The Tokyo District Court has fined a Cabinet Secretariat official 300,000 yen for assaulting and slightly injuring a colleague over an argument related to the strength of tea that was served at a Cabinet meeting.
According to the sentence, defendant Hitoshi Okanoya, 42, criticized a male colleague who had served tea before the start of a Cabinet meeting, saying: "The tea is weak. You're disorganized." The date was July 29, 2019, and the two men were in an office kitchenette on the fourth floor of the Prime Minister's Office in Nagatacho, Tokyo.
Okanoya felt that the colleague was dismissive toward him, so he grabbed the man's right arm and pushed him out of the room, causing minor injuries.
Okanoya is on administrative leave due to his indictment. He pleaded not guilty at the trial, saying that he had not assaulted his colleague, but the judge ruled that Okanoya had done so, based on the fact that he himself had admitted it to his supervisor.
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