When I was reading the Japanese news online, I came across this article.

 

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Senior education ministry official arrested in alleged bribery case involving child’s entry to university

 

<the first paragraph of the article>

Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday arrested a high-ranking education ministry official on suspicion of accepting a bribe from Tokyo Medical University in exchange for a personal favor.

Futoshi Sano, a 58-year-old director general and former deputy vice minister, allegedly received the bribe in May 2017 from the university, which asked him to be named as a candidate for a ministry project in return for granting his child a place at the university, according to the special squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

(from the Japan Times)

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As I understand it, the education ministry has the authority to decide school curriculums for public schools in Japan. For example, they set the requirements for English language education in elementary schools and have decided English classes will begin as early as the third grade. (It is a controversial topic, and many educators and researchers are still discussing and debating the prospective effect of this change.)

As for board members of national university corporations in Japan, preparing a budget request and negotiating with the education ministry are two of their most arduous tasks.

(You can find out why they are not national universities, but national university corporations in this article by Yamamoto).

 

Since the people who work in the education ministry are like the emperors of the education dynasty in Japan and have the power to decide school curriculums and budget allocations for national university corporations, they need to understand clearly what people can and cannot do in our society, otherwise it will be impossible for them to provide suitable curriculums for schools in Japan and allocate appropriate budgets for national university corporations.

 

And here is the news report. By committing bribery, which is a major crime in Japan, Sano proved that he did not deserve a position at the education ministry. He should be ashamed of himself! Because of his actions, people all over the world have come to believe that the education ministry is corrupt. I am a little worried that many foreigners may now think that public schools in Japan are also corrupt because their curriculums are created by the ministry to which this dishonorable director general used to belong. 

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