Opposition Party Member Ichiro Ozawa Closes His Politics School

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, February 22, 2023

Ichiro Ozawa, a member of the House of Representatives from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, announced Sunday he would suspend as of that day the operation of the Ozawa Ichiro Seiji Juku, a private school for politics. He presided over the school for more than 20 years.

 “I would say today is the last day of the school for the time being. I hope to reopen it as soon as possible,” Ozawa said during a lecture in Tokyo.

 “The coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult to attract students and the management [of the school] has also weakened,” said a person concerned with the matter.

 Aiming to train the next generation of leaders, the politics school opened in 2001 when Ozawa was the leader of the Liberal Party (Jiyuto). After the LP merged with the Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) in 2003, it continued on as Ozawa’s private school. More than 500 people graduated from it over the years, with some eventually becoming lawmakers.

 On the last day, Ozawa gave lectures on topics such as the Constitution and food security, and complained about the CDPJ, saying, “It’s always the last to reach a conclusion on any issue. That’s why even other opposition parties make fun of it.”