A former top bureaucrat at the transport ministry has been found to have intervened in executive appointments at a company that has long provided cushy, lucrative jobs to retiring ministry officials in a practice known as “amakudari” (descent from heaven).
The first time I held a “meishi” business card with my name on it was after I took an express train ride to a local bureau of The Asahi Shimbun, my place of assignment as a rookie reporter.
Two more names emerged in a scandal involving retired transport ministry bureaucrats seeking to land cushy jobs in a private company they once did business with.
A former high-ranking transport ministry official resigned as vice president of a company to which he had close ties when he worked for the government after his bullying tactics to gain the position were exposed.