<figure id="attachment_407368" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1154px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-407368"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f20d3bc1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/ae19caf931d8f60fdd578d408d364697.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-407368" class="wp-caption-text">Last year, Hyogo Prefecture Governor Saito (left) and Takashi Tachibana gained sudden attention due to a power harassment scandal.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Takashi Tachibana&#8217;s candidacy changed the course of events.</h2>
In 2024, one of the most talked-about figures was former Hyogo Prefectural Governor Motohiko Saito.
The incident began with an anonymous whistleblower letter titled &#8220;Regarding the illegal acts of former Hyogo Prefectural Governor Motohiko Saito&#8221; sent in March to ten external organizations, including the Hyogo Prefectural Police, four media outlets, one member of the National Diet, and four prefectural assembly members, from the former head of the prefectural citizens&#8217; bureau, who later died by suicide in July of the previous year.
In response, Saito held a press conference.
&#8220;Just because there are grievances, creating and circulating documents containing a pack of lies during working hours is a dereliction of duty for a public servant.&#8221;
His harsh criticism brought the issue to the surface, and it started to attract public attention.
Furthermore, the public servant who filed the complaint.
“Protested by taking their own life.”
It was left behind as a statement before they took their own life, which intensified media coverage and developed into a major scandal. The investigation by the Document Issue Investigation Special Committee (Hyakujou Committee) is still ongoing.
However, before the investigation results were released by the committee, on September 19 of the same year, the no-confidence motion against Governor Saito was presented to the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly and was passed unanimously. Governor Saito did not dissolve the assembly but instead lost his position as governor and formally announced his candidacy for the upcoming special election.
In the gubernatorial election, the leader of the NHK from the People party, Takashi Tachibana, suddenly announced his candidacy. However, he had no intention of becoming the governor of Hyogo; his goal was to support Saito.
To support Saito, he believed that the best approach was to convince voters that the governor did nothing wrong. He started by asserting there was no power harassment, and claimed that the former prefectural office director&#8217;s death was unrelated to Saito but rather a result of fear of having his infidelity exposed. He distorted the information by spreading uncertain details, including claims of cheating with 10 people over 10 years and non-consensual sex.
Tachibana claimed to have found evidence on the former director&#8217;s computer, but early on, he acknowledged that the basis for the cheating with 10 people was extremely weak.
“The evidence was extremely weak.&#8221;
He himself admitted.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Tachibana's premise can be found at ......"></div>
<h2>He could not say for certain that there were no mistakes regarding the seven individuals.</h2>
In the end, the claim of 10 people turned out to be false, but now he switched to claiming 7 people. However, he had no information about 6 of them and has recently continued to assert the 7 people claim.
Yet, in a recent update on his YouTube channel, it seems he is beginning to waver. In a video released on December 29 of the previous year, he said:
&#8220;I am still stating that the number of 7 people is final, but I can&#8217;t say with absolute certainty that there are no mistakes with these 7 people.&#8221;
His tone has definitely softened. Furthermore, he stated:
&#8220;Assuming there was no affair, why would the former head of the regional office have had to take his own life? Wouldn&#8217;t it make sense to think that he must have done something wrong?&#8221;
He argues that someone who would make an internal whistleblow must be strong-minded, and that he wouldn&#8217;t have been discouraged just because he was given a three-month suspension.
However, the premise of his argument, based on his own logic, may not necessarily apply to everyone, and the former head of the regional office not only faced the three-month suspension but was also not allowed to retire and had his planned reemployment rescinded. The reasons for his disappointment may have stemmed more from these events than from the suspension.
Even so, it was astonishing to see scholars and experts, riding on the coattails of Tachibana, spread this false information without verifying it themselves.
In particular, economist Yoichi Takahashi revealed during the November 8th broadcast of Shinsou Fukaeri! Toranomon News that he had known about the contents of the former regional office head&#8217;s government-issued computer before Tachibana mentioned it in his political broadcast.
He explained that he happened to be browsing the internet and saw the information from the computer leak, took a screenshot, and showed it to a high-ranking official at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. According to him, this confirmed his suspicions.
&#8220;What is going on?&#8221;
Many people must have wondered.
Given that Takahashi knew the information, why didn’t he deny the 10 people in 10 years claim, which was later proven to be false?
&#8220;There are people who say.&#8221;
 
 &#8220;I heard from so-and-so.&#8221;
&nbsp;
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Mr. Tachibana himself confessed to the affair and"></div>
<h2>Hyogo Prefectural Gubernatorial Election Called a &#8220;SNS Theatrical Election</h2>
In the first place, what does it matter whether a whistleblower is having an affair or not? Tachibana&#8217;s logic seems to be that &#8220;you can&#8217;t trust what a person who is having an affair says,&#8221; but on November 10, 2010, he posted on Twitter (now X): &#8220;I also had an affair when I was an NHK employee,
On November 10, 2010, he wrote on Twitter (now X), &#8220;I also had an affair when I was an NHK employee. I had an affair with a certain announcer&#8217;s ex-wife.
I also had an affair with a certain announcer&#8217;s ex-wife when I was an NHK employee,&#8221; he posted. By Tachibana&#8217;s logic, he himself is untrustworthy.
 
Also, when the affair of Yuichiro Tamaki, the representative of the Democratic Party of Japan, was revealed, he wrote in X on November 11, 2011
《A person who is having an affair is an honest person who is highly capable and honestly follows his or her own romantic feelings! And because they feel guilty, they take care of their spouse! Adultery is God&#8217;s natural order!
And so on and so forth, he is endorsing adultery.
Then, the former prefectural director is a highly competent and honest person. Well, that&#8217;s something.
However, many people in Hyogo Prefecture were misled by Tachibana&#8217;s information. A little research would have revealed this, but they believed the information on social networking services and did not question it. As a result, Mr. Saito returned to the governorship.
Many people say, &#8220;This is the will of the people.
However, the will of the people is not always right, and it is clear that the will of the people was distorted in this case. The investigation by the Article 100 Committee is still ongoing, and Saito is now suspected of violating the Public Offices Election Law. The outcome of the investigation has been postponed until this year.
The Hyogo Prefecture gubernatorial election was described as a &#8220;SNS theatrical election,&#8221; but it was an election that was so much influenced by SNS hoaxes that it could be called a &#8220;demagogue election. Some have called it the worst election in history.
 
Furthermore, on SNS, the old media was accused of &#8220;biased reporting,&#8221; &#8220;many lies,&#8221; &#8220;withholding information,&#8221; and so on, The old media are accused of &#8220;biased reporting,&#8221; &#8220;lying,&#8221; &#8220;hiding information,&#8221; etc., and the cry goes up that &#8220;the truth is on the Internet.
However, as I have said many times before, the old media do not just broadcast information as it is. They always interview the source to get the &#8220;inside story. If they cannot get the truth, they will not report it. Of course, there is misinformation.
In such cases, however, we do not just leave the information as it is. We always correct and apologize. This is because the responsibility is clear. This is a big difference from social networking sites.
The &#8220;Motohiko Saito problem&#8221; has continued over the years. I hope that &#8220;justice&#8221; will prevail in the end. &#8230;&#8230;

 Hiroyuki Sasaki (entertainment journalist)

 Takeshi Kinugawa

 One of the most reported political news stories of 2012 was the election of Governor Motohiko Saito and Takashi Tachibana in Hyogo Prefecture following allegations of power harassment.

Saito and Tachibana Expose Dangers of SNS-Driven Elections

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