Hiromu Kurokawa, superintending prosecutor of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office submitted his resignation Thursday, following a report in a weekly magazine that he was playing mahjong for money during the state of emergency.
Kurokawa has basically admitted to the scandal in an investigation by the Justice Ministry. The scandal elicited debate among the government and ruling parties on whether to force him to resign.
Shunkan Bunshun's digital edition on Wednesday ran the headline "Entertained by mahjong for money," reporting that Kurokawa, 63, had played mahjong with two Sankei Shimbun reporters and a former Asahi Shimbun reporter in the apartment of one of the Sankei reporters, from the night of May 1 until dawn on May 2 and again on May 13. The magazine also quoted the Sankei reporter as saying Kurokawa had been playing mahjong before that as well.
Kurokawa became superintending prosecutor at the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office in January last year after serving as the Justice Ministry's deputy vice minister and vice minister. He was planning to retire when he turned 63 in February. But right before his birthday, at the end of January, the government approved a six-month extension of his retirement age at a Cabinet meeting. He was seen by some observers as a candidate for prosecutor general in the personnel reshuffle this summer.
As for a bill to revise the the Public Prosecutor's Office Law, which was shelved in the current Diet session, opposition parties criticized the bill is "an afterthought to justify the extension of Kurokawa's retirement age." The opposition parties are poised to question the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for its decision to extend the retirement age of Kurokawa.
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