A record of online criticism that resurfaced after Hideo Sugio’s March 2020 Diet questioning, ranging from the Akie Abe photograph and EXILE controversy to debate over his TBS-era reporting, the Matsumoto sarin case, and the Tsutsumi Sakamoto interview-tape controversy.

August 15, 2020.
This article republishes a chapter originally posted on March 28, 2020, collecting criticism and social-media commentary that emerged after parliamentary questioning by Constitutional Democratic Party member Hideo Sugio.
The discussion ranges from Sugio’s questioning concerning a photograph of Akie Abe, his reliance on weekly-magazine reports, and remarks involving EXILE, to criticism concerning his years as a TBS journalist and news presenter, including coverage of the Matsumoto sarin incident and the controversy surrounding TBS’s disclosure of an interview with attorney Tsutsumi Sakamoto to members of Aum Shinrikyo before broadcast.
The material reproduced below contains extremely severe judgments, allegations, and speculation by individual social-media users.
Those statements should therefore be read as the claims and opinions of the respective posters.
The purpose of preserving the text is to record how, in March 2020, criticism triggered by Sugio’s Diet questioning revived broader debate over earlier media controversies.
This republishes a chapter originally posted on March 28, 2020 under the title: “He secretly showed Aum executives a video interview with an attorney who criticized Aum Shinrikyo and thereby triggered the massacre of the attorney’s family. Please remember this well.”
The following continues from the preceding chapter.
It is proof, I wrote, that facts and sound arguments can now be found precisely on the Internet.
To borrow Hamakō’s style: “All I said was that Mr. Hideo Sugio had participated in conduct that contributed to people being killed.”
The chamber is being exposed to droplets from #HideoSugio.
Some posters argued that anything #HideoSugio said lacked credibility because of his conduct as a news presenter during the #Aum affair.
Restaurants had lost customers and were suffering.
Their employees, too, were in many cases being dismissed, placed on leave, or otherwise deprived of income.
Other posts criticized NHK for featuring Sugio’s questioning in its 5 a.m. news.
Criticism was also directed at the Constitutional Democratic Party and other opposition parties for spending Diet time on the issue rather than discussing measures against COVID-19.
A number of posts attacked Sugio personally and demanded his resignation.
One widely repeated criticism contrasted his earlier insistence that he had sources other than weekly magazines with his later questioning of Prime Minister Abe over a weekly-magazine report claiming that Akie Abe had been viewing cherry blossoms.
Posts then revived criticism concerning reporting on the Matsumoto sarin incident and the controversy over TBS showing members of Aum Shinrikyo unbroadcast interview footage involving attorney Tsutsumi Sakamoto.
Some posters went much further and asserted a causal connection between that disclosure and the subsequent murder of the Sakamoto family.
Those are the assertions of the individual posters reproduced here.
Other posts defended restaurants, arguing that customers taking photographs beside cherry blossoms on restaurant property was entirely different from gathering in a public park.
They accused the weekly-magazine report of being false or inaccurate and criticized Sugio for relying on it.
One post asked why, during a national emergency, the Diet was debating where the prime minister’s wife had eaten rather than concentrating on more urgent matters.
Another reproduced the exchange:
Hideo Sugio: “Mrs. Abe went cherry-blossom viewing while people were being asked to refrain from doing so!”
Prime Minister Abe: “I understand that a commemorative photograph was taken at a restaurant in Tokyo.”
Sugio: “It was reported as a park in Tokyo!”
Abe: “It was not a park. It was on restaurant property.”
Sugio: “Does that make it acceptable because it was a restaurant? People are being asked not to view cherry blossoms!”
Critics argued that after the report about a public park proved inaccurate, the criticism shifted to the restaurant itself.
Other social-media users addressed younger EXILE fans, reviving allegations concerning Sugio’s TBS-era reporting on the Matsumoto sarin case and the Sakamoto interview-tape controversy.
A further exchange reproduced in the posts concerned speaking loudly during the COVID-19 outbreak:
Constitutional Democratic Party member Hideo Sugio: “I have never heard of a Budget Committee rule saying we cannot speak that loudly.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: “At times like this, we are being told to avoid speaking so loudly that droplets may fly.”
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi: “Your droplets are flying.”
This, too, prompted severe criticism of Sugio’s awareness of infection risks.
Other posts questioned why he remained in the Diet, attacked his demeanor, and argued that an elected representative should demonstrate greater responsibility and self-awareness.
Some EXILE fans also criticized remarks attributed to Sugio concerning the cancellation of concerts.
Another post reproduced commentator Ryusho Kadota’s description of the Akie Abe photograph controversy:
“Hideo Sugio of the Constitutional Democratic Party questioned a group photograph of Akie Abe under cherry blossoms.
The prime minister said it was ‘taken beside cherry blossoms on restaurant premises.’
Sugio responded, ‘Does that make it acceptable because it was a restaurant? Was her behavior appropriate when people were being asked to refrain from banquets?’
The prime minister replied that at the time the photograph was taken such restraint had not yet been requested and urged him to speak accurately.
Is this really something that should be taken up in the Diet?”
The posts that followed included further criticism of Sugio’s reliance on weekly magazines and sports newspapers as sources and argued that a member of the Diet should confirm information before questioning the government.
Others criticized remarks concerning EXILE and accused opposition politicians of insulting artists for political purposes.
The material also contains still more serious allegations concerning unrelated incidents and individuals.
Those statements are preserved here as examples of what was being circulated online at the time; they are not independently established by this republication.
The overall thread shows the intensity with which Sugio’s March 2020 Diet questioning prompted people online to revisit both his parliamentary conduct and earlier controversies surrounding TBS reporting.