The widely circulated “BBQ photo” linked to the Kake Gakuen controversy originated from a June 2017 Diet question.
This section examines how selective interpretation and reporting shaped public perception.

The origin of the matter lies in a question raised by Democratic Party member Mitsuru Sakurai during the House of Councillors Cabinet Committee on June 16, 2017.
2018-01-30.
The following continues from the previous section.
The truth about the BBQ photograph.
How was this impression formed?
It began with the question posed by Democratic Party member Mitsuru Sakurai during the House of Councillors Cabinet Committee on June 16, 2017.
Although somewhat lengthy, I will quote an outline of the exchange at that time.
Sakurai: May I ask the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary what position you currently hold within Kake Gakuen?
Hagiuda: I serve as an honorary visiting professor at Chiba Institute of Science.
Sakurai: Prior to that, what position did you hold within the Kake Gakuen group?
Hagiuda: From April 2009 and 2010 I taught at Chiba Institute of Science, and I did nothing else.
Sakurai: How did you come to teach there?
Hagiuda: When I happened to lose an election and found myself with time, several schools approached me asking if I would be interested in such work if I had time, and this was one of them.
Sakurai: It is unlikely that they would approach you without knowing anything, so did you have any prior relationship with the chairman of Kake Gakuen?
Hagiuda: I had no relationship with the chairman.
Sakurai: But once you began working there, you must have had opportunities to speak with the chairman.
Hagiuda: I did meet him in waiting rooms during general events such as entrance ceremonies.
As can be seen from this exchange, Mr. Sakurai asked whether I had a relationship with Chairman Kake “before” becoming a visiting professor at Chiba Institute of Science.
Therefore, I simply answered that I had no such relationship.
However, when the barbecue photograph mentioned earlier was reported on June 20, I was accused of lying: “You said you had no relationship with the chairman, yet here is a friendly photograph! This is false testimony! You hid the relationship because you had something to conceal.”
Yet, as anyone who reads carefully will understand, Mr. Sakurai’s question concerned whether I had known Chairman Kake before becoming a visiting professor in 2009.
Naturally, I had no relationship with him at that time.
By contrast, the barbecue photograph dates from 2013.
If one simply compared the timelines, the truth would be clear, yet by omitting these details and creating the impression that “Hagiuda is lying,” this was nothing less than impression manipulation.
To be continued.