View source for Recruit scandal

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{short description|Insider trading scandal in Japan}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2014}}
{{Liberal Democratic Party of Japan sidebar|history}}
The {{nihongo|'''Recruit scandal'''|リクルート事件|Rikurūto jiken}} was an [[insider trading]] and corruption scandal that forced many prominent Japanese politicians to resign in 1988.

[[Recruit (company)|Recruit]] is a human resources and classifieds company based in Tokyo.<ref name="Recruit to go public"/> Its chairman, [[Hiromasa Ezoe]], offered a number of shares in a Recruit subsidiary, Cosmos, to business leaders and senior politicians shortly before Cosmos went public in 1986. Following the public offering, Cosmos's share price skyrocketed, and the individuals involved in the scheme saw average profits of ¥66&nbsp;million each.

Although only seventeen members of the [[Diet of Japan|Diet]] were involved in the insider trading, another thirty were later found to have received special favors from Recruit.

Among the politicians involved in the scandal were Prime Minister [[Noboru Takeshita]], former Prime Minister [[Yasuhiro Nakasone]], and Chief Cabinet Secretary [[Takao Fujinami]].  In addition to members of the [[Liberal Democratic Party of Japan|LDP]] government, leaders of the [[Komeito]], [[Democratic Party of Japan]], and [[Japan Socialist Party]] were also found to be involved. As a result, Takeshita's cabinet was forced to resign, although some of its members returned to political prominence later (including future prime ministers [[Kiichi Miyazawa]] and [[Keizō Obuchi]]).

The chairmen of [[Nippon Telegraph and Telephone|NTT]], the ''[[Yomiuri Shimbun]]'', and the ''[[Nihon Keizai Shimbun]]'' were also involved in the scandal.

Despite the breadth of the Recruit Scandal across party lines, the LDP was hurt most significantly by the scandal. It is often said to be one of the main causes of [[Morihiro Hosokawa]]'s opposition party victory in [[1993_Japanese_general_election#Results|1993]], which briefly interrupted the LDP's otherwise continuous reign over Japan.

==See also==
*[[Government-business relations in Japan]]
*[[Political funding in Japan]]

==References==
{{reflist | refs=
<ref name="Recruit to go public">{{cite news | title=Recruit to go public more than 20 years after scandal | url=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T120626005277.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627190521/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T120626005277.htm |archive-date=27 June 2012 | date=27 June 2012 | work=[[The Yomiuri Shimbun]] | access-date=26 July 2019}}</ref>
}}

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[[Category:1988 in Japan]]
[[Category:Economic history of Japan]]
[[Category:Heisei era]]
[[Category:Political scandals in Japan]]
[[Category:Politics of Japan]]
[[Category:Politics of Post-war Japan]]
[[Category:Recruit (company)]]