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Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike(Photo by Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO)
We will select and republish relevant articles that have captured wide attention in the past on JBpress. This article was originally published on June 1st, 2020. *The content is the same as at the time of publication and has not been revised.
<by Ryo Kuroki>
Ever since the incumbent Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike became a Member of Parliament in 1992, rumors have been circulating that Koike embellished her academic credentials.
Koike claims to have graduated from Cairo University but if an Arabic speaker listens to her Arabic, her published academic credentials as a Cairo University graduate seems more than dubious.
There are strong evidence about her fake academic credentials such as testimony by the flatmate supported by documentary evidence, Koike's self-contradictory statement in her book to have graduated in four years despite failing her first year, her rudimentary Arabic, her lie about the graduation thesis and her stubbornness in refusing to submit her graduation documents to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.
Feeling a sense of duty as someone who learnt Arabic and graduated from an Egyptian university (MA, Middle East Studies from the American University in Cairo), I decided to investigate the allegations. After two years of investigation, I could not find any evidence, nor even the slightest hint that Koike graduated from Cairo University.
In this six-part article, I present the results of my investigation in detail.Here is the fourth part of it;
Was Koike eligible to transfer?
Koike claims in her books and other places that she entered Cairo University as a first year student (freshman) in October 1972. However, in the "Fake CV" the flatmate says, "Koike entered Cairo University in October 1973 as a second year student. Koike happily told me ‘My father asked Dr. Hatem, then Egypt's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and Information, to swap my few months at Kwansei Gakuin University, a private university in Hyogo prefecture, and a few months at the language course at the American University in Cairo for the first year at Cairo University. Dr. Hatem accepted the request. In addition, my tuition and admission fees have been waived’ ". This is apparently written in the flatmate’s letter to her mother in Japan dated 19 November 1972. According to the "Fake CV" most of her letters were dated and postmarked. If so, they will be admissible to court.
In the "Fake CV" another Japanese woman who was attending another university in Egypt at the time says she was surprised that Koike had transferred in the second year at Cairo University. Another Japanese graduate of Cairo University whom I interviewed also remembered that Koike had transferred to the second year.
However, strict rules are in place to transfer to Egypt's state universities, including Cairo University. In order to transfer, a student must have earned credits at another university with the same or similar content and number of hours as the Egyptian state university’s curriculum and must have earned a certain number of grades. This was confirmed to me by the Central Transfers Office of Cairo University.
In the case of the 2016-17 academic year, for example, students are required to have at least imtiyaaz (excellent) grade from other university if the student wishes to transfer to the Faculty of Engineering or Medicine and at least jaiid jiddan (very good) grade in the case of faculties of practical study and at least jaiid (good) grade for those of theoretical study.
