Presidential Election Part 2

This post continues the account of this year’s May meeting of the Jinja Honchō (神社本庁) Oversight Council (評議員会), as reported in the June 2^nd issue of Jinja Shinpō. The first part was posted on Friday, and covers the first day.

The morning of the second day was occupied by two subcommittees. One was looking at the budget in detail, while the other was considering motions submitted by groups of councillors. These two committees were straightforward. The budget committee listened to presentations, asked a few questions, and made some suggestions, but nothing that stirred debate. The motions committee merged a few proposals that were essentially the same, as they always do, and agreed on three anodyne, uncontroversial motions — support the Shikinen Sengū (式年遷宮) at Isë Jingū (伊勢神宮), revise the Japanese constitution to reflect Japan’s traditions and history, and have everyone visit Yasukuni Jinja (靖國神社). (These are anodyne at Jinja Honchō.)

The full Oversight Council reconvened in the afternoon. First, it accepted the three submitted motions for debate, and then it passed the budget motions. The second part is very important, because it means that Jinja Honchō can operate from July. The next motion was to correct a typo in a date in the Jinja Honchō Kenshō (神社本庁憲章), which is a statement of ideals for Jinja Honchō. It was passed in 1980, and no-one noticed the typo until a couple of years ago. Someone did ask why it took a couple of years to fix it, but it seems they had to figure out how it should be fixed, and finally came to the conclusion that they needed a vote of the Oversight Council. The motion passed. There were then some revisions to the regulations for supporting jinja affected by natural disasters, which were uncontroversial because they are based on recent experience, and aim to make the process work better.

After all that smooth sailing, it was time for some more choppy waters. The secretariat moved to present their report on the disputed presidential election. A councillor immediately raised an emergency motion. His argument was that the report was one-sided, justifying the behaviour of the Tanaka faction, and that it did not take account of the real estate scandal that started the whole sorry mess. Another councillor objected that it was ridiculous to not have a formal report on something that had gone on so long and reached the Supreme Court. Someone else responded that there had been no report on the real estate and illegal disciplinary action (which also went to the Supreme Court), so that it was strange that this one came first.

Lots of councillors then made comments. Some wanted to hear the report and ask specific questions. Others asked what the basis in Jinja Honchō’s regulations was for the motions of censure that had been passed by the Board of Directors.

At this point, Revd Nishitakatsuji (西高辻), the chairman of the Oversight Council, pointed out that it wasn’t clear exactly what the emergency motion was. Its proposer clarified that he wanted the report to be withdrawn. At this point it was clear that at least two councillors supported the motion, and so he declared that it was accepted as a motion. (This is progress on the last Oversight Council meeting, at which an emergency motion with the support of two councillors was rejected on the grounds that it was controversial.)

A debate therefore began, and because they anticipated a lot of opinions, they decided to alternate pro and anti opinions. The opposition to the motion was basically saying that people should at least get to read the report. Those supporting the withdrawal of the report argued that it had been written to justify one side, and was unsigned. There were other comments, including one wondering whether such a report would actually heal the divisions within Jinja Honchō.

After the debate, Revd Nishitakatsuji suggested that a vote be taken by secret ballot. The head of the secretariat said that there hadn’t been a secret ballot in at least the thirty years he had been involved (I suspect there hadn’t been one in the whole history of Jinja Honchō — I do not remember a reference to one in the history I read). As a result, they were not set up to conduct one, and it would take a bit of time to get ready. He thus suggested that the order of business be changed, and that the three submitted motions be debated while they made the necessary preparations. This suggestion was accepted.

The debate on the three motions was largely uncontroversial, although one councillor did draw attention to the reference to “making the true form of Jingū clear” in the Shikinen Sengū motion, and called on Jinja Honchō to respect that in its future actions, and they were all passed.

It was then time for the secret ballot. There is a photograph in Jinja Shinpō. They printed “ballot box” on a piece of A4 paper and stuck it on the front of a cardboard box, and then people wrote their ballots at their seats, and came up to the front to drop them in the box. The votes were then counted with a pair of scrutineers.

The result was 69 in favour of withdrawing the report, 68 against, and 7 spoiled ballots. The motion needed a majority of all the councillors (73) to pass, so it did not, and the report was presented.

And given how long this has got, I think I should report that in the next (and hopefully final) post.