A former Meiji University law school professor offered an apology in his first court hearing Thursday as he admitted to a charge of leaking bar exam questions to a former female student earlier this year.
"I damaged the foundations of a national examination that must be fair," Koichi Aoyagi, 67, said at the Tokyo District Court.
"I had strong feelings for her. She failed the exam the previous year so I wanted to do something. I cannot look my former students in the face."
Prosecutors sought a one-year prison term for Aoyagi, saying he had "undermined the foundations of the bar exam system." They said Aoyagi had been dating the woman since around 2013 and that his actions had been "foolish in the extreme."
The defense council requested leniency for Aoyagi. A ruling is expected on Dec. 24.
According to the indictment, Aoyagi was in charge of creating questions for the Constitution portion of the bar exam held in May and gave the woman an essay question and multiple-choice questions on the Constitution between February and May.
In the Constitution portion of the exam, the woman had perfect scores on the multiple-choice questions and her answer in the essay was better than those of other examinees and similar to a sample answer Aoyagi had made and circulated to other members tasked with formulating questions or grading answers in the bar exam.
After the possibility of a leak was suggested by another member, the National Bar Examination Commission filed a criminal complaint against Aoyagi in September for allegedly breaching his legal obligation to keep secrets as a part-time national public servant.