<figure id="attachment_404622" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-404622" style="width: 1154px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="b18c26d8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/12/ae19caf931d8f60fdd578d408d364697.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-404622" class="wp-caption-text">Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito and NHK party member Takashi Tachibana to be investigated by Hyogo Prefectural Police</figcaption></figure>
 Toward the end of the year, there is a flurry of activity at the Hyogo Prefectural Police Department.
 Investigations are underway into Governor Motohiko Saito, who was reelected in the recent Hyogo Prefecture gubernatorial election, and Takashi Tachibana, leader of the &#8220;NHK Party,&#8221; which backed him in his campaign to protect the public from NHK.
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 Tachibana was defeated by the incumbent in the December 15 mayoral election in Izumiotsu, Osaka Prefecture. Tachibana received 4,439 votes to Minamide Kenichi&#8217;s 21,700. The number of voters on the day of the election was 60,239, and the voter turnout was 44.07%, up 6.27 points from the previous election. According to a TV reporter who covered the race on the spot, &#8220;Mr. Tachibana is a well-known YouTube personality.
 Tachibana promised to create a shopping district where famous YouTubers would set up store, and to give original goods made by YouTubers as gifts in return for tax payments to hometowns. Instead, the anti-taxpayers came in droves, and the street speeches were chaotic. At one point, I even got into an argument with Mr. Tachibana.&#8221;
 There were further developments after the election.
<h2> Mr. Tachibana responded to a call from the Hyogo Prefectural Police.</h2>
 He updated his You Tube channel on April 16, stating
 &#8220;I just received a call from the Hyogo Prefectural Police Headquarters
 and that the prefectural police had requested a voluntary interview. The suspect is Kenichi Okutani, a prefectural assembly member who chairs the Hyakujo Committee of the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly, for defamation of character. Last month, Mr. Okutani filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Tachibana for posting false content on a social networking service.
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 Mr. Tachibana said.
 &#8220;This is a call from the Investigation Section 2.
 Mr. Tachibana announced, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to visit the Hyogo Prefectural Police on December 22. He continued
 I know that I have defamed Chairman Okutani. However, as long as it is true and reasonable, there will be no problem.
 He remained bullish on the matter.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The Prefectural Police accepted the accusation against Mr. Saito."></div>
According to Mr. Tachibana, this is &#8220;about the sixth case&#8221; he has been sued for defamation this year alone. Although he would like to say that he is used to it by now, Mr. Okutani has also filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Tachibana for intimidation.
 Mr. Tachibana has long announced that he suffers from manic-depressive illness,&#8221; Okutani said. He has been running for governor of Tokyo this year without a break, and his mood has been high. He has told those around him that he is not afraid of being arrested. He has received suspended sentences in past trials and will be imprisoned if convicted again, but he thinks of it as nothing more than &#8216;having a good name'&#8221; (a person who knows Tachibana).
 Tachibana, who has become an &#8220;invincible man,&#8221; is expected to run for mayor of Minami-Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture, in January next year. He is also showing interest in the March 16 gubernatorial election in Chiba Prefecture, and speculation is rife that his &#8220;string of elections&#8221; is an attempt to &#8220;evade arrest.
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 At the same time, the Hyogo Prefectural Police are also expected to take a scalpel to Governor Saito.
<h2> Investigation Aimed at the Era of SNS Elections</h2>
 A representative of a PR firm was asked by Mr. Saito&#8217;s party to be in charge of all public relations during the prefectural election.
 &#8220;I have been entrusted with overall public relations.
 On December 16, the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office and the Hyogo Prefectural Police accepted a complaint filed by Saito on charges of violating the Public Offices Election Law, alleging that he paid the representative for his election campaign.
 The accusations were filed by Noburo Gohara, an attorney, and Hiroyuki Kamiwaki, a professor at Kobe Gakuin University. According to the complaint, Mr. Saito is suspected of having paid 715,000 yen to the representative as compensation for planning and executing general publicity, including online campaign activities, during the gubernatorial election.
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 Mr. Saito&#8217;s side responded to this with
 &#8220;Poster-related expenses.
 Mr. Saito&#8217;s side claims that there is no illegality in the payment, saying that it was &#8220;poster-related expenses.
 The fact that the complaint was accepted less than a month after it was filed is unusual. The prefectural police will probably interview the president of the PR company on a voluntary basis. The key point will be what kind of statements they will come up with.
 It is no coincidence that the investigations into Saito and Tachibana began simultaneously. The authorities believe it is necessary to clarify &#8220;what exactly was going on&#8221; in the Hyogo Prefecture gubernatorial election.
 The &#8220;social networking sites were rife with false rumors and slander against the opponents&#8217; camp. It is necessary to find out who is responsible for creating the &#8220;irresistible wave. The authorities may be looking ahead to the era of SNS elections, and may want to understand and share the mechanism of such elections. In this case, the key players are Mr. Saito and Mr. Tachibana. That is why they made their move at once at the end of the year.
 said a reporter in charge of politics at a national newspaper. What is the fate of Mr. Saito and Mr. Tachibana?

 Takeshi Kinugawa

 Motohiko Saito won the election for governor of Hyogo Prefecture. The leader of the NHK party, Takashi Tachibana, made his presence felt in the election, but was defeated by the incumbent in the December 15 mayoral election in Izumiotsu, Osaka Prefecture, and lost the election. The Hyogo Prefectural Police has sent the two of them to ......

Hyogo Prefectural Police&#8217;s Aim&#8221; in Simultaneous Investigation of Mr. Takashi Tachibana and Governor Motohiko Saito, Who Says He Is &#8220;Not Afraid of Arrest&#8221;.

Hyogo Prefectural Police’s Aim” in Simultaneous Investigation of Mr. Takashi Tachibana and Governor Motohiko Saito, Who Says He Is “Not Afraid of Arrest”.

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