Former Judge Named Justice Chief in Japan

Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita appointed his second justice minister of the week Friday as his scandal-buffeted government lurched toward the end of what commentators are calling a gloomy year in Japanese politics.

Takeshita had to reach outside the world of politics to name a new justice minister, picking Masami Takatsuji, 78, a former Supreme Court justice with experience in drafting legislation as a bureaucrat in the 1960s and 1970s.

On Tuesday, the prime minister had appointed Takashi Hasegawa, a 76-year-old member of Parliament, to head the Justice Ministry. But Hasegawa lasted only 60 hours--said to be a postwar record for short Cabinet tenure--as it became known that he had received donations for years from Recruit Co., which the ministry is investigating on suspicion of bribery.

At the root of Japan’s political gloom is the scandal involving the Recruit conglomerate, whose founder sold unlisted shares of a subsidiary at bargain prices to politicians, their aides and business leaders. The share prices more than doubled when they were publicly listed in 1986, and the holders made fat, tax-free profits when they sold.

Called Year’s Top Story

The Recruit scandal has been dubbed the top story of the year by Japanese media, rivaled only by the downbeat story of the illness of Emperor Hirohito, 87, who has been bedridden with intestinal hemorrhaging since Sept. 19.

“The year 1988 was an indescribably gloomy one for Japanese politics, and one that calls for much soul-searching,” commentator Minoru Tada wrote in Friday’s Japan Times.

The Recruit scandal now has brought the resignations of 18 public figures--including two Cabinet members--since it hit the front pages last summer. Business leaders, top bureaucrats and news media executives are among the casualties.

Takatsuji, who served on the Supreme Court from 1973 to 1980, said he had no connection at all to the Recruit firm.

“I don’t really have anything to say about Recruit,” Takatsuji said. “My attitude toward it is no different from that of the people in general.”