Scandal in Japan: Land-sale scandal returns to haunt Shinzo Abe

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According to multiple media polls in Japan, the approval rating for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet has once again plunged. Over the past week, renewed attention has focused on a year-old case of cronyism, implicating Abe and his wife, Akie.

According to a Kyodo News poll released on Sunday, the approval rating for the prime minister's cabinet has dropped to 38.7 percent, down 9.4 percentage points from a previous survey conducted on in early March, while the disapproval rating stood at 48.2 percent, up 9.2 points.

Among the respondents, 43.8 percent said Abe should step down after more evidence came to light about state influence in a shady land deal. More than 65 percent said Abe's wife Akie should testify in the country's parliament.

According to another survey released by Jiji Press, support for the cabinet has dropped to 39.3 percent, while the disapproval rate has risen to 40.4 percent. This marks the first time since last October that the support rate has fallen below the disapproval rate.

The Moritomo Gakuen scandal involves a private-school operator buying a plot of land in 2016 in Osaka for a sum equivalent to only 14 percent of its appraisal price. The land had been intended for an ultra-nationalist elementary school, with Abe's wife Akie as its honorary principal. She has since stepped down, as the festering scandal emerged in February of last year.

The prime minister has since denied that he or his wife were involved in the shady deal, while the head of the school's operating organization has given sworn testimony in parliament, stating that he believed the land deal involved "politicians' intervention".

Earlier this week, Japan's Finance Ministry admitted to knowingly altering documents on a cut-price land deal scandal, which drew renewed attention to the scandal. And the opposition camp and the public are calling for deeper investigations and for the government to be held accountable.