Mayor testified he had been intimidated by LDP Suzuki

More than five years ago, the mayor of Akkeshi Town in Hokkaido testified that Suzuki Muneo, an influential Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, threatened him and told him to back away from opposing the government plan to allow the Okinawa-based U.S. Marine Corps to carry out live-fire exercises in his town.

That was in December 1996, when the Bekkai Town mayor refused to accept the central government plan to allow the U.S. Marine Corps to use the Self-Defense Forces' training ground, which is made up of three municipalities, including Akkeshi Town, for live-fire exercises.

Then Akkeshi Town Mayor Sawada Akio visited Tokyo on December 20 the same year to petition the central government for more government subsidies.

In an unusual move, the Defense Facilities Administration Agency Obihiro (in Hokkaido) Bureau chief came to meet the mayor at Tokyo's Haneda Airport and took him to Suzuki's office, where Suzuki pressed him to immediately accept the government plan.

Sawada said, "No." He was in Tokyo on behalf of the 4,000 Akkeshi residents opposed to the plan. Suzuki then threatened him by arranging a meeting with the Hokkaido Development Agency director general, and then with the Hokkaido governor. The mayor was compelled to accept the plan finally.

Testifying in the town assembly, Mayor Sawada said he was harassed by Dietmember Suzuki. He added that Suzuki apparently took advantage of the weak point of a small town like Akkeshi which heavily depends on government subsidies. (end)