This article questions the discourtesy shown by reporters at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s resignation press conference and, through an essay by Yoshiko Sakurai, records his achievements in revising Japan’s historical perspective, strengthening the Japan–U.S. alliance, establishing peace and security legislation, and shaping policy toward China.

September 7, 2020
A friend of mine who is one of the most avid readers I know said to me, “Just as Yoshiko Sakurai is a national treasure according to Saicho’s definition, you, too, are a national treasure. After reading Ms. Sakurai’s essays published in this week’s issue of Shukan Shincho and on the front page of today’s Sankei Shimbun, that is what I thought.”
The following is a chapter that I published at 6:30 p.m. on August 28 under the title, “There Were Probably Many People Who Thought That the Standards of Female Reporters in the Japanese Media, Television Reporters, and Local Newspaper Reporters Were Far Too Low.”
I believe that many Japanese people watched Prime Minister Abe’s press conference, which concluded a short while ago.
There were probably many people who thought that the standards of female reporters in the Japanese media, television reporters, and local newspaper reporters were far too low.
First of all, there was the appallingly rude question asked by a female reporter from Nippon Television.
I hardly ever watch this television network except for sports programs such as baseball broadcasts, but it is a network that, on Sundays after Going!, calmly broadcasts outrageous and malicious reports claiming, among other things, that the Nanjing Massacre occurred, as well as strange reports concerning the Ainu.
This female reporter, who was vulgarity itself, said something to the effect that the administration was being abandoned amid the coronavirus crisis.
If Nippon Television considers the coronavirus crisis to be so serious, then it should direct its anger toward China, even if only once.
It should, just once, calculate the enormous damage Japan has suffered because of China and demand compensation.
Only then should it speak.
Shoko Egawa and the female reporter from the Nishinippon Shimbun are astonishing women.
It was, however, precisely Prime Minister Abe’s responses to these foolish questions that demonstrated that he was a politician of extraordinary character and ability.
Was that really a question to ask a prime minister who had to undergo seven hours of examinations at a hospital and more than three hours of additional examinations even on the day he received the results, and who, because of that illness, announced his intention to resign at an exquisitely chosen moment so that the government of Japan would continue without disruption?
And when the press conference ended, were those people who call themselves reporters and were present there incapable of offering even a single round of applause in gratitude?
As long as people like that call themselves reporters and interfere in national politics and diplomacy, Japan’s future will be fraught with difficulty.
Of course, that is probably exactly what China and the anti-Japanese states on the Korean Peninsula desire.
I address the people of Japan!
You must not accept television and newspaper reports at face value.
You must not speak about national politics or diplomacy without subscribing to monthly magazines filled with genuine essays.
The following is Ms. Sakurai’s essay entitled “The Prime Minister’s Greatest Achievement Was His Historical Perspective,” published on the front page of today’s Sankei Shimbun.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation on August 28, was a different man from the one he had been thirteen years earlier.
By taking measures to address the issues that would follow and stepping down while retaining some strength, he demonstrated that he had not been defeated by his serious illness and that he would continue to retain considerable influence.
Events in the political world move quickly, and the resignation announcement made ten days ago already seems like something from the distant past.
For that reason, this may already belong to old news, but I want to record it properly.
The discourtesy displayed by the reporters of the Cabinet Press Club at the resignation press conference of Prime Minister Abe, who had worked with lion-like energy for seven years and eight months despite his illness, was utterly outrageous.
The media play a major role, and the qualities of reporters are reflected in the quality of their articles and influence public opinion.
It is therefore only natural to question the qualities of reporters.
At the press conference, Seiji Shimokubo of the Chugoku Shimbun was the only reporter who expressed appreciation for Prime Minister Abe’s efforts over nearly eight years.
Prime Minister Abe led virtually all the cooperative frameworks that would subsequently become central pillars of world politics, including TPP11, the Japan–EU Economic Partnership Agreement, and the Indo-Pacific strategy linking Japan, the United States, Australia, and India in preparation for China.
Astonishingly, not a single reporter asked about those achievements or about the struggle between the United States and China, which directly affects Japan’s destiny.
Japan does not exist in isolation as a self-contained country.
Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone said that what a nation should fear most is isolation from the international community.
The very position a nation secures for itself in the international community constitutes a national interest.
Prime Minister Abe’s remarkable achievement was that he strengthened Japan’s position in the international community to an unprecedented degree.
Can reporters assigned to the Prime Minister’s Office truly be considered credible if they do not mention this point at all?
Furthermore, before being a reporter, every reporter is a human being.
If they cannot offer even a single word of gratitude or compassion to a departing prime minister, can they truly report on the workings of society or write about the pain and joy of the human heart?
I keenly feel the gravity of the years that were lost while such reporters occupied the press club at the heart of the Japanese government and reported on “Mori-Kake” and “Sakura.”
The eyes of the Japanese people, however, were not blind.
In a Kyodo News survey conducted immediately after the resignation announcement, Prime Minister Abe’s approval rating rose by more than twenty percentage points.
A subsequent Asahi Shimbun survey found that 71 percent of respondents positively evaluated the Abe Cabinet.
The Asahi must have been astonished.
The people know that the prime minister devoted his heart and soul to Japan and the Japanese people.
That is precisely why I wish to emphasize the following.
I offer my heartfelt gratitude for Prime Minister Abe’s seven years and eight months in office.
After sufficient rest, I believe that the day will surely come when he will once again play an important role in domestic and international politics.
The foremost of Prime Minister Abe’s achievements was the reassessment of Japan’s historical perspective.
On August 14, 2015, Prime Minister Abe stated in his address marking the seventieth anniversary of the end of the war:
“We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize.”
History must be considered within the circumstances of the period in which it occurred.
The prime minister’s statement was grounded in this common sense.
It became a turning point toward a sound perspective that would break down the postwar historical view that completely negated Japan.
Today, as the struggle between the United States and China intensifies by the day, it is important to decide how Japan’s historical perspective and national character should be evaluated and which values handed down through Japanese society should be protected.
With a sound historical perspective, I believe the Japanese people can place greater trust in themselves, summon greater courage in the international community, and play an important role.
In response to China’s conduct, Japan should be able to stand together with the United States, clearly raise the banner of defending an international order founded on liberalism, democracy, international law, humanitarian principles, and human rights, and take action.
A historical perspective and values concerning how human society ought to exist are pillars supporting a strong spirit.
Historical perspective is perhaps the most important element enabling the Japanese people to express the qualities distinctive to Japan.
China is now attempting to remake the world according to Chinese ideas, encompassing maritime interests, territorial control, international law, and the values of the international community.
It was Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who moved urgently to strengthen the Japan–U.S. alliance in the face of that threat.
The failure to advance constitutional revision was indeed a matter of the deepest regret, but the prime minister accelerated practical measures that could be taken in place of constitutional revision.
He reversed the reduction in the defense budget and placed it on an upward course, and he used the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets to close the gaps through which information had been leaking without restraint.
Through the peace and security legislation, he made possible the limited exercise of the right of collective self-defense recognized by the Charter of the United Nations.
He positioned economic policy as an important component of national security.
He established the National Security Secretariat, transcending the vertically divided structure of government ministries and agencies.
The reality, however, is that even these measures are insufficient.
The measures against China announced by U.S. President Trump on May 29 addressed the financial transparency of Chinese companies and were sufficiently stringent to make their delisting in the United States possible.
Secretary of State Pompeo and other senior cabinet officials delivered a succession of speeches covering every field, including national security, economics, politics, and diplomacy.
Their thorough condemnation of China was equivalent to a litmus test demanding that the world decide whether it would act together with the United States.
Against this background, the announcement made by the U.S. Department of Defense on September 1 more than adequately demonstrated America’s sense of urgency.
It acknowledged that the Chinese Navy, with 350 warships and submarines, had surpassed the U.S. Navy’s 293 vessels to become the largest navy in the world, reversing the balance of naval strength between the United States and China.
China also possesses more than 1,250 ground-launched intermediate-range missiles, while the United States possesses none.
In economic terms as well, China will surpass the United States in gross domestic product within another ten years.
It is evident that Japan is not in a situation in which it can continue relying entirely on the United States.
In June of last year, it was reported that Trump had spoken of “terminating” the Japan–U.S. Security Treaty on the grounds that it was unfair.
The reported remark about terminating the treaty was immediately denied, but Trump continued thereafter to express dissatisfaction with the Japan–U.S. Security Treaty.
Ignoring Trump’s warning would decisively damage Japan’s national interests.
Japan must redouble its constructive efforts to turn America’s strong dissatisfaction into an opportunity for Japanese self-reliance.
The role of the new prime minister who succeeds Prime Minister Abe is to take the intentions of the United States more seriously than ever before.
The new prime minister must recognize with clarity just how serious the conflict between the United States and China has become and urgently implement the measures Japan must take.
Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Komeito should have no reason to oppose constitutional revision as a means of strengthening our homeland, Japan, and thereby enabling it to contribute more effectively to the international community.
Caught between the United States and China, Japan must recognize that the path to survival is, first, the strengthening of its own capabilities and, second, the strengthening of the Japan–U.S. alliance.
This article republishes a text originally issued on September 7, 2020, while respecting the argument and expression of the original.
The official website carries the Japanese text and its faithful complete English translation as the original and definitive edition.