Written amid the intense debate over COVID-19 and PCR testing in the summer of 2020, this article discusses a WiLL magazine dialogue between Yasuhiko Kamikubo and Eitaro Ogawa, the positive PCR results of Yomiuri Giants players Hayato Sakamoto and Takumi Oshiro, the recall movement against the Governor of Aichi, and the Osaka Metropolis Plan, while questioning the relationship between pandemic reporting, politics, democracy, national strength, and security.

2020-07-30
In July 2020, as confirmed COVID-19 cases were again increasing in Japan, the expansion of PCR testing became one of the central subjects of public and media debate.
The September 2020 issue of WiLL carried a dialogue between Eitaro Ogawa and Yasuhiko Kamikubo titled “Do Nothing About COVID-19 — A Groundbreaking Theory of Coronavirus.”
The magazine identified Kamikubo as a medical scientist and specially appointed professor at the Kyoto University Graduate School, and Kyoto University records also list him as a specially appointed professor in its Graduate School of Medicine.
In June 2020, Yomiuri Giants players Hayato Sakamoto and Takumi Oshiro tested positive by PCR.
Before the PCR testing, IgG antibodies indicating recovery from a previous infection had been identified, and subsequent PCR tests produced negative results.
In Aichi Prefecture, a political organization campaigning for the recall of Governor Hideaki Omura over the 2019 Aichi Triennale was established on June 2, 2020.
The formal certification necessary for the recall petition and the legal collection of signatures, however, began on August 25.
Thus, the original article’s July 30 reference to Omura being subjected to a recall refers to the political recall campaign already under way rather than to the formal signature-collection stage.
Regarding the Osaka Metropolis Plan, the special-ward agreement was completed on July 31, 2020, and subsequently approved by the Osaka prefectural and municipal assemblies before a referendum was held on November 1.
The original article was therefore written as the process was approaching its decisive institutional stage.
The assertion that PCR testing had been politically exploited in every case, and the proposed causal connection between increases in reported infections and particular political schedules, should be read as the author’s argument and interpretation at the time.
Quotation
“Television has an ideal opportunity to win ratings. The mass media themselves alone fail to realize that they are the greatest demonstration of how democracy can contribute to, and put into practice, government by an uninformed mass.”
Text
Television has an ideal opportunity to win ratings.
The mass media themselves alone fail to realize that they are the greatest demonstration of how democracy can contribute to, and put into practice, government by an uninformed mass.
This month’s issue of WiLL carries a special dialogue entitled “Do Nothing About COVID-19 — A Groundbreaking Theory of Coronavirus” between Yasuhiko Kamikubo, then a specially appointed professor at the Kyoto University Graduate School and, in the author’s assessment, a leading expert in immunology, and Eitaro Ogawa.
It presents what I regard as an authentic argument that should be read not only by the Japanese people but by people throughout the world.
For people who merely subscribe to newspapers such as the Asahi Shimbun and watch NHK or commercial television news programs and wide shows, these facts would have come as a bolt from the blue.
South Korea, which had been struck by the pandemic, launched an attack on Japan, whose numbers of infections and deaths were overwhelmingly lower, and even here, in the author’s view, it did not forget its anti-Japanese propaganda.
South Korea began attacking Japan by arguing that Japan’s figures were low because the country conducted fewer PCR tests.
Those who immediately echoed this argument included people whom the author described as Korean residents of Japan who concealed that background while earning their living as entertainers, television personalities, and commentators appearing on wide shows.
They regarded it as convenient material with which to attack the government and weaken the Abe administration and, together with the Asahi Shimbun, NHK, and other television media, seized upon it.
As I wrote previously, even an acquaintance whom I met on business around this time repeated the argument and criticized Japan’s response.
Increase the number of PCR tests and positive cases such as those of Giants players Sakamoto and Oshiro will be found.
They were asymptomatic and soon recovered.
In other words, they had become infected without knowing it, developed immunity in their bodies, and became negative within a short period.
Tokyo had recently held a gubernatorial election.
It was widely known that questions had been raised about the manner in which Tokyo announced its infection figures.
In Nagoya, Governor Omura was at the time facing a recall campaign arising from anger over the Aichi Biennale, organized by Daisuke Tsuda—whom the original article denounced in extremely severe terms—and subsidized by Aichi Prefecture with public funds.
If PCR testing is rapidly expanded, positive cases such as Sakamoto and Oshiro will be found; the article argued that this was a basic proposition of immunology and medicine.
It was widely known that reported infections in Aichi suddenly increased.
Then why Osaka?
Osaka was moving toward a formal decision to hold a referendum on the Osaka Metropolis Plan in the autumn.
In other words, the article argued that PCR testing had been politically exploited throughout.
The mass media report it extensively day after day because it provides ideal material.
Television has an ideal opportunity to win ratings.
The mass media themselves alone fail to realize that they are the greatest demonstration of how democracy can contribute to, and put into practice, government by an uninformed mass.
A vast, pitch-black darkness continues to spread across Japan.
That darkness will bring about a substantial decline in Japan’s national strength.
It will create vulnerabilities in Japan’s preparations for the defense of its territory.
The article concludes that there can be no doubt that China and South Korea would welcome such a development.