Scandals related to Abe show a term can lose its real meaning

December is generally the month when people across the world review the passing year. In Japan, people choose buzzwords that best convey their feelings for the year. On Dec 1, sontaku, a word that is not part of Japanese people’s working vocabulary, was picked as one of the words that went viral this year. The term, as the Financial Times said, refers to the preemptive, placatory following of an order that has not been given.

Sontaku was the most-searched word online for four straight months, according to a buzzwords’ committee. The word has entered the Japanese vernacular because of two political scandals in which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe are said to be involved.

One began with revelations in March that Osaka-based educational institution Moritomo Gakuen had purchased a piece of public land at an unbelievably generous discount. The officials in charge of the transaction reportedly practiced sontaku to accommodate what they believed were the wishes of the Prime Minister’s Office and Akie Abe, who was named honorary principal of a Shinzo Abe memorial elementary school to be built on the site purchased by Moritomo Gakuen.

At a hearing in parliament, Yasunori Kagoike, then president of Moritomo Gakuen, said Akie Abe gave him 1 million yen ($8,862) in the name of the prime minister.

The second scandal broke out months later. Abe and his aides were alleged to have helped Kotaro Kake, president of Kake Gakuen Education Institution, get permission for running a veterinary school despite public consensus it was not needed. Abe and Kake are long-time friends.