Police Search Toyama City Office over Census Population Inflation
Toyama, Oct. 3 (Jiji Press)--Police searched the Toyama city office Saturday over suspected violations of the statistics law related to allegations that its staff inflated the central Japan city's population figure in the 2025 census. About 10 Toyama prefectural police investigators in suits arrived at the city office around 10 a.m. with cardboard boxes in hand and headed to the fifth floor...
Toyama, Japan - Police conducted a search of the Toyama city office on Saturday, probing potential breaches of the statistics law linked to accusations that city officials inflated the population numbers for the 2025 census. Approximately ten Toyama prefectural police investigators, dressed in formal attire, arrived at the city office around 10 a.m., bearing cardboard boxes and proceeding to the fifth floor, where the division responsible for census-related responsibilities is situated.
On Tuesday, the internal affairs ministry filed a criminal complaint against unnamed city employees for allegedly violating the statistics law. The ministry's final figures, released on Tuesday, indicated that the city's population stood at 399,197, a decrease from the preliminary estimate of 402,133, which was disclosed in May.
The ministry attributed the population shrinkage to at least 2,000 individuals being added to the census, suggesting that multiple city staff members may have been involved in the alleged inflated figures.
Toyama Mayor Hirohisa Fujii, speaking at a press conference on Friday, refuted the notion that the population inflation was driven by an aspiration to maintain the city's population above 400,000.
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- Police search Toyama City Hall over census inflation claims japantimes.co.jp
