Based on Masayuki Takayama’s column in Shukan Shincho, this article examines Pio De Meglio, the Naoto Kan administration, the shutdown of Japan’s nuclear power plants, and the anti-Japanese nature of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. It questions the postwar abnormality of Japan’s tolerance toward foreign correspondents who disregard Japanese law and despise Japan.

2020-06-18
Kan appointed De Meglio as a special adviser to the prime minister, treated him to meals at public expense, reverently accepted his advice to “follow Italy’s example and stop the nuclear power plants,” and actually shut down nuclear power plants across Japan.
It was an act of folly worthy even of the death penalty.
The following is from Masayuki Takayama’s regular column, which closes the latest issue of Shukan Shincho released today.
This essay, too, proves that he is the one and only journalist in the postwar world.
Correspondent Dema-ria
＊Note: This is Takayama Masayuki’s characteristic wit, changing the name of De Meglio, the bogus Italian reporter belonging to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, into a name that reflects his true nature.＊
When I was posted as a correspondent in Los Angeles, before beginning my work, there were quite a few procedures I “had to” go through.
First, I went to the State Department and registered everything from the color of my eyes and skin to my mother’s maiden name, and received a nine-digit Social Security Number, or SSN.
Without that number, I could not open a bank account, and therefore could not have a card.
I could not get a driver’s license, nor could I rent a house.
It was a number that proved I was a proper citizen.
On top of that, a correspondent had to go to the headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department and register as a journalist.
They took my photograph and fingerprints, and issued a press card printed with both.
That was only natural.
Only with that could I attend press conferences of important figures, or interview Prince Charles and Lee Teng-hui when they visited the United States.
At the time of a space shuttle launch, I could enter Cape Kennedy and go to the very side of the launch pad for reporting.
A press card and an SSN certify that one is even more respectable than an ordinary citizen.
I thought the same would be true in Japan.
If one came as a correspondent in Tokyo, one would obey the law and apply for a foreign resident registration card.
On top of that, as proof of being a sound citizen, one would obtain a My Number and then be registered with the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
The reality was different.
For example, Pio De Meglio, a correspondent for an Italian left-wing newspaper, refused to submit the fingerprints required for foreign resident registration.
He apparently made the same argument as Koreans who complained that this was a violation of human rights.
In other words, he had no intention of obeying Japanese law.
Moreover, there were also rumors about his connections with terrorist organizations that had repeatedly assassinated former prime ministers and other important figures.
When his entry was refused, he sued the Minister of Justice, and continued appealing and appealing again.
Until a judgment was reached, he remained in Japan for a very long time.
Would he refuse in the same way if the other party were the United States?
I do not think so.
During the last war, Italy switched sides from the Axis alliance to the Allies.
That alone was shameful enough, but after the war, Italians began saying that “in the latter half, we fought against fascism,” and extracted a large amount of war reparations from Japan.
Then how much did they take from Germany, the original source?
In fact, “they did not claim even one mark,” says Romano Vulpitta, professor emeritus at Kyoto Sangyo University.
They humble themselves before white countries, but when the other party is Japanese, their attitude changes.
De Meglio is probably of that type as well.
The Japanese side is also at fault.
It does not treat such anti-Japanese foreigners harshly.
In his case, that nightmare, Naoto Kan, served as his protector.
Kan appointed De Meglio as a special adviser to the prime minister, treated him to meals at public expense, reverently accepted his advice to “follow Italy’s example and stop the nuclear power plants,” and actually shut down nuclear power plants across Japan.
It was an act of folly worthy even of the death penalty.
An even greater nuisance than Kan is the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
It did not expel this illegal overstayer, but kept him as a member.
If one belongs to that club, one can meet even VIPs.
In fact, De Meglio attended the prime minister’s press conference when the state of emergency was declared.
He stood up on his own to ask questions, scolding Japan for ignoring white people by asking, “Why do you not imitate Europe and America and lock down the cities?” and then displaying the same kind of foolish question as Renho by asking, “How will you take responsibility if you fail?”
Why was Japan all right despite being so loose?
That is precisely what you foreign correspondents should have been reporting on.
Had you done so, you would have noticed Japan’s “level of public manners” before Aso had to say it.
One has to question the quality of a Foreign Correspondents’ Club that made such a person a regular member, but looking back, many of its members have sold themselves on anti-Japanese sentiment.
There was Burk of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, who wrote “impotent” on His Majesty’s trousers, and N. Kristof, who wrote on the front page of The New York Times the outrageous lie that “Japanese soldiers killed and ate Chinese children.”
They seem to misunderstand their work as correspondents as being to look down on the Japanese.
The bulletin of that Foreign Correspondents’ Club placed on its cover a design in which coronavirus spikes had been added to the Tokyo Olympic emblem.
Below it, they arranged “COVID-19” in a way that concealed “Wuhan.”
No matter how one looks at it, it appeared to be nothing but harassment that pandered to China.
In the end, they apologized, but among the members, there is now excitement over an Aichi Triennale-style criticism that “the Japanese are at fault for not understanding parody.”
It brings a hundred harms and not one benefit.
Whoever called it the “Gaijin Press Club” said it well.