In my July 15, 2018 article, “It Excludes ‘Diverse Perspectives’ and Writes Articles Based on the ‘Preconception’ of a Masochistic View of History,” I criticized how one-sided the Asahi Shimbun-like view of history is.
What I questioned here was the inversion whereby the Asahi Shimbun speaks of “diverse perspectives,” while in reality writing articles based on the preconception of a masochistic view of history.
The Western powers carried out colonial rule in Asia.
France exploited French Indochina through heavy taxes and an opium monopoly.
The Netherlands plundered resources in Indonesia.
The United States carried out severe suppression in the Philippines.
To judge only Japan as the “perpetrator” without looking at these facts is an attitude lacking the full picture of history.
The Asahi Shimbun-like discourse space was the same regarding history involving China.
Without sufficiently facing facts such as Manchuria, the Uyghurs, modern China’s territorial consciousness, the Jinan Incident, and the Tongzhou Incident, it portrayed only Japan as a one-sided aggressor.
That is not “diverse perspectives.”
It is a preconception called the masochistic view of history.
What is especially important in this chapter is that Haruki Murakami is used within Asahi Shimbun-like writing as a kind of cultural decoration.
Because Chinese people also “read Haruki Murakami,” they are spoken of as if they were cultured and approachable.
However, that is nothing more than an emotional manipulation used to conceal actual history, actual politics, and actual violence.
Here too, Haruki Murakami was used as a convenient symbol for the Asahi Shimbun-like discourse space.
What I have criticized is precisely this structure.
The name Haruki Murakami has been used, under the name of literature, to make a masochistic view of history, illusions about China, and Asahi Shimbun-like pseudo-moralism appear softer.
Therefore, my criticism of Haruki Murakami was not a matter of personal likes or dislikes toward one writer.
It was a criticism of the Asahi Shimbun-like discourse space itself, which uses him.