Fumitake Fujita, co-chairman of the Restoration Association of Japan, protested against allegations reported in some quarters that the article was “arbitrary, like a malicious tax circular.”

　Fumitake Fujita, 44, co-chairman of the Japan Restoration Association, updated his X (formerly Twitter) on March 30. He protested against some media reports about him. The article does not seem to include the full text of the response, so the attached image shows the contents of the response to the questionnaire from Akahata. He then added, “The dishonest and one-sided manner in which the deadline for responding to the questionnaire is until the next day is the same as the Weekly Bunshun, which our party has a pending defamation case against. I recognize that Akahata is not a news organization that places importance on impartiality and is a propaganda paper of the Communist Party, but this time the questionnaire was directed at my office, and I responded within the required short deadline. I confirmed the article that does not reflect the answer at all, and I am well aware that there is no impartiality at all,” he said, expressing his displeasure. An article about Mr. Fujita was published in the November 2 issue of “Shimbun Aka Hata (Red Flag),” titled “Ishin Fujita, Co-Chairman of the Restoration Association, Serious Allegations: 20 Million Yen in Public Funds to Public Secretary’s Side, Not ‘Cutting the Gordon’ and Returning Taxes to His Relatives. The full text of Mr. Fujita’s response is as follows The article is arbitrary, as if it were a malicious taxation scheme, but all of the transactions are legitimate, and were carried out legally after consulting with experts. The article is arbitrary and misleading, but it is a legitimate transaction, and I have consulted with experts to ensure that it is legitimate. Incidentally, when distributed to all households in a constituency, even a single leaflet costs more than 1 million yen per issue, including design, printing, inserts, and posting distribution. A booklet costs several million yen, but it is an important means of informing local voters of the national political situation. The article is suspiciously reporting that the contracted company does not have a printing press, but even major advertising agencies do not necessarily own their own printing presses or rotary presses, and the normal business practice is to collaborate with partners and subcontractors to manage the entire job. This is a malicious manipulation of impressions based on a logical structure that ignores the general business scene. The ratio of transaction volume is extremely small compared to the scale of sales of the contracting company. The terms and conditions of the transaction are set at the market price level based on specifications, workload, delivery date, etc., and are in the same price range as those for the same type of work outsourced in the private sector. The price range is comparable to that of private sector outsourcing of the same type of work.