Published on August 28, 2019.
This article introduces an essay by Yukihiro Hasegawa published in the June 2018 issue of the monthly magazine HANADA, discussing the strength of the Abe administration, increases in local tax revenue, the surge in foreign visitors to Japan, the expansion of agricultural and food exports, and the true nature of the economic recovery brought about by Abenomics.
It also criticizes NHK’s use of street interviews to guide public opinion and the distorted structure in which scholars and economists follow the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan.

August 28, 2019.
Those who control NHK guide the foolish masses toward their own intentions, ask them questions, make them answer, and then broadcast those answers in disguise as if they were the voice of the majority of the people.
To protect and enrich the lives of the people.
In more formal words, to achieve “the peace and prosperity of the nation.”
This has been the mission of politics in all ages and all countries.
I am republishing, with new additions to the opening section, the chapter I published on May 31, 2018, under that title.
The following is from an essay by Yukihiro Hasegawa published in the June 2018 issue of the monthly magazine HANADA, in the all-out special feature titled “Why Is the Abe Administration Strong? The Reason the People Choose Shinzo Abe.”
It is an essay that all Japanese citizens must read, because it contains truths that can never be understood merely by watching television such as NHK or reading newspapers such as the Asahi Shimbun.
Not only can they not be understood, but the reporting by those media, controlled by left-wing childish-ideology patients, hides the following facts, brainwashes you with fakes, and merely tries to make you join in their own proposition, which is criticism of the administration.
People who watch NHK news, for example before elections, see street interviews, and there is probably nothing more arbitrary, false, and destructive of democracy than these.
That is because those who control NHK guide the foolish masses toward their own intentions, ask them questions, make them answer, and then broadcast those answers in disguise as if they were the voice of the majority of the people.
The time has long since come for the Japanese people to realize that this is not democracy at all, but propaganda itself, no different from the anti-Japanese states of China and the Korean Peninsula.
NHK’s habitual method is to have some woman of uncertain identity and background say, “I cannot feel the economic recovery…”
The time has already come to realize that the news department of NHK, which in substance is Japan’s national broadcaster, is controlled by left-wing childish-ideology patients, namely union activists, who calmly carry out such malicious acts.
Arima and Kuwako of Watch 9, Ōkoshi behind them, Takeda of Close-Up Gendai, and Takigawa of the 7 p.m. news are probably themselves left-wing childish-ideology patients,
and the time has long since come to realize that their usual method is to manipulate, as puppets, female announcers who look good and seem kind-hearted.
In particular, if the people of Miyagi Prefecture, my homeland, do not want the Japanese state to decline and perish, they must never again commit the most foolish act imaginable: casting a vote in a national election for a female announcer running from the Constitutional Democratic Party.
The passages between ＊ and ＊ are mine.
Abe’s third term is almost certain.
Why is the Shinzo Abe administration so strong?
Omission.
＊The preceding text is greatly omitted.
…Those who want to read the full text should go to the nearest bookstore immediately and purchase the magazine.
Not only does the Asahi Shimbun contain no truth whatsoever, but it has already become an agent of China and the Korean Peninsula, which want to overthrow the Abe administration, hurling abuse and slander at Prime Minister Abe.
It is no exaggeration at all to say that this is the same as North Korean propaganda.
That is also because North Korean propaganda broadcasts are a rehash of the prewar Asahi Shimbun.
They are exactly alike.
The monthly subscription fee for such an Asahi Shimbun is over 5,000 yen, whereas magazines filled with real truths, in the case of this HANADA, cost 840 yen.
Which one should be chosen is obvious.
For everyday news, it is enough to watch the internet or television.
There must be countless people besides me who paid more than 5,000 yen to Asahi and, without any basis, were unconsciously indoctrinated to think that they must be kind to South Korea and Koreans in Japan, and who suffered terribly because of them.
In other words, the Asahi is making you pay more than 5,000 yen every month while merely brainwashing your mind in accordance with the intentions of China and the Korean Peninsula, implanting a masochistic view of history and superficial moralism.
I feel the greatest anger and regret imaginable that I subscribed to and read Asahi carefully for such a long time.
As readers know, I canceled it long ago and switched to the Sankei Shimbun.
On the other hand, these four monthly magazines are packed with essays that reveal real truths.
Even if you subscribe to all of them, the cost is 3,200 yen.
There is no need to discuss which one should be subscribed to.
＊
It is not widely known, but corporate-related taxes and local taxes have increased in all forty-seven prefectures.
For example, Okinawa Prefecture recorded the highest rate of increase in the country, with corporate-related tax revenue up 36.0 percent and, reflecting that, local tax revenue up 23.1 percent.
The economic recovery is not accidental.
One reason for the favorable conditions is the sharp increase in foreign visitors to Japan.
Foreign travelers began to increase steadily after the Abe administration came to power.
In 2012, there were 8.36 million, but the number continued to increase by several million every year, reaching 28.69 million in 2017.
Even after entering 2018, the momentum did not stop, and in February alone the number reached a record high of 2.509 million.
At this pace, it is certain that this year the number will reach around 35 million.
Do not underestimate them as “mere travelers.”
The amount they spend throughout Japan is not small at all.
Foreigners who visit not only hotels and restaurants but also small local shops are gods of fortune for regional areas.
Exports of agricultural, forestry, fishery, and food products are also increasing.
The export value in 2012 was 449.7 billion yen, but in 2017 it increased 1.8 times to 807.1 billion yen.
If things continue this way, it seems likely that the target of one trillion yen will be achieved in 2019.
This also enriches regional areas that depend on agricultural, forestry, and fishery products.
As shown above, not only salaried workers in cities, but also farmers and shopkeepers in regional areas are feeling the strength of the economy.
This is the very foundation of the Abe administration.
If one sits in the city watching television and reading newspapers, one might think that the Abe administration is covered in scandals and is “finished,” but that is not the case.
To protect and enrich the lives of the people.
In more formal words, to achieve “the peace and prosperity of the nation.”
This has been the mission of politics in all ages and all countries.
Many people are not misled by scandal pursuits of dubious basis, such as the Moritomo and Kake issues, and recognize “who is protecting their lives and livelihoods.”
That is why, as seen in the numbers of public opinion polls, support for the administration does not collapse.
Having pointed that out, this is where the main topic begins.
Then why was the economic recovery realized under the Abe administration?
Why could other administrations not do it?
Was it merely a lucky turn of the economic cycle?
Let us consider that.
To state my answer first, the economic recovery under the Abe administration was not accidental.
It was because it implemented correct economic policies.
Their content is “Abenomics.”
If I say that, you may think you are tired of hearing it, but let us review the three arrows of Abenomics.
They are a flexible fiscal policy, monetary easing, and a growth strategy centered on regulatory reform.
The lapdogs of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan.
Today, Abenomics is no longer novel and has become established among many people as a policy package.
However, when the administration began in 2012, that was not the case at all.
Many economists and people called economists criticized it, saying, “Abenomics is a deception.”
They could not accept the three arrows.
Why was that?
It was because Abenomics was the complete opposite of the economic policies of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan, which had until then secretly controlled Japan.
The Ministry of Finance aims, above all, at tax increases.
It believes that tax increases enlarge the Ministry of Finance’s wallet and become the source of funds to distribute to each ministry and to politicians.
It thinks that the larger the wallet becomes and the greater the amount of money it can scatter, the greater the Ministry of Finance’s authority becomes.
In reality, even if taxes are raised, if the economy worsens and tax revenue decreases, everything is lost.
That is because tax increases do not equal revenue increases.
On the other hand, the Bank of Japan believed that monetary tightening was the correct path.
Having learned from the bubble economy of the 1980s, they made preventing inflation their supreme mission.
They believed that if even the slightest sign of economic overheating appeared, it was their role to crack the whip of monetary tightening and teach companies and households disciplined behavior.
If the policies of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan are combined, the result is an outrageous policy package of “tax increases plus monetary tightening,” heading straight for recession.
Yet at the time the second Abe administration was born in 2012, such policy thinking was widespread among mainstream economists and economic commentators.
Why were scholars and economists immersed in “Ministry of Finance and Bank of Japan thought”?
Because it suited their interests.
For scholars, as long as they listened to the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan, budgets would be allocated to their universities, and they themselves would be invited to advisory councils and gain prestige.
They would also have no shortage of side jobs writing for magazines and giving lectures.
Economists at think tanks whose parent companies are banks, insurance companies, or securities companies naturally cannot defy the Ministry of Finance or the Bank of Japan.
If they did such a thing, the Ministry of Finance or the Bank of Japan would immediately complain to the parent company, and in the worst case, they might be fired.
That is because financial institutions earn profits through transactions in government bonds issued by the Ministry of Finance and transactions with the Bank of Japan.
Many scholars and economists had become “their lapdogs” through the “hidden inducement of interests” by the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan.
In Japan, such a distorted structure had continued for a long time.
This article continues.