Transportation Ministry puts on a road show.
Posted by Matt Dioguardi on February 16th, 2008
- Transport ministry spent 526 mil. yen on musicals
The Construction and Transport Ministry spent more than 500 million yen on staging musicals using funds earmarked for roads, it was revealed in a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting Thursday.
In response to a question posed by the Social Democratic Party’s Nobuto Hosaka, the ministry revealed it had spent 526 million yen earmarked for roads to put on 85 performances of a musical. It said the shows, staged between fiscal 2003 and 2005, were aimed at educating people about road maintenance and improvement.
“We did it to win over landowners,” Construction and Transport Minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba said. “But we won’t do this kind of thing again.”
Following a question by the Democratic Party of Japan’s Akira Nagatsuma, the ministry also revealed its Nagoya-based Meishi National Highway Office had bought two aromatherapy machines worth a total of 46,390 yen.
These activities speak for themselves. What I find weird is how stories like this constantly crop up in the press, yet there’s not sense of anyone doing anything serious about it.