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Former Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Kimiya Nishikawa at a press conference (photographed in November 2014)
Kimiya Nishikawa, a 77-year-old cabinet secretary who served as Minister of Agriculture in the Abe Cabinet, received millions of yen in cash from 2018-19 from the former representative (87) of the chicken egg production giant “Akita Foods” ( Fukuyama city, Hiroshima prefecture). When interviewing the affected people, it was discovered that this appeared to have been the case. Mr. Nishikawa resigned as a participant on the 8th. The Tokyo District Attorney’s Office appears to be carefully examining the purpose of the cash.
Mr. Nishikawa was first elected in the 1996 House of Representatives election after the Tochigi Prefectural Assembly. He served as Deputy Minister of the Cabinet Office and Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and served as Minister of Agriculture in Abe’s Cabinet from September 2014 to February 2015. He was defeated in the House elections of Representatives in October 2017, but in November the following year, he was appointed an adviser to the Cabinet Secretariat and was re-elected by the Kan Cabinet.
At a press conference on the 8th, Secretary of State Katsunobu Kato revealed that Mr. Nishikawa had offered to resign as a participant for “personal convenience”. On the same day, the Cabinet Office announced the retirement of Mr. Nishikawa.
Former Akita representatives visited the minister’s office in November 2018 to oppose the stricter proposal by international “animal welfare” organizations to reduce stress on livestock. Mr. Nishikawa was accompanied when the book was published.
In July this year, the Special Investigation Department registered Akita Co., Ltd. head office as a partner in the acquisition of Mr. and Mrs. Katsuyuki Kawai over the Hiroshima constituency last year. The former representative is known to have been entertaining Mr. Nishikawa and others with his cruise the day before.
Mr. Nishikawa’s office responded to this newspaper that they “do not know” how to receive cash. Akita says, “I can’t answer.”
