This essay examines how Asahi Shimbun persistently opposed monetary easing and Abenomics, reinforcing deflationary psychology in Japan. It argues that negative media narratives weakened public confidence, contributed to yen appreciation and stock declines, and ultimately damaged Japan’s economic strength during a critical global period.

June 22, 2016
When deflation persists, consumers’ psychology itself becomes deflationary.
Put simply, consumers stop buying expensive goods.
Or they refrain from purchasing.
This deflation continued for more than twenty years, and now the entire world vehemently abhors falling into this Japan-style deflation.
With the exception of Asahi Shimbun and a very small number of European journalists who sympathize with it.
The Abe administration and the Bank of Japan finally turned the helm toward eliminating this deflation and implemented bold policies that astonished the world.
Even then, Asahi not only continued to write negative and skeptical editorials, but also kept having a woman with the title of Doshisha University professor appear on television and in print to argue that a strong yen was desirable.
Regarding escaping deflation, where psychological factors occupy a major role, it goes without saying that if Asahi Shimbun—with its 6.9 million subscribing households—continues to write editorials denying or doubting such efforts, the government’s and the Bank of Japan’s endeavors will come to nothing.
Not only that, they have repeatedly committed further evils.
Before the second-to-last monetary policy meeting of the Bank of Japan, global markets were calling for further monetary easing by the Bank of Japan in order to avoid the risks latent in the world—such as the Chinese economic problem, one of the major ones being the current British referendum—and to keep the economy on a growth trajectory.
That Asahi Shimbun continued to publish editorials opposing further monetary easing at that time is something subscribers should know.
As readers know, I have repeatedly referred to how Asahi Shimbun has penetrated all sectors and strata of Japan—in other words, how it has dominated the country.
The Bank of Japan lost to Asahi’s editorials and decided to maintain the status quo.
The subsequent rapid appreciation of the yen and decline in stock prices—that is, the weakening of Japan’s national and economic strength—goes without saying.
At the previous policy meeting, if the Bank of Japan had not chosen to maintain the status quo but had taken appropriate measures in preparation for the worst possible outcome of the British referendum—namely, withdrawal from the EU, which was the greatest risk to global markets this year—then, precisely because expectations were lower than at the second-to-last meeting, it would have had a powerful impact and, speaking slightly exaggeratedly, might have saved the global economy, in my view.
Of course, even at that time, Asahi meticulously continued to publish editorials steering matters toward allowing no decision to be made.
It also exerted influence on media outlets other than Asahi.
That Asahi—that is, Asahi Shimbun, which has continued to cast a shadow over Japan’s stock prices—
used the entire opinion page last Saturday to mobilize all of Asahi’s favored scholars and published a feature article with the headline “Abenomics, the Shadow over Rising Stock Prices.”
Where else could there be a more vicious media outlet than this?
For the sake of Japan and the world, I hope that this essay of mine reaches young people who have voting rights this year and who live in households that subscribe to Asahi Shimbun.
This manuscript continues.