PRESS CONFERENCE
Masako Akagi, Wife of Toshio Akagi & Teruyuki Ogoshi, Attorney at Law
10:00-11:00 Thursday, June 24, 2021
Language: The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation.
*Please note that any filming or photographs of Ms.Akagi's face is prohibited. Photography is only allowed at the beginning of the Press Conference.
Masako Akagi's life changed forever when she came home from work one night in 2017 and found her husband had committed suicide in their apartment. Akagi had no children and her husband, Toshio, was the only member of her family.
Toshio Akagi was at the time on a near six-month leave of absence from his work at the Finance Ministry's Kinki Finance Bureau because of depression resulting from overwork. His wife believes that her husband's illness, and subsequent suicide, was directly caused by the Finance Ministry's order to her husband to falsify public documents concerning the dubious sale of public land to Moritomo Gakuen, an Osaka-based private school operator. As a staff member, Akagi actually altered the public documents to hide the involvement of Akie Abe, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, along with other senior government officials and lawmakers. Akagi says her husband was tortured with guilt at breaking the law.
Once she had recovered from her husband's death, Akagi decided that she should let the world know why he had taken his own life, but to do so she needed to get the facts out. So, she filed a lawsuit against the government at the Osaka District Court, demanding compensation for her husband's death and disclosure of information related to the falsification, including who ordered her husband to alter the public record.
In the course of the trial, the government last month reluctantly agreed to disclose the so-called "Akagi File", in which Toshio Akagi reportedly kept a detailed record of how the falsification came about. In the upcoming court hearing on June 23, the government is scheduled to submit the information to the court. The Akagi File could shed new light on the Moritomo Gakuen case, in which former Prime Minister's wife, who was serving at the honorary principal of a kindergarten run by Moritomo Gakuen at that time, allegedly helped the school purchase the land at a vastly discounted price from the Finance Ministry.
Akagi says she wants to hold a press conference at FCCJ the day after the court hearing because she wants the world to know how her husband was feeling when this very faithful public servant was forced to break the law to alter the public record for political purposes. She will be accompanied by her lawyer, Teruyuki Ogoshi.
How to attend:
Please register at front@fccj.or.jp with your name, the name of your media outlet, and FCCJ membership number. Due to space restrictions attendance will be limited to 20 people. Doors open 30 minutes before the event. Please sign in, giving your name and contact details at the reception, and have your temperature taken before proceeding.
How to watch online: https://www.youtube.com/c/FCCJchannel/live
Livestreaming of the press events will be available and video of this event will be uploaded to our FCCJ YouTube channel.
How to ask questions: https://forms.gle/pHXSFHVPcHjRafrD9
Members watching the event online can submit questions for the speakers in advance using this submission form.
TV crew: Please make a reservation at front@fccj.or.jp. Doors open for TV crews only at 45 minutes before the event. There will be five positions available for livestreaming.
Professional Activities Committee