Booted out! DPJ politician's fake degree

[Taro Toporific]

I wonder what lie Koga has cooked up here.
Politician strikes back over claims of faked U.S. education
(Mainichi and wire reports, Japan, Jan. 18, 2004)
Junichiro Koga, a Democratic Party of Japan House of Representatives member, has lashed out at claims he fabricated his academic record to show he had attained a degree from a college in the United States....
Recent media reports have claimed the politician may have attended classes at Pepperdine from 1978 to 1982, but said there is no record of him having graduated...
Koga said that confusion about his status arose because he did not attend a graduation ceremony, instead entrusting the formalities necessary to complete his degree to a lawyer, who also looked after his Green Card application at the same time. Koga said the lawyer had sent him his degree.

[Caustic Saint]

Maybe he answered one of those emails about getting a degree "qwik-n-ez" online? :P

[Taro Toporific]

This also could be a graduation from the well-known and prestigous University of Xerox, which has fully operational facilities on just about every campus in the US!

Maybe he has problems remembering his copyshop name...

Koga didn't attend CSULA / Lawmaker in even hotter water over ...
Daily Yomiuri, Japan - Jan 25
....a spokesman for California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) said Friday the university could not find any record of Koga's enrollment at the university.

Koga, 45, who was elected to the House of Representatives in the November lower house election, is accused of falsely stating that he graduated from Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.

In filing his candidacy for the election, Koga reported that he had graduated from Pepperdine University and enrolled at two other universities--the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and California State University, Bakersfield.

After it was rumored that he did not enroll at UCLA and the university confirmed that he had not done so...
Party of Japan) lawmaker Junichiro Koga, a spokesman for California State ...

[Taro Toporific]

Maybe he answered one of those emails about getting a degree "qwik-n-ez" online? :P

'HE DIDN'T COME HERE EITHER'
Cal State fuels Koga's misery
Sunday, January 25, 2004 / Japan Times
LOS ANGELES (Kyodo) California State University, Los Angeles, on Friday became the latest university to cast doubt on the academic credentials of Japanese lawmaker Junichiro Koga, contradicting his claims that he had studied there.
The school, commonly referred to as Cal State L.A., is the third U.S. university to contradict claims made by 45-year-old Koga while he was campaigning for the House of Representatives election on Nov. 9.
Koga is a member of the Democratic Party of Japan, the nation's largest opposition force.
Responding to inquiries from the Japanese media, university officials said they had checked their records from the 1970s and 1980s and that they could not find Koga's name.

[Taro Toporific]

...getting a degree "qwik-n-ez" ...

EDITORIAL: Academic record uproarAsahi Shimbun / Jan 26
Legislator's woes are a `serious laughing matter.'
We can only sigh over the predicament of Lower House member Junichiro Koga, 45, now suspected of falsifying his academic record in official credentials...
Under Japan's Public Office Election Law, misrepresentation of occupational or academic records to gain election to public office carries maximum penalties of two years' in prison or a fine of 300,000 yen. Further, if the offense is confirmed, the candidate's election victory is null and void.

[Big Booger]

So did he graduate or not?

[Taro Toporific]

So did he graduate or not?

Japanese Lawmaker Quits Opposition PartyAssociated Press / Mon, Jan. 26, 2004
TOKYO - A lawmaker says he's resigning from Japan's largest opposition party after his claims of graduating from a California university turned out to be false.
Junichiro Koga embodied the hopes of a rapidly growing Democratic Party seeking to oust Japan's long ruling Liberal Democratic Party from power when elected in November.But after it became clear he never graduated from Pepperdine University in California in 1982 as he earlier claimed, Koga said Tuesday that he would quit his party.
The former professional tennis player, however, said he wouldn't abandon his seat in Parliament....
...Lawmakers can be held legally liable for intentionally making false claims on their resume during campaigns, but it is unclear whether Koga deliberately mislead voters.

[Taro Toporific]

LEAD: DPJ to oust lawmaker Koga for faking academic backgroundKyodo
Thursday January 29, 12:04 PM
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) decided Thursday to expel House of Representatives member Junichiro Koga from the party over allegations he lied about his academic background, rejecting his offer to leave the party.