Nobuhisa Sagawa
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Context
Sagawa headed the Finance Ministry's Financial Bureau when official records related to the discounted sale of state land to Moritomo Gakuen were altered. (Source: The Japan Times — 2018-03-27 (opens in a new tab).)
He later became commissioner of the National Tax Agency and resigned in March 2018 as the scandal intensified. (Source: The Japan Times — accessed 2026-10-14 (opens in a new tab).)
Record
In sworn Diet testimony in March 2018, Sagawa denied that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe or Abe's wife had directed the document alterations and declined to answer some questions on grounds related to possible criminal proceedings.
The Finance Ministry later disciplined officials over the altered documents, with Sagawa receiving the heaviest administrative punishment described in the ministry's response.
Additional records disclosed in 2026 added detail to the scandal but did not, according to The Japan Times, produce a specific written instruction from Sagawa ordering each alteration. (Source: The Japan Times — 2026-04-15 (opens in a new tab).)
Consequences
The scandal damaged confidence in the integrity of public records and in the government's handling of a politically sensitive state-land transaction.
Sagawa became a central accountability figure because of his bureau leadership and earlier Diet explanations, even as evidentiary questions remained about the exact chain of instructions.