Staff writer

Although the turmoil surrounding Koko Sato started to die down Sept. 22 with his departure from the Cabinet, the political damage to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party remains.

Sato's appointment, which came despite his past bribery conviction, drew strong public criticism that the LDP was continuing faction-oriented, money politics. After Sato resigned Sept. 22, Hashimoto openly admitted he was wrong in his estimate of the public's ethical standards.