Nihon University’s Reformation Led by Big Names Lawyer After Former Chancellor Got Convicted of Fraud

I wish Nichi-Dai to grow and prosper.”

So said Hidehisa Tanaka, 75, former chancellor of Nihon University, at the Tokyo District Court on March 7. Tanaka concealed an income of approximately 120 million yen and was convicted of about 520 million yen of fraud. The company is accused of violating the Income Tax Law for tax evasion of ¥0.0 million. The second trial was held on this day.

Tanaka was wearing a red necktie and had a red handkerchief in the breast pocket of his suit; at his first trial in February, he walked with a rounded back and a weak gait, but this time he walked with a sturdy, confident stride. It is customary for the defendant to bow before leaving the courtroom, and Tanaka bowed at his first trial.

In the second trial, however, he left the courtroom without bowing at all. He looked shabby from start to finish, and some reporters asked whether he was truly sorry for his crime.

The prosecutor asked for one year in prison and a fine of 16 million yen, but Tanaka did not budge an inch.

Various efforts are underway at Nichidai to break free from the “Tanaka System. One of the most prominent is the “Nihon University Revitalization Council,” chaired by Tsugio Yada, a lawyer who is a big-time prosecutor. The council is made up solely of outside experts, including university professors and accountants, and does not include anyone related to Nihon University.

The council was established in December of last year, and is scheduled to meet five to eight times before submitting its final report at the end of March. The participants are discussing how to rebuild the organization of Nihon University, and some of them are saying that ‘people who overlooked the tyrannical system of the former chancellor should not be allowed to hold their positions for a certain period of time.

However, the problem is that it is difficult to determine who within the university is a “secret Tanaka faction” from the outside. I am not sure if it is possible to determine who is close to former Chancellor Tanaka just from the members of the rehabilitation council.

Sportswriter Shinya Kobayashi, who has been covering governance issues at Nihon University since the “malicious tackling of the football team” incident in 2006, says

There are those who simply followed former Chancellor Tanaka, and there are those who used their relationship with him to create interests. I think that even a small number of insiders, such as professors at Nichi-Dai, should have been included in the council. I believe that insistence on having only a third party on the council will result in inadequate reform.

Tanaka will be sentenced on March 29. Will Nichi-Dai be able to make significant changes by the end of March?

From the March 25, 2022 issue of FRIDAY