Ex-University of Tokyo professor gets suspended sentence over bribes

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced a former University of Tokyo professor to two years in prison, suspended for three years, and fined him about ¥1.83 million for accepting bribes over a joint research project at the university’s graduate school.

According to the ruling, the 63-year-old former professor, Shinichi Sato, received a total of about ¥1.83 million worth of entertainment 28 times at high-end clubs and adult entertainment establishments from a former representative director of the Japan Cosmetics Association between March 2023 and August 2024 in exchange for helping to select and conduct joint research with the association.

Judge Hiroshi Ikegami said that Sato’s act “damaged the profession’s integrity by receiving hedonistic entertainment.” The bribery case would not have occurred if the defendant had kept in mind his influence and the trust he had earned from society, Ikegami said.

In previous hearings, Sato said that his own “weakness and complacency” about the position caused the case. “It’s inappropriate and embarrassing,” he said. Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison term and a fine of the same amount for him.

In the case, the former association director, 53, was convicted of bribing Sato, and a 47-year-old former specially appointed associate professor at the university was also convicted of receiving similar entertainment.