The new education minister says he will decide on whether to approve scandal-tainted school operator Kake Gakuen's bid to open a new veterinary department after weighing the results of an ongoing screening by the ministry's panel of experts.
"I want to respect the panel's judgment," Yoshimasa Hayashi said Wednesday during a joint interview with media outlets including The Japan Times. "I want them to conduct thorough assessments from the point of view of experts."
The panel is examining the application to open a veterinary department at a university run by Okayama-based Kake Gakuen, chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's close friend Kotaro Kake. The application has been at the center of allegation of favoritism on the part of Abe and his Cabinet.