Published on November 28, 2019.
Based on Masayuki Takayama’s essay “A Faithful Dog,” published in Shukan Shincho, this article examines the Asahi Shimbun’s past fabrications, Urakami Cathedral, Dr. Takashi Nagai’s The Bells of Nagasaki, reports on the Manila massacre, GHQ censorship, and America’s justification of the atomic bombings.
Starting from the fabricated “100-yen ramen” article and Asahi’s response to it, it criticizes how postwar Japanese newspapers became subordinate to GHQ and American interests.

November 28, 2019
It was not merely partial fabrication; the entire article was a fraud.
What did Asahi do?
It played dumb, offering neither apology nor correction.
“With no disciplinary action against the reporter, he is now at the head office, assigned to the nuclear-issues reporting team.”
The following is from Masayuki Takayama’s essay titled “A Faithful Dog,” published in today’s issue of Shukan Shincho.
In this essay as well, he proves that he is the one and only journalist in the postwar world.
The other day, in the Asahi Shimbun, a certain Tainaka, a reporter on the “nuclear” reporting team, wrote an explanatory article about the Pope’s visit to Japan.
I was a little intrigued.
Quite some time ago, a top article in the Hiroshima prefectural edition of Asahi titled “The 100-Yen Ramen Disappears” became a topic of conversation.
Near Hiroshima University, there was a 100-yen ramen shop run by an elderly couple.
It was thriving.
However, when the 3 percent consumption tax was decided, the cost of ingredients rose, and it became impossible to keep the price at 100 yen.
The story was that if they raised the price, they would feel sorry for the students who patronized the shop, so they decided to close it.
Noboru Takeshita’s consumption tax had directly crushed the goodwill of the weak.
Because it was a timely article, readers reacted, saying they wanted to go before the shop closed and wondering whether they could offer some support, and the circle of response spread.
The bureau chief also said it was a good story and told the reporter to write a sequel.
The reporter then hesitated and confessed, “Actually, that article was made up.
I even made the ramen-shop banner myself and took the photograph.”
It was not merely partial fabrication; the entire article was a fraud.
What did Asahi do?
It played dumb, offering neither apology nor correction.
“With no disciplinary action against the reporter, he is now at the head office, assigned to the nuclear-issues reporting team, and is flying around foreign countries,” wrote Hiromichi Ugaya in Asahi Tomo Arou Mono ga.
I read the article wondering whether this might be that ramen reporter.
I could not tell whether it was the same person, but the article discussing the significance of the Pope’s visit to Japan in connection with nuclear abolition made me feel something similar to the ramen-shop report.
For example, it says, “Urakami Cathedral was heavily damaged by the atomic bomb.”
It writes as though the cathedral had been in a traffic accident.
Certainly, the damage was severe, but the brick front and exterior walls had mostly remained.
It had a firm and imposing appearance comparable to the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima.
However, it was too provocative for the United States, a Christian country.
At the strong demand of the United States, the cathedral was demolished.
“Heavily damaged” is a sly way of writing that conceals this.
The article also refers to Dr. Takashi Nagai’s The Bells of Nagasaki, which is connected with the cathedral.
It writes that although the reality of the atomic bombing was described in detail, “it was published under the strict censorship of GHQ.
However, it was bundled together with a report on the Japanese military’s Manila massacre.”
That is a lie.
GHQ did not allow it to be published for two years.
The article hides that and instead lets the reader think GHQ rather kindly allowed it to be published.
What is even more problematic is the Manila massacre report with which it was bundled.
The source of the story was GHQ.
It announced to the newspapers and had them publish the claim that “in February 1945, the Japanese military raped women throughout Manila and killed 100,000 civilians.”
This was a great lie.
Before the full-scale American assault, the Japanese military released 3,500 Western civilians who had been interned at the University of Santo Tomas in the city.
It was a consideration typical of the Japanese military, intended to keep them from being caught up in the fighting.
From the following day, the U.S. military subjected Manila, now left with only non-white people, to thorough artillery bombardment and air raids, and many civilians died.
They killed them themselves and blamed it on the Japanese military.
The newspaper that clearly pointed this out was Asahi, back when it was still decent.
In response to GHQ’s announcement, it wrote, “Our military would not do such a thing,” and “Witnesses should be gathered and the matter verified.”
GHQ immediately summoned Asahi executives and notified them that the paper would be shut down.
From here, conjecture also enters, but GHQ likely said, “However, if you become America’s dog from now on, we will let you off this time with a two-day suspension of publication.”
Tainaka probably thinks he is still faithfully observing that.
He visited the U.S. Air Force Museum in Ohio to see Bockscar, the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
There, it was described as a good atomic-bombing aircraft that “ended the war.”
He pretends to be surprised that there are still Americans who justify the atomic bombing, but that is far too naïve.
Immediately after the end of the war, the U.S. government removed both Bockscar and Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, from military service, and transferred Enola Gay to the Smithsonian Institution.
Furthermore, it has just designated the facilities at Los Alamos, Hanford, and Oak Ridge, where the atomic bombs were made, as a national park and honored their glory.
No matter how the Pope preaches, that mentality will not be cured.
He does not even understand that, and still defends the United States.
The ramen-shop lie almost looks better by comparison.