The Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily struggles to attract readers, while the Japanese Communist Party’s Sunday Akahata features prominent actors and singers.
Hiroshi Yuasa examines celebrity political activism and the Japanese Communist Party’s past, contrasting them with Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, and other Hollywood figures who devoted their own resources to supporting the oppressed people of Tibet.

June 30, 2020
Unless the reader happens to be one of the Party’s 90 million members, who among the 1.3 billion people subjected to its rule would read a Communist Party organ filled with propaganda and lectures?
Indeed, even Party members themselves do not seem eager to read it.
The following is taken from Hiroshi Yuasa’s regular column entitled “The Self-Display of Fashionable Politics,” published in the monthly magazine WiLL.
The monthly magazine WiLL is essential reading not only for the Japanese people but also for people throughout the world.
Anyone who has not yet subscribed should immediately head to the nearest bookstore.
That is because it is filled with genuine essays such as this one.
And yet, it costs only 920 yen, including consumption tax.
At a symposium once held in Hawaii, an editorial writer for the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, lamented, “We are troubled because the people do not read it.”
On hearing this, I thought that the instincts of ordinary Chinese people remained sound.
Unless the reader happens to be one of the Party’s 90 million members, who among the 1.3 billion people subjected to its rule would read a Communist Party organ filled with propaganda and lectures?
Indeed, even Party members themselves do not seem eager to read it.
Among Japan’s political parties, the Japanese Communist Party is the only one to maintain a “friendly relationship” with the Chinese Communist Party’s one-party dictatorship.
Kazuo Shii, the Party chairman who is skilled at reading the mood of the times, recently protested to China over the introduction of the national security law in Hong Kong.
Did he judge that it would be damaging for his party to be regarded as the same as the Chinese Communist Party?
It is commendable that he criticised a friendly party and demanded that it stop intensifying its suppression of human rights.
The Japanese Communist Party’s official newspaper, Shimbun Akahata, shows considerably more evidence of “sales efforts” than the People’s Daily.
Familiar entertainers and actresses appear in its Sunday edition, creating a warm and reassuring atmosphere and giving the impression that the Party enjoys support from a wide variety of people.
Those who appear in or contribute to the newspaper must either place extraordinary trust in the Japanese Communist Party or belong to a generation unaware of the Party’s dark past.
After all, it was once a party that called for the “overthrow of the Emperor system,” engaged in struggles involving Molotov cocktails, and, above all, sought a violent revolution.
Among those whose recent appearances attracted attention were actress Kyoko Koizumi, kabuki actor Koshiro Matsumoto, and singer Tokiko Kato.
Their interviews, accompanied by smiling photographs, occupied large portions of the front page.
The most widely discussed of them was Ms. Koizumi, the actress famous for “Nantettatte Idol,” who threw a stone into the pond with her intervention in the controversy surrounding Prosecutor-General Kurokawa.
“#IProtestTheProposedRevisionOfThePublicProsecutorsOfficeAct”
Led by her, other entertainers joined the campaign.
Although the issue concerned extending the retirement age, the prosecutor in question was subsequently discovered to have participated in gambling mahjong, bringing the affair to an unexpected and almost absurd conclusion.
Yet, looking at the process leading up to that outcome, one is reminded of the strangely familiar uproar during the debate over Japan’s security legislation, when entertainers raised their voices and cried, “Do not allow the war bills.”
Looking back, most of them did not know the actual provisions of the security legislation.
Together with the Communist Party, they shouted such slogans as “Oppose the war bills” and “Do not permit the revival of conscription.”
In reality, the provisions were far removed from anything resembling a war law, and there was naturally no possibility that the Self-Defense Forces would wage war or that conscription would be introduced.
After thoroughly inciting the public, no one accepts responsibility for these propagandistic statements.
When entertainers and actors reach a turning point or the twilight of their careers, they imitate Hollywood and seek the spotlight through political statements.
Perhaps they believe they should exploit their fame while they still possess it.
Political party recruiters are quick to recognise such ambition: where there is someone willing to sell, there is someone willing to buy.
They may eventually be approached as candidates for a gubernatorial or House of Councillors election.
By contrast, many Hollywood actors are sincere people who, rather than engaging in fashionable politics or political calculation, devote themselves to freedom and human rights, even at the cost of their own fortunes.
In September 1995, while the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, was visiting the United States, I saw actor Harrison Ford and his wife testify before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the tragic circumstances of Tibetans subjected to Chinese oppression.
The couple described how Rinchen, a young interpreter they had hired during their visit to the region, was imprisoned after returning home.
They also made an impassioned appeal on behalf of a young woman who was arrested merely for singing a Tibetan song in front of them and later died in prison.
After successfully campaigning for Rinchen’s release, the couple continued to expose the reality of “Tibet under brutal Chinese occupation.”
Mr. Ford’s wife, Melissa, was the screenwriter of the worldwide hit film E.T. and Kundun, which depicted the life of the Dalai Lama.
She also served on the board of the International Campaign for Tibet.
Another actor who has long supported the Dalai Lama is Richard Gere.
In October 1997, when Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited the United States, Mr. Gere called for a demonstration in Washington against China’s treatment of Tibet and brought a succession of popular Hollywood stars to the capital.
They included the Fords, of course, as well as Steven Seagal and Sharon Stone.
The Japanese actors who appear in the Sunday edition of Shimbun Akahata should free themselves from the restraints of political parties and learn from the selfless determination of Mr. Ford, Mr. Gere, and others to rescue oppressed people.
Should they belong to a generation unfamiliar with the Japanese Communist Party, I recommend that they read the latest book by Shohei Umezawa, professor emeritus at Shobi University, entitled The Frightening Ambitions of the Japanese Communist Party, published by Tendensha.
It is essential reading for people of Ms. Koizumi’s generation.