VIPs, including Vice President Taro Aso, came one after another… Alumni voiced their outrage at Nichi-Dai’s “luxury party held at an ultra-luxurious hotel.

The Okura Tokyo hotel is located in Toranomon, Tokyo. The “Heian-no-Ma” is a luxurious banquet hall with wall decorations based on the motif of the national treasure “Preface to the Kokin Wakashu (Anthology of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry)”.

On February 6, a banquet was held in the Heian-no-Ma.

It was a celebration for the Nihon University Golf Club. It was held to celebrate the victory of the men’s team in last year’s National Intercollegiate Golf Tournament. Yuta Sugiura, the captain of the team, who became the seventh amateur in history to win the Dunlop Phoenix last November, and professional golfers who are alumni of the team were in attendance,” said an official of Nihon University.

The fee for the event was 20,000 yen. About 40 tables were prepared, and about 370 people attended. The attendees were not only members of Nihon University and ОB professional golfers, but also the chairman of a prestigious Shizuoka course and other distinguished guests. However, the most prominent “VIPs” were the big-name politicians who were seated in the “upper seats” in front of the stage.

LDP Vice President Taro Aso was in attendance. Other politicians, including Akiko Santo, former Speaker of the House of Councillors, were also present. Mr. Aso is good friends with the director of the golf club, Koji Wada, and they are golfing buddies.

The meeting also featured a video message from Akyuryu Iwasaki, a professional golfer, and a live performance by the brass band of Nihon University. The event ended with more than a dozen professional golfers from Nihon University taking the stage and singing the school song.

As you know, Nihon University has been in a constant state of turmoil since last year. In August of last year, a member of the Nihon University football team was arrested for possession of marijuana and other charges.’ At the end of 2010, the university authorities came under criticism when it was discovered that they had failed to take appropriate action, such as immediately reporting the incident to the police, despite a self-report by a member of the team that he had used what he believed to be marijuana and information provided by an outside source.

Subsequently, another member of the club was arrested in October and November of last year. In December of last year, the decision was made to abolish the football team, but the way in which even members of the team who were not involved in the incident were punished under a “joint sitting system” in an attempt to contain criticism once again caused a stir.

One former Nichidai board member said, “The football team’s marijuana incident, etc., was a major cause of controversy.

The marijuana incident at the football team and other incidents have brought the management of Nihon University into question, and it has become a major social issue. I think it is not right to hold such a lavish gala under such circumstances. Director Wada once had a close relationship with Chancellor Hidetoshi Tanaka (who passed away in January of this year). After Chancellor Tanaka lost his position, Director Wada’s influence within the university declined. However, with the victory of Sugiura-kun, the captain of the team, last year, he probably did not want to miss this opportunity to hold a grand celebration. I think he wanted to make it an occasion to showcase his presence.”

The invitation for this celebration banquet arrived at the concerned parties in December of last year. In the meantime, the LDP’s slush fund issue had become a major social problem, and Noto was hit by a major earthquake. There should have been plenty of time to hold off on the banquet itself, but the fact that such a decision was not made is a clear indication of the unchanging nature of Nichi-Dai.