Regional police raided Toyama city hall after Japan's internal-affairs ministry complained that officials inflated the census by roughly 3,000 people. The mayor apologized.
Police are investigating how about 3,000 nonexistent residents were added to official census data for Toyama, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Regional police raided city hall on Saturday after the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said a review had found inconsistencies. The ministry filed a complaint last week accusing officials of inflating the count by adding empty households to the survey, the Times reported.
The paper said the gap between a May population estimate and the final census record published last week was nearly 3,000 people. Toyama is the capital of Toyama prefecture, on the edge of the Japanese Alps.
Mayor Hirohisa Fujii apologized in a statement on Saturday and said city officials would cooperate with the investigation. Experts told the Times the case fits a pattern of local governments trying to avoid the appearance of decline. Japan's population peaked at 128 million in 2008 and is about 123 million now, the report said.
No charges had been announced in the accounts reviewed. The city had not published a corrected census file by Tuesday.
People Sentiments Negative
- Mayor Hirohisa Fujii apologized and said the city would cooperate fully with police.