As rumors make headlines over who will replace disgraced Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe, many in the capital wonder if his successor will also be a lavish spender of taxpayer money.
The Political Funds Control Law contains no strict criteria for judging what kinds of activities politicians can legitimately spend money on. Lawmakers say the law was written that way to guarantee freedom of activity.
The law, however, allows lawmakers to circumvent the ban on donations from businesses and other groups to individual lawmakers by receiving the money through their political parties. A significant portion of the political funds used by lawmakers comes from the roughly ¥30 billion in annual subsidies the government provides to their parties. Also, the law does not specify how to control the way such funds are used.