Toshihiko Fujii, the Cabinet Vice-Minister in charge of the National Security Bureau, has been removed from his post.
As head of the Preparatory Office for the Economic and Security Legislation, Fujii was a key player in the economic policy of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida&#8217;s government, which was working on legislation related to the &#8220;new capitalism.
<figure id="attachment_229055" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2200px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-229055"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="41abebdd"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/aflo_20486589.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-229055" class="wp-caption-text">A scandal broke out in the Kishida administration, which was growing impatient with its declining approval rating. The scandal has put the brakes on the government&#8217;s economic policies.</figcaption></figure>
Today&#8217;s issue of Shukan Bunshun reports on the alleged &#8220;inappropriate relationship&#8221; between Mr. Fujii and a female reporter from the Asahi Shimbun, as well as his &#8220;black market&#8221; lectures at a private &#8220;cram school.
On Sunday, the 6th, before the publication of the magazine, Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno was informed, and after discussing the matter with Prime Minister Kishida, the decision was made to immediately transfer Mr. Fujii to the Secretariat of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
 Kishida had a plan,&#8221; he said. He had a plan,&#8221; said Mr. Kishida, &#8220;to accelerate economic policy by moving up the Cabinet decision on the framework of the new capitalism from March to February. But the scandal has left us without Mr. Fujii, the head of the office. It&#8217;s a big shock,&#8221; said a Cabinet Office career official.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno, in a panic over the scandal, decided to make &#8220;lightning-quick appointments&#8221; to avoid damaging the administration.
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<h2>Kishida, in a hurry, was forced to take action.</h2>
The government&#8217;s response to the explosive spread of the Omicron Variant has been sluggish, and the cabinet&#8217;s approval rating has fallen by nearly 10 points in one fell swoop. Prime Minister Kishida&#8217;s impatience was not uncommon.
First, he urgently summoned 10 cabinet members concerned to the Diet and strictly ordered them to give one million doses of vaccine a day. He had just sent over a dozen bureaucrats who had been in charge of vaccines under the administration of Yoshihide Suga to leverage Minister of State for Vaccines, Shoko Horiuchi. Kishida is known for his firmness in managing his administration.
 In soccer, Kishida is the kind of man who clears a dangerous ball wide and uses a back four or five instead of a back three to reinforce the defense,&#8221; said a MHLW official.
The bureaucrats on the ground are scrambling to keep pace with Kishida&#8217;s change of course. The bureaucrats on the ground have been scrambling to keep pace with Kishida&#8217;s changes to the original policy, immediately correcting any flaws and repeatedly pandering to criticism.
<h2>The prime minister slammed his desk in anger.</h2>
Against this backdrop, it is painful to see the departure of Mr. Fujii, the &#8220;chief executive&#8221; of the Kishida administration&#8217;s flagship policy.
The latest scandal is reminiscent of the &#8220;Nishiyama affair&#8221; in 1971, when reporters from a major newspaper took advantage of an &#8220;inappropriate relationship&#8221; to get information about the Okinawa reversion agreement. In response to the Nishiyama incident, a senior figure in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said, &#8220;As an old woman, I would like to say.
 The economic and security promotion bill we are promoting now is a large-scale growth strategy involving many large corporations. At the heart of it is the issue of &#8216;inappropriate relationships&#8217; that Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno is investigating. There may have been some kind of relationship involving a meeting. We are concerned about whether the bill was leaked in advance.
The economic security bill has already been drafted with 110 articles. However, there is no denying the fact that the bill has completely blown its cover.
 Although the New Komeito Party (New Kōmeitō) has ordered that the penalties be too heavy, they have generally agreed to the bill. The people and The Japan Innovation Party are not opposed to it. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is in favor of fiscal stimulus, has no objection to the bill. The only other thing that was unclear was the attitude of Rikken.
 The 400 billion yen bill for the economic and security growth strategy was easily approved, and the plan was to go into the upper house election without extending the regular Diet session, as expected.
 Prime Minister Kishida, who usually keeps a low profile, was so angry at the ugly news that ruined that plan that he pounded his desk with his fist.
Just before the bill was scheduled to be submitted on February 25, Tsuneari Izumi, a cabinet advisor from the Ministry of Finance, was appointed as his successor on the same day. This appointment also shows the panic of Prime Minister Kishida.
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Prime Minister Kishida&#8217;s &#8220;new capitalism&#8221; must not be influenced by the intentions of a few large corporations that have made profits. The scandal is what catches our attention, but the essence of the matter is the relationship with the corporations and the &#8220;provision of information&#8221; and &#8220;profit sharing&#8221; that led to it. Even if it is only a few tens of thousands of yen, it is still a scandal. There is a possibility that the &#8220;inappropriate relationships&#8221; with corporations may spread beyond Fujii, or even to the center of the administration. The Kishida administration is now standing on a precipice.

 Shutaro Iwashiro

 Reuters/Afro

 Toshihiko Fujii, a cabinet advisor in charge of the National Security Bureau, has been removed from his post. As head of the Economic Security Legislation Preparatory Office, Fujii was a key person in economic policy who had been working on legislation related to "new capitalism" under the leadership of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. In today's issue of "Shukan Bunka

The Kishida administration faces a “precipice” after the removal of a key figure from the office

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