Chapter 219 - Final Chapter 1 {1 Alone} (16–17 Spring 2016, After the Passage of Time)
In the current Diet session, the "Amendment to the Immigration Control Act," also known as the Immigration Bill, and the "Water Privatization Bill" are being deliberated.
I myself see both economic immigration and the aging of water systems as issues that Japan will eventually have to face, so I might be relatively understanding of the "background" of these discussions. Well, regarding water, while I understand the background, I am in "total opposition"...
However, I cannot overlook the respective problems: that the Immigration Bill functions not just to supplement simple labor shortages but, in reality, to "bring in cheap labor from overseas," and that the Water Privatization Bill aims to convert and transfer the "daily necessity" of water from the public interest—which is not necessarily monetary—to the monetary profit of specific operators.
The essence of the current forced labor lawsuit issue between Japan and Korea is that the "easy supplementation and atrocious labor conditions" for the Japanese labor shortage caused by large-scale wartime conscription were sought from Chinese and Koreans at the time. (As you can understand from the issues touched upon in this work regarding tako-beya labor in Hokkaido during the war, most of the cases under litigation in Korea belong to the category of relatively better treatment for conscripts at the time, given the industries and companies involved.) This is a separate issue from the fact that companies have no legal obligation to pay under international law, and it is something that is coming to light even now, over 70 years later, through the "Foreign Technical Intern Training Program."
If we bring in foreign workers with such sloppy system designs that only suit the convenience of the receiving side without properly verifying these things, it will leave a legacy of trouble for future generations, producing overseas workers who escape and run wild as criminals in Japan, potentially leading to a deterioration of public order. In fact, recently, workers from Vietnam have been running wild in Japan (the crime rate is very high), and while their criminal acts cannot be forgiven, the reasons they turned to crime are somewhat understandable.
Ignoring these problems and, in order to arouse easy "nationalism," taking up the violations of international law in past "forced labor lawsuits" with an angle that incites even "serious" news, it could be interpreted as trying to keep the Immigration Bill issue—which could become a modern forced labor problem right before our eyes—from coming to the surface. Therefore, we certainly cannot laugh at "that" on the Korean side. This method of making problems hard to see is something the Korean side has done until now, but in recent years, the Japanese side has also begun to step onto that same stage.
https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/54956
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/sunainaoko/20181129-00105562/
https://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/newsletter/section4/2018/05/post-201811.html
To begin with, Japan's value in the international labor market has declined considerably due to Japan's decline, the bad international reputation of labor conditions, and the excessive depreciation of the yen (on a real effective exchange rate basis). The very setting of the problem as "immigrants will come in large numbers" may already be an "arrogant lack of situational awareness" or "hubris"...
On the other hand, regarding water privatization, haven't you heard stories like this until recently?
https://moneyzine.jp/article/detail/206155
http://www.asahi.com/seikenkotai2009/TKY201003040377.html
http://water-news.info/463.html
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASDD140O1_V10C13A2MM0000/
"Japan's water system is amazing!" "The great thing about Japan is that you can drink delicious and hygienic water." Such things have been said in the media to the point of being noisy for the past 10 years or so. However, suddenly at this point, they have started saying, "Water pipes are aging in large numbers in urban areas" and "Public water utilities cannot be sustained in rural areas due to population decline."
To avoid misunderstanding, Japan's water system is indeed hygienic, while on the other hand, there are problems—both are "correct facts." However, the problems have been ignored, and only stories pleasant to the ear have been propagated.
In the first place, entrusting the water sector to the private sector is said to be becoming outdated internationally, and disadvantages have become apparent, so we should maintain the public water system even if it runs a deficit due to repairs. Rural areas should respond through wide-area business integration, and entrusting regions that are clearly unprofitable to the private sector will likely only lead to excessive increases in water bills (even if an increase in water bills is unavoidable).
https://hbol.jp/179716/3
http://www.suchibo.com/entry/2017/03/18/%E6%B0%B4%E9%81%93%E6%B0%91%E5%96%B6%E5%8C%96%E3%81%AE%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%83%87%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%83%88
In this work, I previously had Oshima Kaiji say:
"We must realize that the very premise of unconditionally accepting the idea of merely squeezing private business, without reaching the thought that entrusting services involving the foundation of the people's lives at a high price is already a problem, is wrong! Not every act in the world is performed on the premise of profit. Beyond that, how to foster new businesses and industries that do not emerge from civil-servant-like thinking should be handled appropriately elsewhere. The act of simply confusing the administrative services that the state or local governments should provide as a minimum for the lives of the people with profit-oriented private business, and judging solely on the plane of which is more efficiently profitable, is truly the height of folly!"
The water business is a typical example of a business that falls exactly into this category.
And above all, in this Cabinet, a case suggesting "blatant provision of benefits to specific individuals or groups," typical of this administration, is occurring again in this water privatization.
https://this.kiji.is/440827989121811553?c=0
It is a headache to see how much "moral hazard" is occurring by casually including "stakeholders" in the policy decision-making process.
Well, the origin of this trend is likely this person.
http://bunshun.jp/articles/-/7957
Returning to the Immigration Bill, the declining birthrate and aging population in Japan had already become apparent more than 30 years ago. This has been recognized as a problem since far longer ago than the issues with the water business.
However, it has been practically neglected in politics for a long time, bureaucrats have continued to present prospects that are beyond optimistic and merely convenient, and finally, while saying "it's not immigration," we have been driven to a situation where we have no choice but to bring in economic immigrants. Furthermore, while saying there is a labor shortage, the human resources from the 'Ice Age' (T/N: referring to the employment ice age generation) are not being utilized at all. Also, the pension problem likely follows the same structure as the declining birthrate and aging population. At the same time, looking at the industries with labor shortages and their treatment, it is a fact that there are many cases where one can "understand why they don't come." It is seen that because the fruits earned by large corporations do not circulate to small and medium-sized enterprises or rural areas, treatment cannot be improved even if labor is scarce.
Unless the citizens firmly recognize and understand what the problems are for each political issue, the people who should take responsibility are not only incompetent and utterly irresponsible but rather even malicious, so a worst-case "scorched earth" might appear in a different form than at the time of the defeat in the war. Or rather, I cannot help but feel that it is already "too late." These are days when the maxim that politics does not rise above the level of its voters stings the ears.
Friday, March 25, 2016, shortly after 8:00 AM. Despite it being late March and sunny, amidst temperatures dropping below minus 5 degrees Celsius, an elderly man emerged from the entrance of Hotel Shochikubai in the Shoei district of Rubeshibe-cho, Kitami City—commonly known as the Onneyu district—and headed toward the taxi stand. As a side note, the former Rubeshibe Town, where the Onneyu district is located, had been absorbed and merged into Kitami City since March 5, 2006. Similarly, Engaru Town had taken the form of absorbing the former Ikutahara Town, the former Maruseppu Town, and the former Shirataki Village as of October 1, 2005.
Returning to the subject, the man's attire consisted of a knit cap, a down jacket, and thick cold-weather trousers. Furthermore, he wore long snow boots and carried a backpack, looking nothing like a tourist staying at a hot spring inn; at most, he looked like a local visitor for hot spring therapy.
The man's name was Nishida Toshihiro. His current position was Section 1 Head of the Criminal Affairs Department at the Asahikawa Regional HQ of the Hokkaido Prefectural Police. However, he was set to retire one year early at the end of this fiscal year, March 27, at the age of 59, and was currently in the middle of using up his paid leave.
Since 2003, Nishida had risen through the ranks as a frontline investigator for the Do-kei (T/N: shorthand for Hokkaido Prefectural Police) and had been diligent in his duties. However, as he neared retirement, he had become somewhat burnt out. Additionally, he now occupied a fairly high position in the organization, and the reality that he couldn't just pursue the justice he believed in was constantly expanding. In other words, he was in a position where he had to consider organizational defense against his will, and his worries had grown in various ways. Partly because of that, he felt the need to reconsider his future life and had decided to take early retirement.
Normally, given Nishida's final position, even with early retirement, he should have been able to find a decent second career, but he had decided to leave the Do-kei without deciding on anything.
When he first consulted his wife, Yuka, she was quite surprised, but she accepted her husband's impulsive decision without any particular objection. No doubt, one reason was that their daughter, Mika, was already independent and married, and another was that she had sensed Nishida's secret worries.
However, it must have also been significant that Yuka herself had, three years ago, utilized her knowledge of herbal tea—which had been her hobby—to take over a small coffee shop near their home in the Asahigaoka district of Chuo-ku, Sapporo, which a friend had been running, and started a coffee shop specializing in herbal tea. It wasn't particularly profitable, but from the perspective of a wife who had already found her purpose and reason for living in her old age, the existence of her long-time companion, with whom she would likely be spending long hours face-to-face from now on until his pension started, didn't seem to bother her that much. On the contrary, Nishida had been laughingly suggested by his old wife to help out at the shop once he became free.
Although the workplace and the Do-kei side were quite surprised, even a battle-hardened veteran detective with a well-known name was, in the end, just "one of them." Once a certain period passed, the voices urging him to stay grew smaller, and his retirement was treated as a foregone conclusion. Rather, it was ironic that the voices saying he "should reconsider" not seeking a second career through amakudari (T/N: "descent from heaven," the practice of retired officials taking high-profile positions in the private sector) lasted longer.
On the other hand, Nishida's own sense of haziness regarding his second life had not been dispelled at all even after his retirement was finalized. And on the 23rd of this month, when he entered Kitami on the Limited Express Okhotsk No. 1 from his home in Sapporo, where he had already returned, the Ganbo-iwa he saw from the platform of Engaru Station for the first time in just under a year did not look very clear, partly because it was slightly cloudy. No, while that was a simple fact, it was also an "impressionistic view" for Nishida; just as when he had seen Ganbo-iwa in the past, it might have been more accurate to say it was a strong reflection of Nishida's own state of mind. Nishida merely muttered, "It figures," and sheepishly returned from the platform he had once stepped onto back into the Okhotsk train car.
Incidentally, there were two main reasons he had come to Kitami this time. First was to report his retirement before the graves of the late Kitamura and Okuda.
On the 23rd, the first day of his arrival, he visited Detective Kitamura's grave together with Kosaka, who had also completely retired from his security company job. Kosaka was greatly surprised by the fact that he wasn't taking a second job even more than the early retirement, but he didn't offer any particular advice. He likely thought there was no point in saying this or that now to a decision made by someone of this age.
Incidentally, Kosaka had also accidentally encountered the spirit of Mizukami along with Takeshita, who was accompanying him, when they happened to visit the memorial monument in Kanehana during their travels between Engaru and Kitami during the 1995 investigation. (Author's Note: The only direct mention of this encounter in this book is the remark by Takeshita at the karaoke bar on November 11, 1995.) And when Nishida, who had heard the details from Sawai, told him in the spring of '03 that the spirit's true identity was a former police officer, he was considerably surprised, but since he was also a detective from the same Rubeshibe area, he seemed to feel a certain kind of kinship.
Now, on the 24th, the day after staying at a hotel in the center of Kitami City, Nishida finished visiting the grave of the old man Okuda, who had been of great help in the investigation, by himself. However, since Okuda had no relatives locally and the snow remained piled up, he ended up having to shovel the snow himself, which caused him some trouble. However, as Nishida's current attire showed, the fact that he had prepared sufficiently to withstand work in the snow had paid off.
And as Nishida folded his hands before the grave he had finally cleared, the image of the talkative Okuda in his prime came clearly to mind, and linked to that, the hot passion from the time he was running about the series of investigations was revived once more just before his retirement. At Kitamura's grave yesterday, with Kosaka by his side, he likely hadn't had the leeway to indulge in deep emotion. And while he was in the midst of hesitation, it was also a fact that a slight sense of satisfaction finally welled up here, knowing that he had been able to fulfill his life as a police officer reasonably well as a detective until the very end. After that, he had come by taxi directly from Kunneppu Town to Hotel Shochikubai in the Rubeshibe district, stayed the night, and reached the present.
Normally, he thought he would be able to meet Matsushige, the hotel owner and chairman of the Jomon Tunnel Research Group, but because he came without an appointment, he didn't know at all that Matsushige was hospitalized in Asahikawa for treatment of a chronic heart condition, and in the end, they didn't meet. That said, he had met him when he stayed there with his wife Yuka during the New Year holidays last year, so he left the hotel with a feeling that he could easily give up, thinking it couldn't be helped. Furthermore, since the hotel itself had been practically taken over five years ago by his son, the fourth generation, Chairman Matsushige seemed to be sticking to a position of merely assisting in the hotel's management.
Nishida immediately climbed into a taxi that was waiting for customers and told the driver:
"To Kanehana Station."
Hearing those words, the middle-aged driver suddenly looked back and confirmed with a dubious face:
"Customer, did you just say Kanehana Station?"
"Yes, I'd like you to go to Kanehana Station."
He repeated the same words again, but the driver persistently asked:
"The JR Kanehana Station, right?"
"Yes, yes, that's the one."
It was a slightly irritated way of speaking, but his expression did not change. Having clearly confirmed it, the driver started the car quietly, but about a minute after turning onto Route 39, he suddenly spoke up.
"Customer, going to Kanehana... are you a local?"
Seeing Nishida's attire, he didn't look like a tourist, and since he was trying to go to the Kanehana district, which didn't have any particular "tourist resources," the driver might have mistaken him for a local.
"No, Sapporo. ...Though, to be precise, I was in Asahikawa until very recently, but I'll be moving back to live in Sapporo."
Without minding the roundabout nature of the reply, the driver pressed further:
"Then, do you have relatives in Kanehana?"
"No, I've never lived there, and I have no relatives. I just have a bit of a connection there from work a long time ago..."
"Hmm, is that so?"
The driver said that and finally remained silent for a while, but then revealed the reason he had been prying so much:
"It's been about 10 years since I became a taxi driver here, but I only go there maybe once a year or not at all, so it's rare and I unintentionally asked all sorts of things, sorry about that... Especially picking someone up from Onneyu Onsen, that almost never happens."
"Well, even about 14 years ago when I knew it, there were already almost no people there."
Nishida also responded that way, lightly looking back on the old days.
"Heh, so you haven't been to Kanehana for a while, customer? Then why today?"
Among taxi drivers, there are those who like to make small talk with customers and those who rarely speak first, but this middle-aged driver seemed to be the type who intrudes, for better or worse. That said, the elderly man being intruded upon was also in a position where, due to his profession, he often had to intrude into people's private domains and was in no position to criticize others...
"Tomorrow (March 26, 2016), the Hokkaido Shinkansen is coming to Hakodate, so there's a JR timetable revision, right? Along with that revision, Kanehana Station is being abolished as of today, so since I had a connection there through work before, I thought I'd witness its end..."
Indeed, this was actually the final reason Nishida had gone out of his way to Kitami just before his retirement. And the decisive factor that made Nishida resolve to take early retirement was also seeing the article "Kanehana Station Abolition Decided" in the Doho at the end of 2015.
Kanehana Station itself might not have been said to have a deep connection for Nishida. However, the meaning of the nearest station to the memorial monument for the tako-beya laborers—which had been the catalyst for his new thoughts as a detective and also the place of his encounter with Mizukami—disappearing was by no means small for Nishida.
Nishida himself is not a bookworm or anything, but the emotions he felt when he read Natsume Soseki's masterpiece "Kokoro," perhaps when he was a junior high school student, suddenly revived at that moment. In the story, the character "Sensei," inspired by Nogi Maresuke's choice of the path of junshi (T/N: ritual suicide following the death of one's lord) upon the demise of the Meiji Emperor at the end of the Meiji era, suddenly commits suicide out of remorse for having caused the death of an acquaintance (K in the story) who committed suicide in their youth. Nishida, unlike his usual self who was far from sensitive, had been lightly shocked by this story.
And now, the junshi of Nogi, which for "Sensei" passed away along with the Meiji era, was for Nishida the news of the abolition of Kanehana Station, which had brought a great influence to his detective life. "Sensei's" resolve for self-death corresponded to Nishida's vague worry of "what should I do with my life from now on," which he had been harboring in recent years, taking shape and him making up his mind that "even if I reset my detective life, I need to face it firmly."
"Ah, so the station is disappearing there today... Well... I guess it's natural since no passengers would board there... Are you a railway enthusiast, customer?"
The driver, typical of a person from the countryside, continues to ask with his usual somewhat overly familiar wording.
"It's not like that, but it was a station I have a connection with, so I wanted to use the station on its last day... Actually, I've never once directly boarded or disembarked at the station before."
Since the previous remark, "since I had a connection there through work before," was ignored, he ended up having to repeat it, but since he had already built up a tolerance for being persistently questioned, he didn't get irritated.
"But if that's the case, wouldn't it have been better to go by JR and get off?"
He still pressed, but since it was a hassle to complain and say "don't talk to me," he explained the reason for his actions thoroughly:
"That's true, but since there are few trains that stop there, if I try to go by train, get off, and then board again, the interval would be too long and it would be a huge waste of time... That's why I planned to take a taxi to the station and only use JR when I board."
"True, the limited express doesn't stop there either."
Satisfied with the explanation, the driver continued driving in silence and turned left from Route 39 onto Route 242 at the intersection.
Up until Route 39, the main arterial road connecting Asahikawa and Kitami, there was a fair amount of traffic, but on Route 242 heading toward Kanehana Station, there were almost no passing cars. They arrived at Kanehana Station in less than five minutes after turning left. Already, several young and middle-aged men carrying cameras wandering around the station came into view—clearly railway fans, or to be specific, they might be fans of the genre now called "funeral iron" (T/N: fans who gather to document a line or station's closing). They probably arrived around 8:00 AM on the first local train from Abashiri. Nishida paid the fare and got off in front of the station, and after just a glance at the shack-like station building of Kanehana Station, he walked back toward Route 242 along the small path the taxi had taken from 242 toward Kanehana Station.
Kanehana Station opened as Ponmuka Station on October 5, 1914, with the opening of the section between Rubeshibe Station and Shimo-Ikutahara Station on the Yubetsu Light Railway Line (a light railway is one with a narrower track gauge than normal railways) when the Jomon Tunnel opened. Note that two years later, it was relaid with Japan's normal gauge tracks (so-called narrow gauge by international standards).
It was transferred to the Japanese National Railways (JNR) as of June 1, 1949, and renamed Kanehana Station on July 20, 1951. It became unstaffed in 1983.
It was transferred to JR Hokkaido on April 1, 1987. Because it was a depopulated area and there had been almost no passengers for many years, passenger station operations were abolished on March 25, 2016. From the following day, March 26, its status was changed to a signal ground (a facility on a single-track section where only that part is double-tracked to allow trains to pass each other).
Along the way, while seeing more abandoned houses than in 2002, Nishida thought vaguely that following the abolition of Kanehana Station, this Kanehana settlement itself would likely become a completely uninhabited zone in another 20 years. And in another 100 years, it might return completely to the primeval forest of the pre-pioneer era when the Ainu ran freely through the fields and mountains. However, the fact that those Ainu had already been submerged into the Wajin (T/N: ethnic Japanese) both genealogically and culturally, and that only the environment would return, was somehow hollow.
After walking about 200 meters from Kanehana Station to Route 242, he turned right, and as soon as he spotted a long, thin white sign that read "Entrance to the Jomon Tunnel Construction Martyr Memorial," he began to walk briskly.
At that moment, a ringtone suddenly played from his smartphone, and a new message from Yoshimura had entered the SNS group for Engaru Station alumni.
It said, "To commemorate Nishida-san's retirement, I'd like to hold a farewell party with the members living in Sapporo in mid-April." It was a grateful proposal, but since everyone held certain positions, it was doubtful whether all the members in Sapporo—Yoshimura, Takeshita, Komura, and Oba—could gather. Note that the other members were also as energetic as ever, and Sawai was still high-spirited even past 70. Also, Nishida had heard from Sawai after that that he had gone to pay his respects at this memorial and before Mizukami's grave.
Currently, Yoshimura had become the Section 1 Head of the Criminal Affairs Division at the Sapporo Higashi Station. (Author's Note: Large-scale jurisdictions within the prefecture seem to have recently started calling it the Criminal Affairs Section 1 instead of the Investigation Section 1.) Thinking back to the Engaru Station days, there is no doubt that not only Nishida but also Yoshimura was promoted considerably because of "that achievement." However, Yoshimura seems to think that, barring something extraordinary, a criminal section chief of a jurisdiction in a major city within the prefecture—in other words, his current position—will likely be his limit. Even so, most police officers have almost no possibility of being promoted this far, so he is surely satisfied with his degree of promotion.
On the other hand, Takeshita had retired from the Doho three years ago and was active as a freelance journalist while still living in Sapporo, apprenticing under Takagaki Shinichi, who was still active on the front lines. As promised after that, Takagaki had written and published "Remote Grave Marker" to pass on the history of tako-beya labor to the present, and it had sold about 30,000 copies so far. Takagaki said self-deprecatingly, "It's a sad story, but selling 30,000 copies of this kind of book is quite a feat," but the reputation itself seemed to be excellent, and he seemed pleased about that point.
By the way, the public fame the Do-kei gained from the achievement of Nishida and Yoshimura in arresting Oshima Kaiji crumbled away and turned toward criticism when the full scope of the Iwata Incident (Author's Note: Already touched upon in the work, but please search for the "Inaba Incident") became clear around February 2003. And that went on to involve the Hokkaido Shinpo, where Takeshita was.
Former Inspector Iwata, the "main figure" of the Iwata Incident, had been recognized as a reasonably large police scandal when he was caught for stimulant use and trafficking in the summer of 2002, but at that point, it had a strong connotation of an "individual crime." However, what Iwata began to expose in public trials from February 2003 became public and started to become a major problem.
For the purpose of earning points through firearm seizures, he had yakuza, who were investigation cooperators (so-called "S = S (Spies)"), provide handguns of unknown ownership (so-called "headless handguns") and made it look as if they had been seized in an investigation, or he overlooked stimulant transactions in exchange for cooperation in firearm seizures.
Furthermore, for the purpose of firearm seizures, he overlooked the smuggling of stimulants, but in the end, the firearm seizure also failed (the so-called "suspicion of failed sting operation"), and from illegal sting operations to staged investigations, it was revealed to the light of day that these were not just Iwata's personal crimes, but illegal acts that the Do-kei high-ups also knew about or were actively involved in.
Bad things come in clusters. In November 2003, investigative reporting by the Doho revealed the creation of slush funds through fraudulent accounting and private misappropriation by some executives, and for a while, the Do-kei was a target of criticism. Also, a person who had served as the Kushiro Regional Headquarters Chief (Author's Note: In reality, this refers to "Mr. Harada Koji." For details, see his book "Police Whistleblower") even testified about the actual situation at a press conference, leading to an unexpected development.
Setting aside evils like those of former Inspector Iwata, regarding the organizational creation of slush funds, not only Nishida and Yoshimura, who were in certain positions, but also Yasumura, who was at the Regional Headquarters Chief level, would naturally have been aware of it. However, exactly because of "inner-circle logic," the two of them didn't have much recognition that the act itself was particularly bad, and it must have been the same for Yasumura.
Even if private misappropriation by some executives is out of the question, as a fact, investigations sometimes require expenses that cannot be fully covered by the budget. Unfortunately, they lacked a "necessary evil" sense and the awareness that all police funds are public money. It cannot be denied that even the two of them, who should have strongly recognized the problems of inner-circle logic through experience, justified it with the thought of "funds for striking down evil."
Note that Yasumura, with the achievement of building the case against Oshima Kaiji, rode the promotion track smoothly among the carriers and now held the position of Director-General of the Criminal Affairs Bureau at the National Police Agency, commonly known as Satsu-chou. When he was appointed as the Hokkaido Prefectural Police Headquarters Chief five years ago, they went out for drinks several times; while his previous hot passion had not yet faded, he grumbled that being inside the organization made the awareness of organizational defense stronger. In addition, he lamented that the closer one gets to the top, the more people there are with a high degree of self-preservation, equal to the degree of organizational defense. In other words, more than the ability originally required as a police bureaucrat, that crisis management ability in a bad sense is being questioned for promotion.
Nishida offered words of encouragement like a line from a popular drama, saying, "You'll just have to become even greater and change (that situation)," but Yasumura only went as far as a wry smile, saying, "I'd like to be that way." However, it was also a fact that Nishida felt Yasumura must have something in mind privately.
Returning to the subject, the fact that these scandals came to light brought a shocking conclusion to the Doho reporting team, who had thoroughly exposed the evils through their reporting and gained many accolades, including the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association Award.
In 2006, the Doho suddenly disciplined the head of the reporting team on the grounds that, in the creation of an article a year earlier about the "suspicion of failed sting operation" in which former Inspector Iwata was also involved—one of the series of Do-kei scandals the reporting team had exposed besides the slush fund issue—they had written the article while the facts remained unclear.
However, the reality was that the Do-kei had threatened to "build a case" for breach of trust regarding the slush fund issue that also existed within the Doho, and the truth, which had been conveyed to Takeshita—who had cooperated with the reporting team several times from his position as a former Do-kei detective—was that the Doho high-ups had yielded to the Do-kei.
For the Do-kei, while they could tolerate the slush fund issue that other police forces across the country were also doing, the failure of the sting operation and the entry of a large amount of drugs into the country was something they couldn't overlook, staked on their mistaken pride. As a result, the Do-kei scandal reporting team was disbanded, and the series of Do-kei scandals ended up being hushed up.
At that time, Takeshita, who was in the social affairs department of the Hakodate branch, was utterly appalled by the internal situation and resolved to leave the Doho. However, remembering his regret from his police days when he quit out of disgust for the same kind of "inner-circle logic," he made the bitter decision to stay at the Doho. His true intent was that even if he couldn't make a major transformation, moving forward even one step at a time was a responsibility he should take as an insider. And it could be said that the reason Takeshita quit the Doho to become a freelance journalist was precisely because he could be certain of that "slight" transformation.
Author's Note
Regarding this Inaba Incident and the subsequent history of the relationship between the "Hokkaido Shimbun" whistleblowing and the police, the Wikipedia I posted earlier is good for knowing the outline, but furthermore, the account by the aforementioned Mr. Harada Koji in:
https://www.ombudsman.jp/fswiki/wiki.cgi/akarui?page=%CB%CC%B3%A4%C6%BB%BF%B7%CA%B9%A4%AC%B7%D9%BB%A1%A4%CB%B6%FE%A4%B7%A4%BF%C6%FC
and the interview article of Mr. Inaba himself:
https://www.vice.com/jp/article/bj5dz8/inaba-the-worst-police-in-japan
are likely vivid. The parts of Mr. Inaba's interview article reminiscing about sting operations and undercover investigations are quite interesting.
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