<figure id="attachment_435670" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-435670" style="width: 1305px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="300852e8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/08/4e413c71524a4ef911693129e69d0be1-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-435670" class="wp-caption-text">Confusion Still Spreading in Prefectural Government, Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito</figcaption></figure>
<h2> A Jiji Press reporter said, &#8220;Governor Saito is the epicenter.&#8221;</h2>
 Time has passed without any resolution to the numerous allegations and problems that have arisen concerning Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito (47).
 Although the media continues to pursue the issue, it makes less and less national news and seems to be fading from the memories of people outside of Hyogo Prefecture.
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 Looking back on the events to date, it all started when a document was sent to the press pointing out Governor Saito&#8217;s power harassment.
 The governor judged the document to be highly slanderous and immediately began a search for the &#8220;culprit&#8221; and took disciplinary action against the former director of the Prefectural Citizens Bureau. There were calls that this was illegal, and an &#8220;Article 100 Committee&#8221; was established to investigate, but before the results of the investigation were known, a no-confidence motion was passed by the prefectural assembly and Mr. Saito resigned. However, he ran for governor in last November&#8217;s gubernatorial election and was reelected.
 Takashi Tachibana, 58, leader of the NHK party, ran for the gubernatorial election in support of Saito. This later became known as the &#8220;two-horsepower election.
 During the election, Mr. Tachibana spread untruthful information in street speeches and on social networking services in order to gain an advantage over Mr. Saito. He also attacked a prefectural assembly member who was a member of the Article 100 Committee, and even after the election, he did not stop attacking the former prefectural assembly member and continued to slander him.
 Furthermore, the leak of private information about the former director of the Prefectural People&#8217;s Bureau by the former general manager of the prefectural government led to the establishment of another third-party committee, which, after investigation, concluded that there was &#8220;a possibility that the governor and others may have directed the leak.
 The investigation found that &#8220;there is a strong possibility that the governor and others gave the order for the leak.
 However, the governor has denied this, so the issue remains unresolved.
 A reporter from Jiji Press, Inc.
 Governor Saito is at the epicenter.
 As a Jiji Press reporter said, &#8220;Governor Saito is the epicenter of the problem.
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 At the governor&#8217;s regular weekly press conference, reporters question him, and he responds, &#8220;I take this very seriously.
 We take this very seriously.
 I take it very seriously.
 Like a broken tape recorder, he simply repeats the same answer every time. No, it is not an answer at all. The questions and answers do not mesh at all. Such a state of affairs has continued for more than six months now.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The answers at the governor&#39;s press conference are getting worse."></div>
The reporter from the local TV station is,
 I wonder what is going on with his mentality. If he was attacked by reporters every time like that, if he had normal human nerves, it would be painful for him to stand there. But it is an impregnable castle that will not fall no matter how you try. They must be waiting for the reporters to give up. They have been doing the same thing for more than six months, and we are getting frustrated, but we don&#8217;t want them to think, &#8220;Oh, no, we&#8217;re not going to let them get away with it. It is necessary to make the governor admit that he has violated the law and that he was elected with &#8220;two horsepower,&#8221; and to make him take responsibility. If we let it end like this, we will not be able to reward the deceased Prefectural Citizens Bureau Director and former Prefectural Assembly member Hideaki Takeuchi. We are thinking of new strategies on what to do. We will never give up. While the calls for the governor to resign are growing louder, it is also true that more and more people are saying, &#8220;Enough is enough.
 He is afraid that people will get tired of this issue and stop paying attention to it.
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<h2> Ito City Mayor Maki Takubo follows a similar approach.</h2>
 In June, the Communist Party&#8217;s prefectural assembly submitted a letter to the prefectural government calling for Governor Saito&#8217;s resignation. They also asked the chairman of the prefectural assembly to file criminal charges against former General Affairs Director Tomoaki Inomoto. However, Governor Saito does not appear to be responding.
 However, he has received 1.11 million votes, even though the will of the people has been distorted, so it will be difficult for the assembly to pass a motion of no-confidence. And if the no-confidence motion is passed this time, there is a possibility that the assembly will be dissolved, which will cost a huge amount of money for the election. There is a strong possibility that the people of the prefecture will call it a waste of taxpayers&#8217; money, making it difficult for him to make a decision.
 Is there any other way to encourage Governor Saito to resign? Attorney Kosuke Nishiwaki, former head of TV Asahi&#8217;s legal affairs department, asked, &#8220;How did the governor respond to the press conference?
 The governor&#8217;s answers at the press conference are getting worse and worse. We need to continue to hold him accountable and not let the situation fade away, but another thing that is needed is to get to the bottom of what is going on. Of particular interest is the allegation that former General Affairs Director Inomoto violated his duty of confidentiality by showing around private information about the former Prefectural Citizens Bureau Chief. Several people have testified that the governor gave the order, so a major development is possible if the investigative authorities get into the matter in earnest. If that happens, I think public opinion will be very active.&#8221;
 And then..,
 There are various problems with Governor Saito, including his handling of public-interest whistleblowing. However, he continues to maintain the same attitude at press conferences and other events, as if to say, &#8216;If we just ignore him, everyone will forget about it before we know it. The same approach appears to be used in the issue of Ito City Mayor Maki Takubo. We must not set a precedent that says, &#8216;Even if obvious problems are pointed out, if we continue to ignore them, they will eventually be forgotten.
 He said that it is important not to let up in the pursuit of the issue.
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 Governor Saito was accused of violating the Public Offices Election Law by paying a PR firm to operate a social networking service during last year&#8217;s gubernatorial election. According to a reporter for a local newspaper,
 In February of this year, the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office and the Hyogo Prefectural Police Department conducted an investigation, including a search of the PR firm and several other related parties, and in June they referred the PR firm president and Governor Saito to prosecutors for questioning. As for Governor Saito, it was revealed that the district attorney had voluntarily interviewed him last month.
 Will the situation take a major turn?

 Hiroyuki Sasaki (entertainment journalist)

 Kei Kato

 Governor Motohiko Saito of Hyogo Prefecture is still very popular among the people of Hyogo Prefecture, having been reelected in a rerun election. The leader of the NHK party, Takashi Tachibana, who ran for the seat to attract the "Motohiko madam," his bedrock support base, was unsuccessful in the Upper House election, but he is still a popular figure in the prefecture. ......

The &#8220;allegations&#8221; of Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito are &#8220;fading away.&#8221; The &#8220;hand of the magistrate&#8221; is the last fortress that &#8220;will not allow him to get away with it.

The “allegations” of Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito are “fading away.” The “hand of the magistrate” is the last fortress that “will not allow him to get away with it.

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