Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Thursday steadfastly refused to reopen the investigation into leaked education ministry documents that suggest a school operator run by a close friend of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe benefited from government favoritism.
Suga's stance signals that the government intends to ignore fresh reports by multiple media outlets that the documents in question are authentic and were shared by ministry bureaucrats last fall.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Kyodo News, Fuji Television Network and Tokyo Broadcasting System Television separately reported making contact with multiple anonymous education ministry sources who said the papers were circulated in the ministry last year.