Companies struggling in the aftermath of scandals, such as Tokyo Electric Power Co., Takata Corp., Olympus Corp. and the Asahi Shimbun, might have mitigated the damage had they been less inclined to cover things up.
One man is on a quest to create transparency in Japan's opaque business world with a whistleblower website that has echoes of Wikileaks.
The man behind it is academic Masayuki Hatta, who hopes the project will counter what he calls Japan Inc.'s instinct to conceal blunders.