Aibou TV Season 4 Episode 17 - What Happens to an Accusation(告発の行方)

Subtitle: What Happens to an Accusation(告発の行方)

 Jyōichi Dōjima(堂島 丈一), a hard-hitting award winning magazine reporter fell to his death from his apartment window on the day his article about Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Koga was published. This last article he wrote was unusually tame compared to the other articles he wrote in the past, only praising the minister without a single mention of a scandal or social injustice. Did Dōjima really write that article? Who killed the reporter?

Characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Yukio Koga(古賀 由紀男) - Former councilman for South Beach City(南浜市 Minamihamashi) in Shikoku(四国 Shikoku), and current Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport(国土交通大臣 Kokudo kōtsū daijin). He doesn't have the best memory and he uses sticky notes to remember things he needs to remember. The minister says that he remembers Jyōichi Dōjima(堂島 丈一) interviewing him but doesn't seem to recall much about the reporter.

On the day Dōjima died, the latest issue of Weekly Entertainment Giraffe(週刊キリン芸能 Shūkan Kirin geinō) containing an article Dōjima wrote about the minister praising him went on sale.

Fumikazu Akaeda(赤枝 文和) - Secretary for Minister Koda for over twenty years. He confesses that Jyōichi Dōjima(堂島 丈一) interviewed him and not the minister. That interview was carried out a tavern, not the minister's office.

Jyōichi Dōjima(堂島 丈一) - Reporter and writer of social issues who wrote about educational problems, pollution problems, and scandals involving large companies and/or the police in the past. He won the 6th JS Journalist Award for Documentaries(第６回JSジャーナリスト ドキュメンタリー大賞Dai 6-kai JS dokyumentarī jānarisuto taishō) for his critically acclaimed book Ketsuzei No Hakaba(血税の墓場). In that book, Dōjima criticized construction projects in various municipalities across Japan such as the stadium in Shikoku, which failed to bring in the targeted professional baseball team and ended up wasting tax payers' money. Miwako and Inspector Ukyō both praised this book. When he died, he was under contract, worked for, and wrote for the magazine Weekly Entertainment Giraffe(週刊キリン芸能 Shūkan Kirin geinō).

His room's walls were severely damaged, and his desk had been scratched extensively.

Gomi(五味) - A cameraman who worked with Dōjima. Gomi tells the Tokumeigakari pair that Dōjima wrote his articles by hand so that he could tell if his articles were altered.

Yabe(矢部) - Editor for Weekly Entertainment Giraffe(週刊キリン芸能 Shūkan Kirin geinō). The article about Minister Koga sent to him was already typed and not handwritten, unlike Dōjima's other articles.

Kōji Kurimata(栗又 幸治) - Editor in chief of the magazine Weekly Entertainment Giraffe(週刊キリン芸能 Shūkan Kirin geinō). He met with Jyōichi Dōjima(堂島 丈一) the night Jyōichi died at the same tavern Jyōichi held the interview. Jyōichi got into a fight with the editor claiming that the editor broke a promise. After the meeting, the editor went back to work at the office, working overtime while Matsumi was there.

Matsumi Hara(原 松美) - Editor and reporter for the magazine Weekly Entertainment Giraffe(週刊キリン芸能 Shūkan Kirin geinō). She tells the Tokumeigakari pair that Jyōichi Dōjima(堂島 丈一) had been frustrated with the fact that hard hitting articles don't sell well. He vented his frustration out on the things in his apartment room, punching the apartment walls and scratching his desk with his pen.

Saitō seimu-kan(斉藤政務官) - While the Tokumeigakari pair are talking to Minister Yukio Koga(古賀 由紀男), his secretary Akeda comes in and tells him that Saito Parliamentary Secretary wants to meet him later that day.

Haruki Ōkōchi(大河内 春樹) - General Inspector Ōkōchi summons the Tokumeigakari pair the day after they visit the Sōsa ni-ka(捜査二課). They had discovered that Minister Koga had taken at least 200 million yen(2億円 2 oku-en) in bribes for using his connection to make it possible to build a dome in South Beach City(南浜市 Minamihamashi). The dome was built with hopes of luring a professional baseball team there, but failed to accomplish this task. The non-profit sector in charge of the stadium went bankrupt with losses of 50 billion yen(500億円 500 oku-en). The government is planning to throw 10 billion yen(100億円 100 oku-en ) of taxpayer's money at the problem while they planned to raise the taxes of South Beach City(南浜市 Minamihamashi) residents to pay for the rest. The police had not arrested the Minister yet because they were waiting for the South Beach City's taxes to be raised to prevent social unrest.