Recently, while browsing various bulletin boards, I’ve noticed an increase in criticism of the Asahi Shimbun again. Most of it comes from petty right-wingers engaging in “slander and defamation,” but there are some individuals who passionately criticize the Asahi, having established their own websites and openly providing their email addresses to accept opinions and counterarguments. Honestly, I think that’s quite impressive. While it may seem trivial, I wouldn’t put in that much effort for just a single newspaper.
Readers might think, “Of course, those left-leaning site people must be reading the Asahi,” but I actually do not subscribe to the Asahi Shimbun. In fact, I haven’t even picked it up in years. In the countryside, local newspapers dominate. We usually subscribe to the local newspaper as well. Since I’m not a political commentator, one newspaper is sufficient for me.
Furthermore, I work 12 to 18 hours a day as a matter of course. I hurriedly read the newspaper while eating. I only cut out and read articles that catch my eye later, and about every three days, I check online articles from various newspapers for comparison. For an ordinary person, that should be enough. (Although it’s becoming increasingly difficult lately.)
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However, the fact that petty right-wingers have made the Asahi their target suggests that there must be some extraordinary articles published. While the online versions provide bland articles similar to those in other newspapers, the main paper probably features headlines like “Can we forgive this brutality by the U.S. military?” or “The Japanese people must rise up to overthrow imperialism immediately!” or “Let us advance under the banner of the great Juche idea.” If that’s the case, the excessive reactions of the petty right-wingers make sense.
It seems I must read the Asahi. I decided to spend my first day off in ten days visiting the local library. Excitedly, I went through a week’s worth of the Asahi Shimbun.
But to my surprise, there was nothing special. Absolutely nothing. Just the same kind of articles that had been circulating online. Nowhere did I find news about “the great general’s inspection of the power plant.” I searched for articles that petty right-wingers would be annoyed by, but they were at best the kinds of reading where 99 out of 100 Japanese people would say, “War is undesirable,” or articles where more than half of Japanese people would say, “There are problems with sending the Self-Defense Forces.”
I was deceived! I was completely duped! The Asahi is just an ordinary newspaper! Even if I scream, “Give me back my day off!” it won’t change anything, so I decided to compare the Asahi, Mainichi, Yomiuri, and the local paper (Kyodo News affiliated). And this is what I wrote (what a long preface!).
After reading the Asahi, Mainichi, local paper, and Yomiuri, I found that there weren’t really any fundamental differences among them. If I were to compare the tone of editorials and commentary articles, the difference between the Asahi and Yomiuri is at most akin to the difference between “conservative parties and social democratic parties” in various European countries. It’s a bigger difference than “Republicans and Democrats,” but not as large as “Conservatives and Communists.” In other words, both presuppose the current system and have no intention of changing it whatsoever. There is a “common foundation,” and in that sense, the Asahi and Yomiuri aren’t much different.
Well, the differences are small, but when it comes to issues like the justification of war and dispatching troops, they sometimes arrive at completely opposite conclusions, making the difference seem larger. However, it’s not a gigantic gap like that between “far-right parties and revolutionary parties,” as depicted by petty right-wingers.
Now, within those “small differences,” the position of the Yomiuri Shimbun stands out. First of all, it is undoubtedly a right-leaning, government-affiliated paper, and that’s perfectly fine. I’m not rigid enough to completely deny a newspaper or magazine based on whether it is favorable or critical of government policy. However, the way the Yomiuri expresses itself is quite blatant. Moreover, it’s somewhat shameless.
For example, in the article “15th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Incident,” while other newspapers approach it from the angle of “China 15 years after the incident,” the Yomiuri fills one-sixth of its front page with “Hong Kong’s Tiananmen memorial gathering sees record attendance.” The article continues onto the second page, and the photos are printed in color, showing significant effort. The apparent bias against China is transparent, yet they disguise it in a seemingly “objective” format of “reporting on the gathering.”
In contrast, the local paper’s Kyodo News distributed article features about four columns on the international page, saying something like, “Tiananmen and intense student movements are now a thing of the past. Young people prioritize their own lives,” implying that “student movements are no longer trendy in China.” The report on the memorial gathering in Hong Kong is also about four columns long, stating that “the increase in attendees has nothing to do with the Tiananmen incident but is a reaction against the abolition of direct elections.”
However, regarding the Tiananmen incident, the full scope of the victims has not been clarified, and just before the 15th anniversary, members of the “Tiananmen Mothers” group were put under preventive detention (see Amnesty News). Such matters are hardly reported in Japan. Regardless of the motivation, I appreciate the Yomiuri’s strong stance of “not letting Tiananmen fade into oblivion.”
I asked the library counter for older editions and looked back at the Yomiuri articles from around the time of the Iraq hostage incident. Indeed, they were all about “self-responsibility theory.” This is particularly notable compared to other publications. The Yomiuri stands out in this regard. It’s as if it is the official national organ of the petty right-wing on 2ch. I often found it puzzling when petty right-wingers on 2ch wrote, “Our opinions align with public opinion,” and “Let’s trust Japanese public opinion,” but now it makes sense. Those who say such things must only be reading the Yomiuri. And occasionally reading the Asahi with that mindset makes it appear “biased.”
Perhaps, or rather, it’s certain that Yomiuri-affiliated writers are looking at 2ch. I believe they are not just observing but also posting comments. It seems they are catering to and leading the “public opinion” of 2ch. Interestingly, while other publications criticize 2ch in “hostage bashing” articles, the Yomiuri does not mention it at all. It’s as if 2ch doesn’t exist. It’s likely they can’t publish certain content due to the extreme nature of the bashing comments on 2ch, but I think it’s an interesting phenomenon.
Now, perhaps the most interesting, though it may be inappropriate to say so, was the coverage of the bashing of the families of abductees by North Korea.
Initially, the Yomiuri took a stance similar to the families, saying, “The Prime Minister has once again been outmaneuvered by Kim Jong-il.” They seemed to push for a tougher stance against North Korea, suggesting that they intended to lead the “public opinion” that had previously supported a Yomiuri-like position. However, at least the 2ch users reacted oppositely, siding with the government and engaging in “bashing of the families.”
I think the Yomiuri-affiliated writers were somewhat confused. They should have firmly criticized this “bashing of the families” from their initial position. Yet, for some reason, I noticed a lot of vague and lackluster “objective reporting” that isn’t typical of the Yomiuri.
Well, when I think about it, this is clearly a similar structure to the “hostage bashing” that the Yomiuri has consistently supported, so if they were to attack the 2ch users at this point, it would be tantamount to admitting their mistakes and would dig their own graves.
I had been quite angry about the “hostage bashing,” but upon seeing this “bashing of the families,” I found myself wondering if I had been angry at such ridiculous people, which made my anger dissipate. In any case, it’s just as unacceptable as “hostage bashing,” so I sent an encouraging email to the families, saying, “You don’t need to worry about the despicable bashing that tramples on the feelings of families. Please say what you want to say.” (I also included a request for them to turn this into a movement that could be supported by people other than just right-wingers.)
Now, while the Yomiuri finds itself trapped in its own contradictions, the other papers don’t have such issues. The local Kyodo News-affiliated paper introduced comments from 2ch boards while analyzing the “bashing of the families,” discussing the “same structure as hostage bashing,” the “game-like sense of finding suitable targets to attack,” and the “festivals on the internet.” Additionally, they noted how Prime Minister Koizumi was informed that the families were very critical upon his return from North Korea and immediately ordered that “everything must be made public,” showcasing the families protesting loudly, and analyzed the “cunningness of the Prime Minister in garnering public support.”
The Yomiuri’s reporting from about the same date doesn’t address the facts pointed out by the local paper. Instead, it provides a very small treatment of the “bashing of the families,” framing it as “objective reporting,” and concludes with a comment from the families’ office
director, Tohru Hasuike, saying, “We have realized the difficulty of gaining the public’s understanding.”
“What the heck is that!”凸(-~~-)
Well, I’ve written a lot, but it is undoubtedly the Asahi and Yomiuri that offer the most engaging and “readable” content. Particularly in the case of the Yomiuri, their editorial articles featuring external commentators like Kissinger are quite captivating.
Since this is just a brief impression based on a quick read, there may be various factual inaccuracies or shallow understandings. I’ll consider these issues for further examination in the future.
(Reference) Websites established “only” to criticize specific newspapers
■ Laugh and Read Asahi Shimbun
■ Troublesome Local Newspaper: Hokkaido Shimbun
Do these people really subscribe to newspapers just to criticize them? That’s truly impressive! The phrasing in “Troublesome Local Newspaper” like “We’ll cover you even if only five people show up if it’s pro-constitution” and “Who will make it if a thousand people gather” conveys, “I understand how you feel!” During my time as a leftist activist, even if “New Left” groups gathered 3,000, 5,000, or even 10,000 people, newspapers would hardly cover it. Sometimes they might mention it very briefly when citizen groups participate. Even when the Communist Party gathers 20,000 people, it hardly gets reported.
Conversely, if “citizens unrelated to political parties or political groups” spontaneously do something, even 10 people might get significant coverage. I can understand this to some extent, but newspapers just love “citizens!”
However, sites like these certainly have the advantage of never running out of material. Should I create a section on my site called “Check Out This Amazing Yomiuri Newspaper!”? (Oh, but I’d have to subscribe to the Yomiuri.)
(Continues with “Right Friend?”)