PRESS CONFERENCE
Koike and the Cairo Document
Kojima Toshiro, Lawyer and Former Secretary General of the Political Affairs Research Council, Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, Tomin First no Kai
15:00-16:00 Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Language: The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation.
Kojima will give an inside view on allegations that Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko falsified her academic record.
Back in 2020, a lawyer and former prosecutor and an author sought the FCCJ platform to raise questions about Koike's claim to have graduated from Cairo University. But a signed statement from the school emerged, suggesting the allegations themselves were false. Koike went on to win re-election as governor. The mainstream media set aside questions about whether or not she had graduated from the Egyptian university as she had claimed.
Not so fast, says Kojima, who worked under Koike in the environment ministry and became director general of her political party. He says he advised Koike to get a statement from Cairo University to confirm her graduation. In an interview published earlier this month in Bungei Shunju, Kojima details his case that Koike and another public official were involved in drafting the signed letter from Cairo University. Koike denied the allegations again on April 12 at a press conference in Tokyo in response to the Bungei Shunju article, the Japan Times and Sankei newspapers reported.
Kojima said in a note to the FCCJ: "The Statement by Cairo University was put forward as an idea by myself. The drafting of the document involved both Ms. Koike herself and Mr. Higuchi Takaaki, who was then a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly elected through the Tomin First no Kai, now mayor of Chiyoda ward. I have emails proving their involvement. At the time I believed that Governor Koike had graduated from Cairo University, but now I am convinced that she had not. I now regret that I ended up assisting in a cover-up operation aiming to dispel the suspicions regarding the falsification of her academic record. I would like to set the record straight by giving evidence on what I know." Kojima's comments suggest this could be another case where Japan's mainstream media sets an issue aside, only to be compelled to look again when serious allegations re-emerge.
How to attend:
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Professional Activities Committee