<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the previous article &#8220;Reality of Grabbing Money Revealed with Cash Stuffed as Farewell Gifts and Unclear Uses of Government Confidential Funds,&#8221; Mr. Shoichi Ishikawa (a pseudonym), who worked as a chauffeur for ministers at the Cabinet Office, revealed that the Cabinet&#8217;s secret funds (officially known as the Cabinet Secretariat&#8217;s discretionary funds) were being used as &#8220;farewell gifts&#8221; for ministers heading on overseas trips.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Read the first part of the article, &#8220;</span><a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/388801"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Reality of Grabbing Money Revealed with Cash Stuffed as Farewell Gifts and Unclear Uses of Government Confidential Funds</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">”.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to Mr. Ishikawa, the following three individuals were avoided by chauffeurs who didn&#8217;t want to &#8220;take the wheel&#8221; for these politicians: Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (68), former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura (61), and former House of Councillors Secretary-General Hiroshige Seko (61).</span></p>
<figure id="attachment_388820" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 3785px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-388820"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="9ca1edbd"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/7c36c0c9ce3e10e5c553461f3bbba87a.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-388820" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400;">This magazine has previously witnessed Mr. Motegi entering a luxury massage parlor in Akasaka.</span></figcaption></figure>
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<p><b>&#8220;For the heat-sensitive Mr. Motegi, there was always a cooler box placed behind the driver&#8217;s seat. The secretaries would prepare drinks for him every day. Even the drinks had specific instructions, such as &#8216;Evian&#8217; for water and &#8216;Yunker&#8217; for energy drinks. I&#8217;ve never heard of any other government officials being this particular, except for Mr. Motegi. Since he&#8217;s a smoker, he would get irritable if he couldn&#8217;t smoke. Naturally, he smoked inside the car as well. Although official vehicles are supposed to be non-smoking, no one could stop him, so cleaning the ashtray, air conditioning, and the car interior was quite a hassle.</b></p>
<p><b>Mr. Motegi loves massages and would go to a parlor whenever he had time. We would be left waiting in a narrow alley in Akasaka during this time, but I wish he would use the office car for such things. While we were just waiting in the car, the security personnel (SP) had to stand at the entrance of the parlor, checking for suspicious individuals. If it were for official duties, I would understand, but we were merely accommodating his hobby. And yet, I never saw Mr. Motegi give any kind of gratuity from his own pocket to the security personnel.&#8221;</b></p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Overtime hours can exceed 300 hours."></div>
<figure id="attachment_388821" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-388821"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4fde39bb"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/0796b6102f9e5b330fb9e91202ad99d0.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-388821" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura is said to have had a strong work ethic.</span></figcaption></figure>
<p>Former Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, who was suspended from LDP party membership due to a slush fund issue, was also said to have a strong work ethic.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. Nishimura is smart, and he cannot tolerate secretaries and bureaucrats who do not understand him. I saw him yell at them many times as they rode in his car. Although he did not use violence, his reprimands in the Kansai dialect were quite strong.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> However, they are very dedicated to their work and pay very well for overtime, which is good for drivers who want to earn money. There was a driver who worked overtime for 300 hours a month and earned 1.5 million yen. However, while waiting, you can take a short break, but you will lose sleep. My concern is that the driver&#8217;s judgment might be impaired, and that could be dangerous.&#8221;</span></p>
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<p>On the other hand, Ishikawa named Masaaki Taira, 57, former vice minister of the Cabinet Office, as a politician he would like to hold the wheel.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He often gave me gifts of fruits such as cheinmascats and bananas because his family was a fruit vendor,&#8221; Ishikawa said. He would also tell us when to eat them and how to preserve them. It seems that he closed his family&#8217;s fruit shop about five years ago, and the closing was regretted by the drivers. Of course, we wouldn&#8217;t do that to anyone living in our district.&#8221;</span></p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="In the basement of the Cabinet Office, &quot;Nice ball!&quot;"></div>
<figure id="attachment_388822" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 729px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-388822"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ce11a687"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/6f2affd79836672b4e197b401cdc92f1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-388822" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on the first pitch at a Yokohama DeNA BayStars game in 2015.</span></figcaption></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There was an unusual sight in the underground parking lot of the government building where the Cabinet Office&#8217;s official cars are parked. Back in 2015, when Shinjiro Koizumi (43) was serving as Parliamentary Secretary of the Cabinet Office and Reconstruction, he was seen in the basement level 2 of the Central Government Building No. 8 wearing a dress shirt and a baseball glove.</span></p>
<p><b>&#8220;He had been asked to throw the first pitch for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars&#8217; second team, so he was practicing by playing catch with his assigned driver. The driver, a former high school baseball player from Niigata, praised him, saying that Mr. Koizumi threw a good ball. There were many cars parked around, so I think he was throwing with caution, but if he had gone all out, he might have thrown a real fastball. They probably chose the underground parking lot due to space constraints and to avoid being seen by others.&#8221;</b></p>
<figure id="attachment_388823" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 5067px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-388823"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4e893935"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/1aee369885494714bdc32b1e5bedf787.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-388823" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Former high school baseball player, ex-Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi (right).</span></figcaption></figure>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On the other hand, a strange sighting was made of former SPEED member and current House of Councillors member Eriko Imai (40).</span></p>
<p><b>&#8220;Imai-sensei doesn&#8217;t smoke in her official car or office, but she came to the parking lot on the basement floor of Building 8, where only official cars of the Cabinet Office are parked, in her Estima, the vehicle used by her office for pick-ups, opened the window, and was puffing away. At the Cabinet Office, smoking is only allowed in the smoking area on the first floor, but it seems she was concerned about being seen.&#8221;</b></p>
<figure id="attachment_388824" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1781px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-388824"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="017707b6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/09/db87abe3a743b8a858e87dda41838eb7.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-388824" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2022, due to a broken bone, Representative Eriko Imai participated in the diet in a wheelchair.</span></figcaption></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr. Ishikawa, who has closely observed both the use of secret funds and the hidden sides of politicians, notes a common theme: both are difficult to reveal publicly.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In related articles, &#8220;</span><a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/388439"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Former Driver&#8217;s Decisive Confession: Government Confidential Funds Used as &#8216;Special Allowances&#8217; for Cabinet Office Escort Staff!</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8221; and </span><b>&#8220;</b><a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/388444"><span style="font-weight: 400;">New Political and Financial Issue Emerges: The &#8216;Appalling Reasons&#8217; Government Confidential Funds, Sourced from Taxes, Flowed to Cabinet Office Driving Staff</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,&#8221; Mr. Ishikawa reveals the mysterious uses of secret funds.</span></p>
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 Daisuke Iwasaki

 Ichiro Takatsuka (1st photo) Afro (2nd and 4th photos) Kyodo News (3rd photo) Takeshi Kinugawa (5th photo)

 Shokichi Ishikawa (pseudonym) was a former driver for the Cabinet Office. He revealed the behind-the-scenes stories of famous cabinet ministers, including former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, whom he saw during his time as a driver.

Shinjiro Koizumi Throws Fastball in Cabinet Office Basement as Former Chauffeur Reveals Hidden Faces of Famous Ministers

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