This essay examines the spread of left-leaning ideology in postwar Japan and the roles of Asahi and NHK, exploring the clash between longstanding media narratives and emerging values surrounding constitutional revision and national policy.

From left to right, and from right to left, Asahi’s swings have been large.
2018-01-23
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
From left to right, and from right to left, Asahi’s swings have been large.
Moreover, in postwar Japan, not only Asahi but leftist ideology spread widely throughout society as a whole.
Takashi Ito, Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo who led research in modern Japanese history, reflects in History and Myself: Memoirs of a Historian Who Walked with Sources (Chuko Shinsho).
In conducting interviews for oral history, he writes that he was “astonished to find that even among LDP Diet members and executives of major corporations, there were people who continued to harbor a sense of inferiority toward communism.”
Within this leftist and communist-influenced climate, Asahi exerted its influence.
And many things that can be said about Asahi also apply to NHK.
However, values that challenge such left-leaning ideological frameworks are now gaining momentum.
At the forefront of this movement, including constitutional revision, stands Prime Minister Abe.
Perhaps both Asahi and NHK find it difficult to endure such new developments.
Unable to accept a prime minister whose thinking differs from their own on a fundamental level, are they not desperately resisting in order to preserve the framework of left-liberal ideology?
To be continued.