An elderly professor from the Royal Ballet School of Monaco once said that artists are the only ones who can shed light on hidden truths.
Masayuki Takayama embodies this mission not only as a unique journalist but also as a true postwar artist.
His essay in the August 22 issue of WiLL, “Shūkan Shinchō Subjugated by a Woman Writer,” exposes flaws in Japan’s naturalization system, Asahi Shimbun’s concealment of foreign origins, and its appeasement toward China and Korea.
This work reaffirms Takayama as the writer most deserving of the Nobel Prize in Literature and a must-read for both Japanese and global audiences.

A long time ago, an elderly female professor from the Royal Ballet School of Monaco, who is held in the highest respect by prima ballerinas around the world, visited Japan.
At that time, she spoke about the meaning of an artist’s existence:
“An artist is important because they are the only beings capable of shedding light on hidden, concealed truths and expressing them.”
No one would dare object to her words.
Masayuki Takayama is not only a one-of-a-kind journalist in the postwar world, but it is by no means an exaggeration to say he is also a one-of-a-kind artist.
The following is taken from his essay published in the August 22 issue of the monthly magazine WiLL, under the title Shūkan Shinchō, Subjugated by a Woman Writer.
This essay brilliantly proves the correctness of my repeated assertion that in today’s world there is no one more deserving of the Nobel Prize in Literature than Masayuki Takayama.
It is a must-read not only for the Japanese people but for readers around the globe.

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Shūkan Shinchō, Subjugated by a Woman Writer

Why pay heed to the careless claims of newspapers with sloppy historical awareness?
The Aftermath of “Sōshi-Kaimei 2.0”

The column Henken Jizai published in Shūkan Shinchō has recently stirred public debate.
In the July 31 issue, the column titled “Sōshi-Kaimei 2.0” appeared.
Here is the outline:
In the recent House of Councillors election, the newly elected Sekihei pointed out the looseness and ambiguity of Japan’s naturalization requirements.
When one goes to the Legal Affairs Bureau, one is asked only about criminal records and economic base. Loyalty to Japan is never inquired into.
By contrast, in the United States, one must endure a five-year waiting period, pass difficult tests on American history and politics, and finally pledge allegiance to the Stars and Stripes as a U.S. citizen before naturalization is granted.
However, in Japan, “there is no way to prevent foreigners who seek Japanese nationality with malicious intent” (Sekihei).
Indeed, Xu Haoyu, a former Chinese national who naturalized in Japan, ran for mayor of Atami openly declaring his intent to destroy Yasukuni Shrine. Despite living in Japan for ten years, his Japanese remains broken.
Moreover, because Japan’s naturalization process does not require historical knowledge, he knows nothing. Yet he parrots Koreans in saying, “The Rising Sun Flag is a criminal flag.”
This flag was the very symbol that repelled the Western “whales and tigers” pressing into Asia.
They are ignorant even of their own disgraceful history—unable to defend themselves, they relied on the United States and became its mercenaries.
To prevent such naturalized citizens, correct historical knowledge must be made a prerequisite for naturalization.
Even so, there are foreigners who disguise themselves as Japanese, using assumed names (tsūmei) to denigrate Japan. And encouraging such conduct is none other than the Asahi Shimbun.
Not long ago, pastor Kim Po of the Holy God Central Church, who raped seven children including girls in Kyoto and fled to Korea, was arrested. Using the same “sacred-flesh blessing” method as Sun Myung-moon, who raped numerous Japanese women, he was sentenced to a long term.
At that time, Wakamiya Yoshibumi, the Asahi’s editorial chief who had studied in Korea, made the paper report the criminal under the alias “Nagata Tamotsu,” thereby concealing his Korean identity.
Asahi also kowtows to China. To cover up China’s self-contradiction—accounting for a third of the world’s CO₂ emissions yet posturing arrogantly about global warming—it used Professor Asuka Jusen of Tohoku University to claim, “In fact, China is the honor student in climate countermeasures.” With this, Asahi devoted its entire opinion pages to argue that Japan was the true villain, forced to pay China a trillion yen in emission rights.
But Asuka too is in fact a naturalized Chinese living under an assumed Japanese name; his family business had been a Chinese restaurant. Knowing this, Asahi nevertheless let readers believe he was a Japanese scholar, leading Japanese to reluctantly reconsider China.
This is extremely malicious.
Many similar cases exist. The female writer Fukasawa Ushio was made by Asahi to criticize Japanese discriminatory consciousness.
But Fukasawa herself was a Korean resident who naturalized in 1994.
However, in a 2012 interview after winning the Shinchōsha Women’s Literature Prize, she said: “I graduated from Sophia University, worked as a Japanese language instructor, and often had opportunities to meet foreigners.Among them were Zainichi Koreans, and learning of their hardships inspired this work.”
Asahi revealed her origins only recently.
Similarly, Kiko Mizuhara, who accused the Japanese film industry of sexual harassment against actresses, was born to an American and a Korean, with no Japanese blood.
Writing under a Japanese name as if an insider whistleblowing on Japan is dangerous.
As pointed out in this column, if Asahi insists on publishing the views of such people, it should at least let them speak under their foreign names.
(To be continued.)