Opposition Camp Seeks Info Disclosure over Cherry Party (original) (raw)

Officials of Japanese opposition parties on Sunday urged the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to disclose information related to a state-funded cherry blossom-viewing party at the center of cronyism allegations involving the administration.
"Prime Minister Abe and the ruling bloc are totally to blame for preventing policy discussions," Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary-general of the biggest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said in a television program. "Disclosing information is a starting point for discussions," he added.
Fukuyama said the government should disclose records of a computer at the time of the erasure of electronic data on the list of guests invited to the prime minister-hosted cherry party and a receipt for a dinner held at a Tokyo hotel on the eve of the party.
Hirofumi Hirano, secretary-general of the Democratic Party for the People, criticized the government for "covering up or tampering with public records" related to the cherry blossom party.
Tomomi Inada, executive acting secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, refrained from mentioning whether to accept the opposition requests for information disclosure, saying only, "It is necessary to review the way of managing public records."