2024/03/26

A friend called me just now, furious.
He said:
“NHK is still casting suspicion on Ohtani.
It is just like the Moritomo and Kake controversies—which could fairly be described as a joint effort by the Asahi Shimbun and NHK—when they repeatedly said, ‘Questions remain,’ effectively criticizing and attacking Mr. Abe.
And now they are doing it to Ohtani, of all people!”
Even over the phone, my friend’s anger was intense.
Finally, he said to me:
“Today, I became convinced that the people controlling NHK’s news department are ethnic Koreans living in Japan, rather than people who are truly Japanese.
I say that unequivocally.
What kind of nerve does NHK have to say, ‘Questions remain,’ about someone so disciplined, so devoted to baseball, and so universally recognized for his self-discipline?
That mentality is not Japanese!”
He was so angry that it seemed the phone might break.
Have the people involved in NHK’s news programs watched Yoichi Takahashi’s YouTube channel?
After dinner, I watched Yoichi Takahashi’s channel on YouTube.
Like me—or rather, like every Japanese person—he is a fan of Shohei Ohtani and, naturally, watched Ohtani’s press conference this morning.
I have already introduced him in this column over the past few days.
The former Ministry of Finance sent him to an American university to study under Bernanke…he lived in the United States.
He explained concisely what American society is like, how essential it is to have a lawyer acting on your behalf when living there, and other things that Japanese people, myself included, do not know.
Today, long before NHK’s news began, he talked about his experience opening a bank account.
He could do it on his own because he spoke English, but someone who could not speak English would find it impossible to do alone.
Mizuhara had been with Ohtani since his days with the Nippon-Ham Fighters and went to the United States with him as his hired interpreter, so Mizuhara must have been present when Ohtani first opened a bank account there.
Someone other than the account holder can make a transfer.
After the press conference, an American reporter asked whether anyone other than Ohtani himself could transfer money.
Takahashi responded with a basic question about that American reporter: “Has he never made a bank transfer?”
It is no exaggeration to say that the people who produce NHK’s news programs, and those who call themselves newscasters, have the intellectual capacity of kindergarten children or younger.
If you are a journalist, you must watch the Yoichi Takahashi Channel.
This case, too, demonstrates that the Internet age has arrived.
It is no exaggeration to say that the established media are a collection of utter fools, demonstrating that truth cannot be found there.
It demonstrates that truth is now on the Internet.