News analysis

Japan's public and private sectors cleaning up their act

Organisations, hit by waves of governance scandals, move to flush out bad practices

Mr Michio Arikuni, president of Suruga Bank, at a news conference last Friday. Suruga Bank's top executives resigned after an independent panel found that weak governance led to a loan scandal that has rocked the Japanese regional bank.
Mr Michio Arikuni, president of Suruga Bank, at a news conference last Friday. Suruga Bank's top executives resigned after an independent panel found that weak governance led to a loan scandal that has rocked the Japanese regional bank. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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Japan has been rocked by a second wave of governance scandals that have implicated the national government and the private sector.

Yet, experts see this as a necessary evil as Japanese organisations flush out bad practices to right their ship after a wave of high-profile incidents late last year involving manufacturers such as Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Materials and Toray Industries, and carmakers Nissan and Subaru.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 12, 2018, with the headline Japan's public and private sectors cleaning up their act. Subscribe