Through a New Year’s Day experience in 2018, this essay examines how the Asahi Shimbun shifted responsibility for its prewar and wartime actions onto the Imperial Army and even Shinto shrines, while reflecting on NHK’s role as a public broadcaster.

This newspaper company shifted responsibility for its own actions before and during the war not only onto the former Imperial Army but also onto shrines.
2018-01-01
This morning I woke up and was about to enter the living room.
Bright sunlight streamed in from the south-facing balcony, so strong that I thought I must have forgotten to turn off the lights last night.
It was an intense light worthy of the beginning of 2018.
When I turned on the television, NHK was airing a program titled “Touring Ise Grand Shrine in Two Hours.”
As already noted, the reason I had never visited Ise Grand Shrine until the year before last, despite having lived in the Kansai region for a long time, was that I was a subscriber to the Asahi Shimbun.
This newspaper company shifted responsibility for its own actions before and during the war not only onto the former Imperial Army but also onto shrines.
That is why devoted readers of the Asahi Shimbun must have avoided shrines.
When I told a friend, “This kind of program is probably one of NHK’s good qualities,” he replied, “Exactly. That is NHK’s strength. That is why, at the beginning of this year, I want to tell NHK not to speak about politics but simply to convey information.”
Indeed, a truly apt remark.