Photo/Illutration Telecommunications minister Ryota Takeda apologizes for the wining and dining scandal at his ministry during a March 18 session of the Lower House Committee on Internal Affairs and Communications. (Kotaro Ebara)

The head of the telecommunications ministry has admitted to having dined with the president of the telecommunications giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., after a weekly magazine released details about the event.

The news comes amid an expansive wining and dining scandal that has beleaguered the ministry and led to disciplinary actions against a number of bureaucrats, along with two resignations.

After Bunshun Online broke the story on March 17, telecommunications minister Ryota Takeda acknowledged in the Diet that he had attended a dinner with NTT President Jun Sawada, a major industry stakeholder.

He said Yoshiyuki Kasai, honorary chairman of Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai), invited him to the dinner, which took place on Nov. 11 last year.

“I didn’t know who else would attend until the day of the dinner,” Takeda said during a March 18 session of the Lower House Committee on Internal Affairs and Communications.

He said he paid 10,000 yen ($92) for what he consumed there.

In addition to Sawada and Kasai, Noriko Endo, an outside director of NTT Docomo Inc., also attended the dinner, according to JR Tokai's public relations division. 

The get-together was held to “exchange opinions over space policies,” an official of the division said.

Takeda said he had no prior knowledge of who, or how many people, would be at the dinner because the invitation from Kasai did not include that information.

Takeda added that he recalls not ordering a meal, but consuming a few glasses of beer during his stay of less than an hour at the restaurant.

“I kept chatting with Kasai, so I didn’t talk with other participants over individual matters,” he said.

During the current Diet session, Takeda has routinely refused to answer questions over whether he has dined with NTT officials since becoming telecommunications minister.

He has denied having attended a dinner or meeting that “could arouse public suspicion.”

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