide capture and utilization (CCU) technology. CCU separates and captures CO2 emitted from power plants and factories and then uses the recovered CO2 to produce fuel and chemical products. In the demonstration, Mitsubishi Electric will connect the machine to a steam-generating boiler to test its effectiveness in capturing CO2 contained in boiler's flue gas. The machine uses a solid adsorption method, whereby CO2 is adsorbed onto a solid adsorbent, which is then heated to release and recover the CO2 before CO2 reduction and other processes. Conventionally, CO2 from flue gas has been captured using liquid absorption. In this method, CO2 is absorbed by an aqueous solution of amine, a chemical substance mainly composed of nitrogen atoms that can absorb CO2 and release it when heated or decompressed. However, this method requires a large amount of energy to evaporate the aqueous solution, resulting in energy loss. The new solid adsorption method does not use this evaporation process, thereby reducing the energy required to capture CO2. For the full text, please visit: View source version on Contacts Customer Inquiries Advanced Technology R&D CenterMitsubishi Electric CorporationFax: + Media Inquiries Takeyoshi KomatsuPublic Relations DivisionMitsubishi Electric CorporationTel: + Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Japan Times
05-06-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Japan Post may lose cargo license over widespread driver check failures
Japan Post may have its general cargo vehicle license revoked, the transport ministry said Wednesday, following revelations of the company's widespread failures in conducting mandatory alcohol and health checks for its drivers. The unprecedented move would be the heaviest administrative penalty available under the motor truck transportation business law, which stipulates that business operators must conduct sobriety checks for their drivers before and after work. If the revocation goes ahead, Japan Post would be barred from reapplying for a new license for five years, affecting around 2,500 trucks and one-box vans used by post offices nationwide. While the company's 32,000 mini vehicles would not be affected by the measure, as they are not covered by the license, the ministry is also reportedly considering barring Japan Post from using such vehicles. A formal hearing with the company will be held on June 18 at the Kanto District Transport Bureau in Yokohama. Disruptions to the company's transport services — including parcel deliveries — are seen as inevitable, and the company is reportedly considering outsourcing its operations to mitigate the impact. The safety violations first came to light in January, when it was discovered that a post office in Hyogo Prefecture had for years failed to properly check drivers' sobriety, fatigue level and quantity of sleep status . In April, Japan Post disclosed that improper checks had occurred at 75% of its 3,188 delivery offices nationwide. In response, the transport ministry launched a special audit on April 25 under the motor truck transportation business law and began on-site inspections at facilities such as Takanawa Post Office in Tokyo's Minato ward and others across the country. The ministry has prioritized inspecting post offices that operate trucks and one-box vehicles, which pose higher accident risks if driven while drunk. The audit revealed numerous instances of missed checks and falsified records in the Kanto region alone, far surpassing the threshold for license revocation. A senior ministry official said the violations 'undermine the very foundation of transport safety.' Japan Post issued a statement acknowledging the severity of the situation, saying, "We deeply regret this matter and apologize for any inconvenience it may cause to our customers and other concerned parties." A transport ministry official said they will provide support to Japan Post to lessen the impact on its distribution network should its license be revoked.
Japan Times
03-06-2025
- General
- Japan Times
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito to take 50% pay cut over info leak
The Hyogo prefectural government said Tuesday that it plans to cut Gov. Motohiko Saito's monthly salary by half over three months from July, after the personal information of a whistleblower held by the prefecture was leaked. The 50% cut includes a 30% reduction that the governor pledged in his reelection campaign. The Hyogo government will submit an ordinance on the additional cut to the prefectural assembly soon. Saito told reporters that he will punish himself over the poor information management. "As the head of the organization, I feel responsible for not being able to properly manage information held by the prefecture," he said. The personal information was that of a former prefectural government employee who wrote and distributed a document alleging harassment by Saito in March 2024 and who died four months later. During its investigation of the document, the prefecture found the personal information of the former official in question stored in his government-issued computer. This information was later leaked online. In a report on the matter released in May, a third-party committee said the leaked information is the same as that discovered by the Hyogo government in the computer. In a separate report released in the same month, another third-party committee said that Chiaki Inomoto, the former head of the prefecture's general affairs department, had leaked the personal information to prefectural assembly members. It concluded that this was likely to have been carried out under Saito's instructions. The prefectural government also plans to widen the pay cut for Vice Gov. Yohei Hattori from 15% to 25% for three months from July over his role in the leak.
