Overview

• Japan’s health and education ministries disclosed about 750 pages of emails and records to Professor Hiroyuki Uwaki following a June court ruling that required disclosure.
• Most materials detail transport arrangements and delivery schedules, with no contemporaneous records of price talks or how suppliers were chosen.
• Released emails show a March 10, 2020 meeting with Itochu and two other firms, as well as messages thanking officials for outcomes and references to taking a “three-firm alignment,” raising questions about possible preferential treatment.
• Uwaki said the disclosure was insufficient and has formally requested full document release and explanations of any internal investigations by the ministries.
• The government in 2020 awarded non-competitive contracts to 17 firms for over 300 million cloth masks at about ¥442 billion, spent roughly ¥98 billion on distribution, and left around 83 million masks in inventory, with the Board of Audit noting METI’s solicitation role and MHLW’s sample checks.