Overview

• On August 13, Mayor Takuba appeared before the Ito City Council’s special investigative committee with her lawyer for her first testimony in the probe of her claimed Toyo University graduation.
• She reiterated that she discovered on June 28 from university records that she had been delisted rather than graduated and denied earlier acquaintance testimony suggesting prior knowledge.
• Despite two formal requests, Takuba refused to hand over the original diploma to investigators, citing fear of criminal prosecution as her justification.
• Facing criticism for briefly showing the diploma, the mayor submitted her own audio recording which she said proves she displayed the document for 19.2 seconds.
• The committee plans to finalize its findings by the end of August and is weighing a referral to prosecutors over the refusal alongside a no-confidence motion in the September session.