In early 2020, as the novel coronavirus spread from Wuhan, China, and Japan faced a serious crisis-management challenge, the Constitutional Democratic Party devoted much of its time to attacking the government over the “Cherry Blossom Viewing Party” and casino issues. Based on Takayuki Hikawa’s essay in the monthly magazine WiLL, this chapter examines the conduct of Yukio Edano, Noriko Ishigaki, Jun Azumi, and Tamotsu Sugano, as well as the responsibility of old media such as the Asahi Shimbun and NHK.

June 16, 2020
Amid these circumstances, Yukio Edano, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party, stood to ask representative questions in the plenary session, but spent much of his allotted time criticizing the government and ruling parties over such matters as the “Cherry Blossom Viewing Party” and “casinos,” and did not refer to the national crisis.

I am republishing a chapter first sent out on February 28, 2020, after correcting one missing character and changing the paragraphing.
The following is from the monthly magazine WiLL, released on the 26th.
It is an extraordinary excerpt from a true labor of journalism by Takayuki Hikawa, published under the title “That Man Behind Constitutional Democratic Party Member Noriko Ishigaki’s Question.”
It was people from Miyagi Prefecture, my own home prefecture, who elected Noriko Ishigaki, whose reality Mr. Takayuki Hikawa has revealed.
However, as I have mentioned many times, the result of last year’s House of Councillors election was Ishigaki 474,692 votes, 48.6%, versus Kazuo Aichi 465,194 votes, 47.7%.
Despite the large number of votes involved, the difference was only 9,498 votes.
Ishigaki has completely forgotten this fact.
She has forgotten the fact that half of Miyagi Prefecture said No to her.
Because she utterly lacks the humility that a human being should possess, she is probably able to commit such treasonous acts without hesitation.
At the same time, she is a perfect example of how a mass of masochistic historical views and anti-Japanese thought is formed when one grows up reading the Asahi Shimbun — and the Kahoku Shimpo is exactly the same kind of thing —
studies at a university where people raised in the same way are professors,
and then works at a television station that is the workplace of people raised in the same way.

In any event, the people of Miyagi Prefecture,
just as with the manner in which they have made Azumi, whose home ground is Ishinomaki, a member of the Diet,
are being made to feel shame, for the first time in history, toward their beloved home.
The proud pride of the people of Miyagi Prefecture, whose prefectural capital is Sendai, the City of Trees and the City of Learning, is being wounded day after day, for the first time in history.
Noriko Ishigaki is beyond the pale.
Every time this person’s conduct is reported, I feel as though filth and excrement are being poured over me.
Edano, the leader of the party to which this woman belongs,
despite reports at the end of last year that a new pneumonia virus had emerged in Wuhan,
did not, as a Diet member elected by the Japanese people,
thoroughly discuss, beyond party lines,
the measures by which Japan should completely defend itself.
On the contrary, he continued to attack the administration with the truly laughable and malicious story of the Cherry Blossom Viewing Party,
a story constructed for the purpose of attacking the administration,
and even tied the hands and feet of the administration.

As I have mentioned many times,
those who led such evil were,
as usual,
the people who control the reporting divisions of the Asahi Shimbun and NHK.
NHK, for example, did not even once make a comment such as, “Surely this is not the time to be doing such things.”
Not only that,
Arima and Kuwako, on watch9, reported the opposition’s attacks day after day with delight, saying things such as, “Debate has begun in the Diet.”

Edano, who was acting in a manner that could, without the slightest exaggeration, be called treasonous and traitorous,
and who is a mass of evil,
calmly and triumphantly attacked the administration in the Budget Committee the day before yesterday,
as though saying that the government’s response had fallen behind.
The only evil comparable to that conduct is the evil of China and the Korean Peninsula.
The following is from Mr. Takayuki Hikawa’s essay.
The emphasis in the text is mine.
The preceding passage is omitted.

If the opposition could drive Prime Minister Abe into a corner by pursuing the “Cherry Blossom Viewing Party” issue, public support for the opposition would also rise.
The thought alone made him unable to stop laughing — Azumi was grinning to himself.
However, Azumi’s scheme quickly collapsed.
The novel coronavirus, which began spreading from Wuhan, China, was confirmed in Japan for the first time on January 16.
At first, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare optimistically believed that the possibility of human-to-human transmission was low, but the situation worsened day by day, and the infection spread to countries around the world in the blink of an eye.
With more than nine million Chinese tourists visiting Japan annually, the Japanese government was facing a grave crisis-management situation: how to stop the virus from entering at the water’s edge and protect the lives of the people.
Amid these circumstances, Yukio Edano, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party, stood to ask representative questions in the plenary session, but spent much of his allotted time criticizing the government and ruling parties over such matters as the “Cherry Blossom Viewing Party” and “casinos,” and did not refer to the national crisis.
Then, even in the Budget Committee that began on January 27, the opposition devoted itself entirely to questions about “cherry blossoms.”
On the 28th, a bus driver in Nara Prefecture who had carried tourists from Wuhan was confirmed as the first Japanese person infected with the novel coronavirus.
As anxiety and confusion spread among the Japanese people, with masks becoming scarce in Japan, the first government-chartered plane from Wuhan returned on the 29th, rescuing 206 Japanese nationals.
On that day, Noriko Ishigaki of the Constitutional Democratic Party stood to ask questions in the Budget Committee and began as follows.
“Originally, I would like to ask questions about the new pneumonia virus, the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to the Middle East, and other matters directly connected to the lives and property of our country and of the people living in our country. However, I believe we must correct the sloppy management of official documents and public funds, and the lack of responsibility, by this administration, which has become the greatest obstacle to the safety of our country. Therefore, I will mainly ask questions about the Cherry Blossom Viewing Party, which may be called the symbol of this administration’s corruption.”
In response to Ishigaki’s remarks, criticism poured in online, such as, “When Japanese people are exposed to danger to their lives both at home and abroad, are they still going to ask questions about the cherry blossom issue?”
and “I have gone beyond astonishment and feel only sadness.”
At last, from the following day, the opposition reluctantly began to allocate question time to the new pneumonia.
Incidentally, a Constitutional Democratic Party source reveals the following about the person who wrote Ishigaki’s question manuscript.
“In fact, the person who wrote Ishigaki’s manuscript was Tamotsu Sugano, who became famous in the Moritomo issue by behaving like the agent of former chairman Yasunori Kagoike. Sugano, who was hired as Ishigaki’s private secretary, is using Ishigaki to pursue the ‘cherry blossom’ issue with bloodshot eyes.”
Indeed, even within the Diet building, Sugano has recently been seen repeatedly at Constitutional Democratic Party meetings, and Constitutional Democratic Party members themselves frown and say, “Why is that man attending the meeting?”
Since they are giving heavy use as a brain to such a “problematic” figure, it is only natural that public opinion is moving away from the Constitutional Democratic Party.
This essay continues.