Based on NHK’s report on the spread of the new coronavirus in Italy and the collapse of its medical system, this essay warns against reckless calls for mass testing in Japan.
It criticizes Masayoshi Son’s proposal to provide test kits free of charge, his past political interventions over nuclear power, and NHK’s reporting style, arguing that journalism must return to facts, not emotional moralism.

March 13, 2020
You should immediately realize that your attitude is a mass of vice that sells “justice and humanity” as commodities.
Together with the Asahi Shimbun and others, you are merely continuing to endanger the hundred-year plan of the nation.
The following is from an NHK News article that was posted online a short while ago.
Deaths in Italy exceed 1,000.
New coronavirus.
March 13, 2020, 5:04 a.m.
In Italy, where infection with the new coronavirus is spreading, the number of people who have died reached a total of 1,016 on the 12th, exceeding 1,000.
The number of infected people has also exceeded 15,000, and the Italian government is rushing to strengthen its medical system, mainly in the north, by newly deploying ventilators used to treat patients who have become seriously ill.
The Italian government announced on the 12th that the number of people who had died from the new coronavirus had increased by nearly 200 to 1,016, exceeding 1,000.
In addition, the number of infected people increased by 2,651, reaching a total of 15,113.
Infections are concentrated in three regions, including the northern region of Lombardy, and these regions account for more than 90 percent of those who have died in Italy.
The Italian government has deployed more than 100 ventilators, used to treat patients with severe pneumonia, to these three regions.
It is also rushing to strengthen the medical system by increasing the number of intensive care beds.
In order to prevent the spread of infection, it is also asking people throughout the country to refrain from going out unless it is necessary and urgent.
From the 12th, it banned the operation of all shops except those handling daily necessities, such as pharmacies and grocery stores.
In the capital, Rome, on the 12th, citizens lined up in front of supermarkets that were operating while limiting the number of people inside.
However, restaurants and bars were closed, and pedestrian traffic was lighter than usual.
Expert: “Italy’s medical system is facing an emergency.”
An Italian expert familiar with the spread of infectious diseases pointed out that, regarding the new coronavirus, the fact that no one has immunity to it is leading to extremely rapid spread.
He also stated that the rapid increase in infected people has brought Italy’s medical system face to face with an emergency.
Professor Lopalco of the University of Pisa in northern Italy, an expert in epidemiology, responded to NHK’s interview by video phone on the 12th.
Regarding the new coronavirus spreading mainly in the northern region of Lombardy, he pointed out that the greatest difference from influenza is the speed at which the infection spreads.
He then said:
“In Italy and in the world, no one has immunity to this virus. The fact that anyone is susceptible to infection is leading to the extremely rapid spread of infection.”
He then expressed a sense of crisis, saying that the rapid increase in patients is placing a great burden on the local medical system and that “this is an emergency we have never experienced before.”
Regarding the spread of infection in Europe outside Italy as well, he said:
“If you look at the increase in infected people in France and Germany, you can see that they are in the same situation as Lombardy. It is now only a matter of time.”
He is appealing that it is important not to focus on containment, but to devote efforts to suppressing the rapid increase in patients and to create a situation in which the medical system can cope.
Nevertheless, for example, Masayoshi Son echoed the utterly foolish claim that the number of infected people in Japan is low because the number of tests is low.
It is a claim advanced by a country of bottomless evil and plausible lies that wants to degrade Japan to the same level as itself.
He then said something outrageous beyond words, such as providing test kits free of charge.
Why?
Because that foolish idea would immediately lead to the collapse of the medical system.
If selfish brats who think only of themselves rush to medical institutions for testing, the Koreanization and Italianization of Japan will be achieved at once.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake, this man appeared at something called a Green Forum held in Seoul and, while standing shoulder to shoulder with then-President Park, said:
“Japan’s nuclear power plants are no good, but South Korea’s nuclear power plants are good.”
He said something more foolish than anything imaginable and ingratiated himself with Naoto Kan, who was the worst prime minister in history at the time.
He then played a part in realizing the childish policy of the total and immediate shutdown of nuclear power plants, which is now strangling Japan in every possible sense.
It was a policy that even the South Korean secretary-general of the United Nations at the time said was “wrong.”
Together with Mizuho Fukushima and others, the local government heads of the time also became masses of pseudo-moralism, displayed unparalleled foolishness, and joined this worst policy in history.
As a result, Japan’s electricity rates rose dramatically.
Japan’s landscape continues to be thoroughly destroyed.
The very man himself established a data center in South Korea, where new nuclear power plants are being promoted, existing nuclear power plants are operating at full capacity, and electricity rates are probably less than half those of Japan, in order to reduce enormous electricity costs.
In an era of the lowest interest rates in history, he not only guarantees several trillion yen in principal to the King of Saudi Arabia, but also draws money at a high interest rate of 6 percent.
He is free to invest in foolish companies, even before one can call them niche businesses, such as WeWork or something Uber-like.
But he should stop meddling in politics once and for all.
Arima of NHK’s Watch 9 should also understand that if he says “Mr. Son” with the same tone with which he once said “Mr. Ghosn” about Ghosn, he may end up seeing the same kind of result as with Ghosn.
Above all, reporting must always and thoroughly convey facts.
He should immediately realize that his urgent task is to return to the basics of journalism.
Reporting is not about appealing to emotions at all.
It must simply and earnestly convey facts.
If he did not even know the conditions under which Masayoshi Son obtained an enormous investment from the King of Saudi Arabia, he should immediately stop pretending to be a journalist.
Your current attitude is a mass of vice that sells “justice and humanity” as commodities.
Together with the Asahi Shimbun and others, you are merely continuing to endanger the hundred-year plan of the nation.
You should realize this immediately.
This essay continues.