Critic and journalist Takashi Tachibana, whose investigative reporting played a vital role in revealing a bribery scandal involving the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka in the 1970s, died in late April of acute coronary syndrome, his family said Wednesday. He was 80.His reporting on the shady connection between Tanaka and then U.S. aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Corp., published in the Bungei Shunju monthly magazine in October 1974, was key in forcing the premier to step down two months later. Tanaka was arrested in 1976.According to Tachibana's family, he had been battling chronic illnes…READ FULL ARTICLE
