FOCUS: Concerns Persist over Salaries of Lawmaker Secretaries in Japan

Tokyo, Aug. 11 (Jiji Press)–Questions surrounding the salaries of publicly funded secretaries to members of parliament, Japan’s Diet, continue to surface, underscoring persistent concerns about oversight within the country’s political system. Recent cases have renewed scrutiny of allegations that some lawmakers improperly received government funds by registering individuals as secretaries despite little or no evidence that they actually performed duties associated with the positions. The recurrence of such cases has fueled concerns about weaknesses in accountability mechanisms and the adequacy of existing safeguards against misuse of public funds. Experts argue that stronger governance and oversight by political parties are essential to preventing similar abuses. “The most important thing is for political parties to exercise effective governance,” one expert said. Law Revision A state-paid secretary is employed under the Diet law to assist a lawmaker. The position is classified as a special-service national public servant, and each lawmaker may employ up to three such secretaries: a first secretary, a second secretary and a policy secretary. Monthly salaries range from about 340,000 yen to about 660,000 yen. Lawmakers are required to submit two documents to the Diet–a “notification of employment,” which contains the information necessary for salary payments, and a “current status report,” which lists the secretary’s name and workplace. The position of policy secretary was introduced in 1994 to strengthen lawmakers’ legislative activities. To be hired as a policy secretary, an individual must pass a qualifying examination or be certified through a selection review. There are no comparable requirements for first and second secretaries. Fraud involving the salaries of secretaries to lawmakers came to light in a succession of cases from the 1990s through the early 2000s. Five lawmakers faced criminal charges, and all were convicted. In response, a revised law on the salaries of lawmakers’ secretaries was enacted in 2004. The revisions included measures such as prohibiting lawmakers from demanding donations from their secretaries and requiring salaries to be paid directly to the secretaries, rather than via lawmakers. Under an agreement among parliamentary groups, submission of current status reports to the Diet was also made mandatory. For about 20 years, no lawmaker was charged with fraud linked to secretaries’ salaries. In 2024, however, the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Megumi Hirose, a former House of Councillors member from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, without arrest on fraud charges. She was accused of swindling the state out of about 3.58 million yen by falsely claiming that the wife of her first government-paid secretary had been hired as her second state-funded secretary. Through her first aide, Hirose received in cash the salary that had been paid into the bank account of the purported second secretary. During a hearing at Tokyo District Court, she said, “Political activities cost money, and I was unable to manage my office unless I put in my own funds.” Handing down a guilty verdict, a judge at the court described her actions as “far too thoughtless.” In 2025, the special investigation squad indicted former Upper House lawmaker Akira Ishii of the Japan Innovation Party and a female member of his office staff, without arrest. They were charged with fraudulently obtaining about 8.28 million yen in public funds by misrepresenting one of Ishii’s relatives as having been hired as a government-paid second secretary. According to sources, the salary transferred to a bank account in the relative’s name was managed by the female staff member and used for office expenses and other purposes. Compliance A senior prosecutor said that even if the law is revised, “in the end, it comes down to lawmakers’ good sense.” In March 2026, the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho reported that Reiwa Shinsengumi, an opposition party, had registered party staff members as publicly funded secretaries of party lawmakers, while in practice assigning them primarily to party-related work. At a news conference, Takashi Takai, the party’s deputy secretary-general, defended the arrangement, saying that party activities also fall within the scope of a secretary’s duties. “There is absolutely no illegality,” he said. Masaki Taniguchi, a professor of political science at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy and an expert on political funding, said a series of problems involving the salaries of state-funded secretaries may reflect “a lack of awareness on legal compliance among many lawmakers.” As a measure to prevent similar cases, Taniguchi emphasized the need to “educate, monitor and guide new lawmakers thoroughly on managing secretaries and handling their salaries. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]