Scandal has reared its head in Japan once again, putting the prime minister's position in jeopardy. The scandal centers around the June 2016 sale of government land to the nationalist Moritomo school in Osaka prefecture at a steep discount — allegedly amid pressure from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Moritomo Gakuen scandal burst into headlines February 2017, raging for months and sapping Abe's approval rating at a critical juncture. However, the North Korea crisis and government testimony seemed to largely put the scandal to bed by mid-2017 — though rumblings have continued off and on since. Meanwhile, Abe appeared to have secured the position of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) with snap elections that yielded a supermajority in the legislature, paving his way toward a strong showing in party leadership elections in September.