January 17, 2016
The following is from pages 108–114 of Chapter 5, “Asahi’s Anti-Japanese Hypocrisy, Thinking, and Mentality as Revealed in the Coral Incident,” in the truly magnificent book The Asahi Shimbun, Consumed by Anti-Japanese Hypocrisy: The Bias and Discrimination of Asahi’s Thinking and Mentality (Nisshin Hodo, August 2013), published on August 5, 2013, by former University of Tokyo professor Nobuhiko Sakai.
It goes without saying that this truly exceptional masterpiece by Nobuhiko Sakai is essential reading for every Japanese citizen, but I think its title should have been different to achieve that aim.
Even the main title, “The Asahi Shimbun, Consumed by Anti-Japanese Hypocrisy,” sounds somewhat eccentric as the title of this masterpiece, in which an exceptionally rare and genuine intellect clearly explains “what the Asahi Shimbun is,” and seems to keep it from becoming widely known,
and when it is followed by the subtitle, “The Bias and Discrimination of Asahi’s Thinking and Mentality,” I felt that this would impede the growth of its sales.
Writing without any revision, I think something like “Essential Reading for Every Citizen: University of Tokyo Graduate and Former University of Tokyo Professor Nobuhiko Sakai Exposes the Asahi Shimbun’s Numerous Serious Crimes” would have been better.
Yet the following chapter expresses, magnificently and perfectly, every reason why Sakai chose the subtitle “The Bias and Discrimination of Asahi’s Thinking and Mentality.”
Everyone with an ordinary, natural ability to comprehend written language should be impressed by its excellence and come to understand perfectly what the Asahi Shimbun is.
All emphasis within the text, other than in the headings, is mine.
① The Course of the Coral Incident—Fabrication and Apology
The year 1989, which began with an imperial succession following Emperor Showa’s passing, was a year of major changes worldwide, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square incident, but it was also a year in which an extremely important incident occurred in the history of Japanese journalism.
On the front page of the Asahi Shimbun’s evening edition of April 20, an article entitled “Who Is K.Y.?” appeared with a large color photograph.
In it, the Asahi Shimbun forcefully denounced the deliberate damage inflicted by human hands on coral in Okinawa.
Afterward, however, questions and criticism concerning the article began to emerge.
From mid-May, other media, including television, began reporting on the matter.
This was because an Okinawan divers’ association had begun asserting that the scratches had not been there before and must have been made by an Asahi reporter.
In response, Asahi finally published an apology on May 16.
Specifically, in an article headed “Apology” and “Our Reporting Went Too Far: Photographing Coral off Iriomote Island,” it explained that the scratches had already existed, but that the photographer had traced and enlarged them with the handle of a flash unit so that they would show up clearly in the photograph.