Yoshiro Mori’s Lavish Hotel Dining with Average Spending Over 20,000 Yen
Following the Tokyo Olympics corruption case, will he get away with the political fund party slush fund issue as well? Even after moving into a high-grade nursing home, he still goes out to dinner in his wheelchair at night
On Friday, January 12th, around 6:00 PM, a black sedan smoothly slid into the front entrance of an ultra-luxurious hotel located in a prime area of Tokyo.
The driver took a wheelchair out of the trunk and set it up quickly, then opened the rear door. From inside, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori (86) emerged, dressed casually in a pale blue jacket and chinos. Mori slowly sat down in his wheelchair, watched over by two female passengers, and proceeded into the building with the doormen bowing deeply at his side.
The group headed for a private room in the hotel’s Japanese restaurant. It is a high-class restaurant that has been patronized by successive prime ministers and Diet members. The menu includes Japanese kaiseki and shabu-shabu, with the average cost per customer at 20,000 yen or more.
Mori was the fourth chairman of the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai (Abe Faction), the largest faction of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and even after his retirement from politics, he remains the guardian of the Abe Faction and is well known for his tremendous influence within the faction.
“There has been keen interest in how far the special investigation unit can probe into Mr. Mori’s involvement in the clandestine funds incident surrounding political fundraising parties,” reported a national newspaper political affairs journalist.
However, on this very day, reports began to emerge that the Abe faction had started considering corrections to the political funds reports of its affiliated members. Some insiders in Nagatacho mentioned, “The outlook for the special investigation unit’s inquiry seems to be getting uncertain.” In fact, on the following day, there were news reports suggesting that the special investigation unit was leaning towards abandoning the indictment of key members, including past secretaries-general of the Abe faction.
“There is a significant possibility that, as of the 12th, Mr. Mori had already received information about the special investigation unit’s decision,” reported the same source.
If Mr. Mori had indeed been aware of the special investigation unit’s actions, the dinner at the hotel must have been quite enjoyable, one would imagine.
