Dentists Too Political

Question: which is the most prevalent in number in Japan, post office, dental office or convenience store? The right answer is dental office. Why? It’s nothing less than obvious, because it’s a highly profitable business. However, the business proved to have been supported by political incentive. Having extraordinary close relationship with politics, some leaders in an organization for dental doctors were arrested with suspect of illegal donation to lawmakers. It is not the first scandal for the organization.

Special Investigation Department of Tokyo Regional Prosecutors Office arrested three leaders of Japan Dentists Federation, including two former presidents, Naofumi Tsutsumi and Mikimasa Takagi, with suspect of violation of Political Funding Regulation Act. They were suspected as having illegally donated to members of the House of Councillors, Masami Nishimura in 2010 and Midori Ishii in 2013.

The prosecutors found that Tsutsumi in 2010 camouflaged ¥50 million of donation from the federation to the supporters’ society of Nishimura, as if it had been supplied from a regional party organization headed by Nishimura. In 2013, Takagi made two donations to Ishii, one amounted ¥50 million and another ¥45 million, exceeding annual limit of ¥50 million. The first ¥50 million was once donated to Nishimura and then transferred to Ishii. It was actually money launderings by dentists.

Surprising enough, Tsutsumi was the president of the supporters’ society for Nishimura in 2010 and Takagi was to Ishii in 2013. In other words, Tsutsumi and Takagi had been campaign leaders for Nishimura and Ishii. In 2013 election, Japan Dentists Federation prepared ¥400 million for Nishimura’s campaign. The organization ordered each of fifty thousands of dentists to find at least five supporters for Nishimura and submit their name list. The total amount of the names on submitted list reached 557 thousands. With such a firm and broad system, dentists have been sending lawmakers to the Diet for many years.

What is the benefit they want? It is supposedly the reward for their medical treatments. Each medical treatment has certain point, on which payment for medical doctors will be calculated. Dentists want as great share as possible in the medical community, including ordinary medical doctors and pharmacists. As a pressure group, Japan Dentists Federation kept on providing explicit donation to politics.

In 2004, the federation caused a major scandal of donating illegal money to Hashimoto fraction in Liberal Democratic Party, which had constituted a mainstream of the party. People would see this current scandal as an endless money game between politics and old establishment in Japanese society.