Yuriko Koike Receives 35 Million Yen Bonus Despite Unmet Promises

Unfulfilled Pledges, Unclear Budget Spending

On August 21, it was revealed that Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (72), who was elected to her third term this summer, had received a full retirement allowance of 3.54 million yen (before tax deductions) for the four years of her second term. In addition, in response to an interview by this magazine, she told us that she had been paid the full amount. In response to an interview by this magazine, a person in charge of the System Planning Division of the Personnel Department of the General Affairs Bureau also confirmed that there were no errors in the amount or the date of payment.

Of course, receiving retirement benefits is legal and the right of the TMG governor. In addition to the governor of Tokyo, other prefectural governors throughout Japan also receive retirement allowances. Nevertheless, Mr. Ueda, a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly who pursued the actual status of the benefits, said, “Questions remain about Mr. Koike’s receipt of the full amount of his retirement allowance.

What exactly is the problem? In an interview with this magazine, Mr. Ueda stated, “It is necessary to properly evaluate the results of Koike’s second term in office, which began in 2008 and lasted until July of this year.

In the latter half of his second term, Governor Koike introduced a series of benefit packages, including virtually free high school tuition with no income limits and “018 Support,” which provides ¥5,000 per month to Tokyo residents aged 1 to 18. At first glance, these policies may seem to be geared toward the lives of Tokyo residents, but the governors of Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa prefectures have submitted a written request to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, claiming that they are “excessive disbursements” that will “widen regional disparities with neighboring municipalities. The rumor among the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members was that they were throwing the budget around as a campaign ploy for a third term.

Other criticisms include the use of the walls of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No. 1 for projection mapping, which has a budget of approximately 1.6 billion yen over two years, but is it really necessary? In response to the criticism, Governor Koike hurriedly announced that ‘advertisements will be projected,’ but most of the audience will be foreign visitors to Japan, and it is hard to believe that there will be any advertising effect. Even though the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has become more financially comfortable after the COVID-19 crisis, it is still spending its budget on electioneering and on policies that are not considered very necessary.”

Another Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member continues.

Of the “seven zeros” that he set forth when he was first elected in 2004, the number of pets killed and the number of children on waiting lists have been reduced to almost zero since he completed his second term. However, the number of care leavers has rather increased. The reduction of metropolitan roadside poles is also far from zero. Some things, such as reductions in crowded trains and overtime work, are difficult to assess due to the corona, but even after two terms and eight years, we are still far from realizing all seven of our pledges.

Criticism of “perfunctory performance

According to the TMG ordinance, the governor’s retirement allowance is determined by the ordinance’s monthly salary x number of days in office x payment rate. The monthly salary is approximately 1.46 million yen under the ordinance. However, from the time of his first administration in ’16 to the present, Governor Koike has been campaigning for the “Great Tokyo Reform,” one of his pledges to reduce the salary of the Tokyo governor. After his first election, Governor Koike amended the ordinance and halved the salary cut. Since then, this has become a symbolic policy of the Koike administration’s “decisive reforms.

Against this backdrop and in light of the results of Koike’s second term in office, Mr. Ueda reiterated the pros and cons of “receiving full retirement benefits.

Needless to say, the governor is the head of the metropolitan government and the person in charge. In the end, these problems will be attributed to the governor. He has not fulfilled his promises, and his policies remain questionable. With no promises made and many questionable policies in place, is it really appropriate for him to receive the full amount of his salary? Furthermore, the governor was elected on a promise to cut his salary. If this is the case, then why not revise the ordinance so that the retirement allowance is calculated based on half of the salary he himself decided on?

We wonder if he is wary of the publicity surrounding the announcement of his retirement allowance for his first term. The “Great Tokyo Reform” also promises transparency in the metropolitan government, but we can only assume that it is going against the grain.

In addition, Governor Koike’s amendment of the ordinance to halve monthly salaries is also causing a hullabaloo among Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members.

As a result of Governor Koike’s decision to halve salaries, the governor’s compensation is lower than that of the city council members, and in tandem with this, the compensation of the city council members has also been cut by 20% per year. Tokyo assembly members do not receive severance pay. Governor Koike may be trying to balance the books by receiving the full amount of the retirement allowance, but those of us who are being swayed by his perfunctory performance are not happy about it. This is one of the reasons why the governor and the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly continue to be in a tense situation.

In the previous gubernatorial election in 2008, Governor Koike won a historic victory, garnering more than 3.6 million votes. However, in this summer’s gubernatorial election, although she won, she received more than 700,000 fewer votes than in the previous election. …… We hope that in her third term, she will show results so that she can receive full retirement benefits without being called into question.