WAKAYAMA -- Top police officials here will be obliged to attend "spiritual improvement" classes at the mecca of a Buddhist sect after being rocked by a series of scandals, including a murder committed by one of their subordinates.
Thirteen Wakayama Prefectural Police officers, mostly newly appointed police station chiefs, will be dispatched to Mount Koya, holy home of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, on May 7 and 8.
Officials said the new chiefs should receive moral education programs to strengthen their resolve after a police consultation official murdered his girlfriend and an officer smashed into a building while driving drunk this year.
Although the moral training program lasts only two days, their schedule is grueling. Tuesday morning starts early with lectures by Koyasan University professors, and in the evening, they will attend a meditation session before going to bed in the training hall.
They then must get up at 5:30 a.m. the next morning and listen to a priest's sutra recitation and sermon.