日本防衛大臣深陷森友學園醜聞

Shinzo Abe has been forced to back his defence minister after documents emerged linking her to a spiralling scandal over the cut-price sale of public land to a religious school.

安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)被迫表態支持防衛大臣，此前最新曝光的文件把她扯進一場把公共土地折價賣給一所宗教學校的愈演愈烈的醜聞。

Speaking in parliament, the prime minister rejected calls for Tomomi Inada to resign but said she needed to explain her past disavowal of links to the Moritomo Gakuen school operator.

在國會發言時，日本首相拒絕了要求稻田朋美(Tomomi Inada，見上圖左二)辭職的呼籲，但表示，她需要解釋她過去宣稱不存在的她與森友學園(Moritomo Gakuen)經營者之間的聯繫。

“I’d like Ms Inada to fulfil her responsibility to explain and continue to discharge her duties,” said Mr Abe. Ms Inada, previously seen as a rising star and protégée of Mr Abe, is a darling of Japan’s conservative right.

“我希望稻田履行她的解釋責任，並繼續履行職責，”安倍表示。以往被視爲冉冉上升的政治明星和安倍門徒的稻田朋美，是日本右翼保守陣營的寵兒。

The scandal is dragging down Mr Abe’s opinion poll ratings, making it harder for him to call an early general election and threatening his government’s ability to push economic reforms.

這起醜聞已拖累安倍在民意調查中的表現，使他更難宣佈提前舉行大選，還危及他的政府推進經濟改革的能力。

According to broadcaster NHK’s monthly tracking poll, support for the Abe government dropped by seven points from 58 per cent to 51 per cent in March as the scandal gained momentum. Opposition parties raise it constantly in parliament.

隨着這起醜聞不斷髮酵，安倍政府在日本放送協會(NHK)每月跟蹤調查中獲得的支持率下降了7個百分點，從2月的58%降至3月的51%。

Mr Abe insists he had nothing to do with the land sale even though his wife, Akie Abe, was to become honorary principal of the new primary school. But the revelations that Ms Inada once acted as a lawyer for Moritomo Gakuen — which has been criticised for its highly nationalistic curriculum — tie it even more closely to the prime minister’s circle.

安倍堅稱，他與出售土地的交易毫無關係，儘管他的妻子安倍昭恵(Akie Abe)將成爲這所新小學的榮譽校長。但是，有關稻田朋美曾經擔任森友學園律師的最新爆料，使這家學校經營者被更加緊密地與首相的圈子牽扯到一起。森友學園因其高度民族主義的教學大綱而受到批評。

The defence minister corrected her past statements in parliament, saying she had “absolutely no recollection” of working for the school. Court documents from 2004 show her making filings on its behalf.

防衛大臣在國會糾正了她以往的聲明，稱其對於爲該學校工作“絕對沒有記憶”。2004年的法院文件顯示，她曾代表其提交文件。

Ms Inada's outspoken views on Japan’s history — particularly during the second world war — align with the school operator’s religious, conservative curriculum. In the past she has questioned the legitimacy of the Tokyo tribunal that convicted Japanese leaders of war crimes, elements of the infamous Nanking massacre and the degree of coercion in supplying brothels with prostitutes.

稻田朋美在日本歷史——特別是在第二次世界大戰期間——議題上直言不諱的看法，與這家學校經營者宗教色彩濃厚的保守派教學大綱吻合。她曾質疑判定日本領導人犯有戰爭罪的東京法庭的合法性、臭名昭著的南京大屠殺的某些元素以及慰安婦制度中的強制程度。

Her appointment as defence minister last summer was seen as a possible stepping stone to the premiership. But she has struggled in office and even if she is not forced to resign, the school scandal is likely to damage her career.

她在去年夏天被任命爲防衛大臣一事，曾被視爲可能是通往首相職位的一塊踏板。但她在任職期間不太順利，即使她沒有被迫辭職，這起學校醜聞也很可能損害她的政治生涯。

According to local reports, Moritomo Gakuen bought the 8,770 square metre plot in Osaka prefecture last June for ￥134m ($1.18m). The land’s appraisal value was ￥956m and a neighbouring plot of a similar size went for ￥1.4bn in 2010, suggesting it was sold for just 10 per cent of what it was worth.

據日本媒體報道，森友學園去年6月買下大阪縣一個8770平方米的地塊，價格爲1.34億日元（合118萬美元）。這塊地皮的評估價值高達9.56億日元，而面積相仿的一個相鄰地塊在2010年以14億日元易手，似乎表明其售價只有實際價值的10%。

Moritomo Gakuen has abandoned its plans to open the school and its controversial head says he will resign. The government will repurchase the site and the school may have to demolish its almost finished building. Nevertheless, the opposition Democratic and Communist parties are demanding investigations into the land sale decision.

森友學園已經放棄了開辦這所學校的計劃，其有爭議的掌門人表示他將辭職。政府將買回這個地塊，而學校可能不得不拆除其幾乎完工的樓房。然而，反對黨民主黨和共產黨要求調查當初出售土地的決定。

At its private kindergarten, the school tries to instil patriotism in three- to five-year-old pupils by making them memorise the 1890 Imperial Rescript, which tells them to “offer yourselves courageously to the state”. The rescript was abolished by the US education authorities following the second world war.

森友學園旗下的私立幼兒園向3至5歲的孩子們灌輸愛國主義，要求他們背誦1890年頒佈的《教育敕語》(Imperial Rescript on Education)，其中要求他們爲國家“克忠克孝，億兆一心”。二戰結束後，在美國佔領當局主導之下，這份文件被廢止。

According to the Kyodo news agency, Moritomo Gakuen was also questioned by prefectural authorities in January on suspicion of spreading hate speech, after it distributed a statement to parents containing alleged slurs against Chinese people and Korean residents of Japan.

據共同社(Kyodo)報道，今年1月，森友學園還曾因涉嫌傳播仇恨言論而被一些縣政府機構約談，起因是該校向家長們散發一份聲明，其內容有誹謗旅居日本的華人和韓國人之嫌。