During the Wuhan virus crisis, the Japanese government, constrained by the Constitution, could not impose lockdowns with penalties as Western countries did, and could only request businesses and citizens to suspend operations and exercise self-restraint. Nevertheless, the Asahi Shimbun criticized the administration by raising the issue of “restrictions on private rights.” Meanwhile, pachinko parlors in various regions continued to operate in defiance of requests from local governors. This essay examines the limits of Japan’s emergency response, the contradiction in the Asahi Shimbun’s commentary, and the problem of the pachinko industry.

May 8, 2020

On the contrary.
The Asahi Shimbun, against a government that can only make requests, unbelievably wrote an editorial criticizing the administration by claiming that there was a problem of restricting private rights.

The Japanese and the Chinese, the Great China, and the Koreans, the Little China, are truly complete opposites.
In this Wuhan virus crisis,
Japan, a country with an unbelievable Constitution unlike any other in the world, is subject as a state to constraints that would be unimaginable in other countries, from national defense to emergencies such as this one.
It is a well-known fact that Western countries carried out lockdowns of more than one month with fines attached.
But in Japan, even in an emergency such as this, the state cannot restrict private rights at all, and therefore the government can only ask the people to suspend business operations and exercise self-restraint.
On the contrary, the Asahi Shimbun, which Western countries had believed until August six years ago to be Japan’s representative newspaper, wrote an editorial criticizing the administration by claiming, unbelievably, that there was a problem of restricting private rights against a government that can only make requests.
Perhaps they were emboldened by that editorial.
Pachinko parlors, which are the very extreme of the three crowded conditions, have continued to operate in various places, ignoring the requests of local governors.
In China, such conduct would immediately lead to arrest and detention for treason against the state, followed by severe punishment.
Because strict legal punishment would be imposed, such behavior would be impossible.
Even if they had continued operating, in Western countries they would have incurred furious public anger, and attacks on the stores might even have occurred.

From here, I offer a proposal to the Japanese people and the government.
Is it not time, at long last, to ban pachinko?
The reason is that it is no exaggeration to say that pachinko only has a harmful effect on Japan’s economy.
First of all, it may damage health, but it never improves it.
In other words, it is something that only harms the health of workers.
Moreover, it is a well-known fact that the operators have sent enormous profits gained from pachinko parlors to North Korea.
In other words, since their remittances have continued to be used for North Korea’s nuclear development and missile development, pachinko is something that should have been banned long ago.
Such a situation would be unthinkable in Western countries.
Those who operate pachinko parlors are almost all Zainichi Koreans.
In South Korea, pachinko was immediately banned by law.
The reason was precisely that it needlessly arouses the desire for gambling and destroys the lives of the people, both economically and in terms of health.
It was judged to be an extremely dangerous gambling-like pastime for the easily inflamed temperament of Koreans, and that if it were left alone, the country itself would be endangered.
When pachinko was banned there, the operators of pachinko parlors should have been grateful to Japan, which did not legally ban it as their mother country, South Korea, did, and allowed them to continue operating.
They should have been grateful to Japan for allowing them to continue making enormous profits up to now.

NHK frequently conducts public opinion polls.
However, it does not ask:
“What do you think about pachinko parlors continuing to operate while ignoring requests?”
If NHK were a proper organization, and if it were not weaker than an infant in the face of pressure from Zainichi Koreans connected with organizations such as Chongryon and Mindan, it would already have conducted such opinion polls several times.
The Japanese government is responding better than any other country in the world even to the Wuhan virus crisis.
Considering the constraints imposed by Japan’s unusual Constitution, its work has been superhuman, and the Japanese people who responded to it have also been superhuman.
This essay will continue.