Prefectural police raid Toyama City over suspicion of population increase, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications files criminal charges against city officials

Toyama Prefectural Police raided the city hall on the 3rd on suspicion of inflating the city's population in the 2025 census, on suspicion of violating the Statistics Act. On the 29th of last month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications filed criminal charges against a city employee without giving his name.

``There was no instruction from executives'' over suspicion of population increase - Mayor of Toyama

Around 10 a.m., about 10 investigators in suits arrived at City Hall. They went inside one by one with cardboard boxes in hand and headed to their respective departments on the fifth floor.

According to the final figures released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on the 29th of last month, the city's population is 399,197. Preliminary figures released in May put the number at 402,133. According to the ministry, the number of inflated figures is at least 2,000, and multiple employees are suspected of being involved.

Mayor Hirohisa Fujii was asked at a press conference on the 2nd whether the motive was to maintain the city's population at 400,000, and he answered, "I can absolutely say that is not the case." He said, ``There was no instruction from executives,'' and ``I will take appropriate responsibility at the appropriate time.''

Preliminary population figures were used to calculate the local allocation tax for fiscal 2016, and according to the city's estimates, it is possible that the city received about 60 million yen more than it should have received.