Over the past few months, Aichi Prefecture has been rattled by the discovery of fraudulent signatures gathered for a recall petition calling for Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura to resign over his handling of a 2019 exhibition.
A joint report by the Chunichi Shimbun and the Nishinippon Shimbun revealed that many part-time workers in the city of Saga in Kyushu were mobilized to write the signatures. In addition, it also came to light that the same person made the fingerprints that need to accompany the signatures.
After receiving a criminal complaint from the prefectural election office, the Aichi Prefectural Police confiscated all the signatures and launched a full-scale investigation earlier this year. But it remains a mystery as to who did it and why.