2024-02-22
I was just watching TV Tokyo’s WBS while doing other things, and, as I have already written, the peculiar conduct of announcer Akiko Sasaki and the commentator described as the Nikkei’s chief editorial writer when Ms. Takaichi appeared live on the program the other day was as previously described.
Tonight, once again, their conduct could only be described as the very height of abnormality.
Regarding the votes of LDP lawmakers, the common-sense outlook among the general public is that, among Kono, Kishida, and Takaichi, listed in the order in which they filed their candidacies, Mr. Kishida currently has a slight lead, but the situation remains extremely fluid.
In fact, I suspect that Ms. Takaichi enjoys overwhelming popularity among the public and that this reality will ultimately take concrete form.
Even though the Nikkei itself carried a headline on its front page this morning stating that the three candidates were competing, Akiko Sasaki did not mention Ms. Takaichi’s name at all, declared that it was a contest between Kono and Kishida, and ignored Ms. Takaichi from beginning to end.
The two people mentioned above repeatedly engaged in reporting that could not have been more biased.
Before even considering their unfitness as journalists, why do they so conspicuously ignore Ms. Takaichi?
To account for conduct this appalling, I can conjecture no explanation other than that Akiko Sasaki is, to borrow Jun Takada’s terminology, a “Trojan horse” that China has unleashed on Japan.
When Ms. Takaichi appeared live on the program, they raised the small number of female lawmakers in Japan and women’s low level of participation in society as important issues.
If that truly reflects their convictions, then the prospect of Japan having its first-ever female prime minister should be the biggest news of all.