Claims by the United Nations and David Kaye regarding alleged restrictions on freedom of expression in Japan collapse instantly when confronted with what is freely broadcast on Japanese public airwaves. TV Asahi itself provided irrefutable evidence of the country’s extreme level of media freedom.

Using public broadcast frequencies, this country freely airs content of this nature. Where, exactly, is the violation of freedom of expression?
On April 21, 2016, テレビ朝日 itself proved that the claims made by a man named デビッド・ケイ and the United Nations were complete nonsense, through a program that followed “Hōdō Station.” It was a show featuring comedians from Yoshimoto, an organization that has operated in close alignment with 朝日新聞社 since before the war. The premise was that two comedians traveled to Aomori, where the temperature was minus four degrees Celsius, simply to eat a meal. On a frozen pond at negative four degrees, one of them stripped naked and exposed his penis to his partner. He crouched down, saying that he was going to die. I am convinced that this act shortened his lifespan. Through this broadcast, TV Asahi itself demonstrated that freedom of the press in Japan has reached an extreme degree. In a country that freely broadcasts such content using public airwaves, where, exactly, can one claim that freedom of expression is being violated? To be continued.