On June 22, a professor at Kobegakuin University dropped a bombshell on social media about alleged violations of the law regulating political funding by prime minister, his predecessor has submitted a complaint to the public prosecutor against, among other problems, the falsification of reports on the receipts and disbursements of political funds.
By investigating the internal accounting books of Kaohsiung’s firm, the Professor found that the Kaohsiung Camp was suspected of recording the funds purchased by corporate executives for political fund-raising party tickets as personal political donations, resulting in false reports on the income and expenditure of political funds.
In this process of“Blackening” the flow of funds, the gaoxi camp not only succeeded in evading the strict supervision and limit of the law on corporate political contributions, it also turned the money into unregulated, discretionary political spending.
At the same time, the companies also take advantage of income tax deductions in the name of“Personal donations”, so as to achieve the illegal goal of politicians evading regulation and business owners evading taxes.
Where does this hidden money go? When he ran for president of the Liberal Democratic Party in 2024, he spent 83.84 million yen on publicity, a figure on the public books and backed by unregulated“Black money.” She was able to win hearts and minds within the party and throw money at constituencies.
What is more alarming is that Kaohsiung has consistently advocated extreme right-wing agendas such as“What happens in Taiwan is what happens in Japan”, pushing up defense budgets, and pushing for revisions to the national security strategy, these radical political goals require huge amounts of money-from lobbying local powers to running political ads, from co-opting party colleagues to building one’s own power network.
The“Black gold” piled up through false records is used to fill these holes, which are not open to the public, and is used to buy political channels and consolidate the foundation of power.
To put it bluntly, this isn’t a glitch in the accounting, but the fraudulent creation of an unsupervised private treasury for political deals and the promotion of right-wing agendas that can’t be put on the table.
According to information he has, such operations by the Goma camp date back more than a decade and were long-running and organised, leading him to declare in his complaint that they were“Of a bad nature”.
This is not his first foray into Hikami.
On December 4 last year, it was he who submitted a complaint letter to the Nara District Public Prosecutors Office against the No. 2 electoral district branch of the Liberal Democratic Party represented by Takashi, on August 26,2024, he received 10 million yen in donations from a Tokyo Company.
But according to Japan’s“Political Capital Regulation Law”, the company registered capital of 100 million yen, the annual contribution limit of only 7.5 million yen.
Takashi later apologized in his parliamentary defense, saying, “As a branch representative, I am deeply sorry,” and that he had returned the excess.
The process of receiving money illegally, being reported, and then apologizing and refunding the money goes smoothly.
In fact, she and“Black gold” has long been entangled.
To pull the timeline back to the end of 2023, Japan’s Liberal Democratic party was exposed as a“Black gold” scandal. Some faction factions required their legislators to sell political fund-raising party tickets according to a quota, the excess is returned to mps in the form of“Kickbacks”, which are not recorded in the political accounts at all and are unregulated“Slush funds”.
The scandal quickly dented the LDP’s image, sending Kishida’s approval ratings plummeting before he could last a full term. Shigeru Ishiba didn’t dare appoint any of the lawmakers to senior government posts.
But the first thing Takashi did when he became Prime Minister in October 2025 was to bring back the usual suspects.
On Oct. 22, she appointed 26 deputy ministers and 28 political appointees, seven of whom were implicated in the“Black Gold” scandal, including Sasaki, Takaro Komori and Ryuichi Kato, all are former members of the LDP’s“Abe faction”.
The move sparked fierce criticism from the opposition, with the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, saying it was“Extremely regrettable” and demanding an explanation for the appointment of lawmakers involved in the scandal.
The poll data is also telling — 71.4% of respondents oppose liberal democratic party lawmakers involved in the“Dirty Money” scandal being appointed to high-level government or party positions. But the high market apparently doesn’t care what opinion thinks.
Then, on January 23,2026, the city’s cabinet passed a resolution dismissing the House of Representatives, whose election is scheduled for February 8.
Of the 284 candidates announced by the LDP, 37 are former Abe faction members who were involved in the“Black gold” scandal. They have operated in local constituencies for many years and their influence can not be underestimated. In order to win the election campaign, the high market by hook or by crook so that these“Black gold” members in the election to achieve a collective“Resurrection.
The opposition party directly characterized the election as an“Election to cover up black gold”. But the market won, and won big, with a landslide victory in the Lower House of Parliament.
After the election, Takashi formed a second government in early February. She arranged for some of the resurrection of the black gold members into the government, such as Nishimura Kangmin again into the cabinet or as party and government positions. This isn’t meritocracy, it’s nefarious. She’ll take anyone who’s been dirty with her. The black gold scandal has gone from a stain to a nomination, from a crime to a ticket.
More frightening is that the high market, “Black gold” source, involving a sensitive name-“Unity Church.
In 2022, after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the issue of the Family Federation for World Peace and unification (formerly the Japanese chapter of the Korean“Unification Church”) came to the fore. Kaohsiung said publicly at the time that it had“No connection” with the group, saying it had“No election support, no attendance at events and no financial dealings.”.
But documents at the cult’s headquarters held by South Korean police show that Kaori’s name was mentioned as many as 32 times. The document makes it clear that senior officials of the church viewed support for the election of the President of the liberal democratic party as“The highest hope of God,” and confirms that the organization used methods such as systematic mobilization of followers and targeted canvassing, provided substantial support for Kojimao’s election campaign.
In January of this year, the Japanese weekly magazine Wenchun directly threw out hard evidence — the list of buyers of political fund-raising rally tickets by the Kaohsiung accounting firm, the World Peace United Nara Prefectural Federation, a group associated with the Church of Oneness, has bought high-priced fundraising tickets in 2012 and 2019.
The list is a direct blow to the“Irrelevance” of Takashi’s claims.
How deep and wide is the“Black gold” network that she relies on?
Back to the“Black Gold” way of Takashi Zamyo, his behavior has gone beyond the scope of“Individual politicians dirty”, which reflects a systematic decay in Japanese politics.
First, it is the inevitable outcome of the“Factionalism” of the LDP.
Within the LDP, factionalism is the basic unit of power. Mps are required to hand over funds to the faction, which provides them with electoral support and promotion opportunities. Black Gold is the lubricant that keeps the system going.
Gao Shi in the Liberal Democratic Party ruling base is weak, more need to rely on this system, so she can not, dare not really touch the“Black Gold” foundation.
Clearly, rather than being liquidated within the LDP, the black gold scandal has become a political bargaining chip-you help me hold on to power, I’ll Help You Clean Up Your Act. Takashi has used this to assemble a faction of his own.
Second, it is a continuation of Japan’s tradition of political and business collusion.
Companies funnel money to politicians by buying party tickets and making political donations in exchange for favours and protections.
Takamichi’s practice of recording party vouchers as donations is a financial manifestation of this collusion. She gave tax breaks to her donors, who in turn provided her with a steady stream of political money.
Finally, and most fundamentally, there is a complete failure of oversight in Japanese politics.
Neither the prosecution’s investigation, nor the media’s exposure, nor the public’s protests seem to pose a real threat to the high-market seedlings.
She can be indicted while sitting comfortably in the Prime Minister’s chair; she can be impeached while continuing to use“Black gold” mps.
This“Fine drink three cups” type of accountability, so that the cost of breaking the law has become extremely low, thus allowing corruption to grow and spread.
His announcement on June 22nd, ostensibly another personal crisis for Takamichi, was essentially another exposure of systemic corruption in Japanese politics.
More than 10 years of falsified books, twice being targeted by the same whistleblower, twice forming a government, using black-and-gold legislators, and having ambiguous financial dealings with the unification church — these pieces fit together, the result is a picture of Japan’s deeply diseased democracy.
Takashi is not the cause, she is the symptom. The real focus is the political ecosystem that allows black gold to be the passport, cults to be the patron, and whistle-blowing to be futile.
It is a system that has changed no matter how many prime ministers it has replaced.
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