This article examines the structural malice behind Asahi Shimbun’s “Yoshida Testimony” and comfort women reporting, which for decades have harmed Japan’s international reputation. Through the critiques of Ryusho Kadota and Masayuki Takayama, the piece exposes how Asahi’s lack of reporting, ideological self-intoxication, and fabricated narratives have contributed to the decline of Japanese journalism and the denigration of the Japanese people.

Not conducting any reporting, yet boasting “We are fighting with our pens against those who want war,” the author points out this as a symptom of the disease of self-intoxication that refuses to see reality.
June 15, 2024.
The author asks Asahi Shimbun and the newspaper world that follows it, “For what purpose are they using all their influence and eloquence to denigrate the Japanese people?”
June 10, 2019.
Yesterday, I carried three books with me as companions for the round trip on the Shinkansen.
One of them was a book by Ryusho Kadota, and I requested the cooperation of a well-read friend because I felt a strong need to let all Japanese citizens and people around the world know as soon as possible about a certain chapter in the book.
The friend asked, “Did you read yesterday’s Sankei Shimbun book review section?” and pointed me to the review.
Masayuki Takayama rarely writes book reviews, but apparently my friend had sensed that this time he would write about this book.
It was also the most relevant review to the chapter I intended to introduce.
The book review will be presented following this chapter.
The “Yoshida Testimony” Report—The Malice of Asahi Shimbun.
The “Yoshida Testimony” report and the comfort women reporting.
Asahi Shimbun is, for Japanese people, truly a “mysterious existence.”
There is no other media outlet in Japan that has so thoroughly denigrated Japan and the Japanese people internationally and driven them into disadvantageous positions.
Because of Asahi’s reporting, the Japanese have suffered great disadvantages.
For example, in its August 11, 1991 edition, Asahi made the alleged Korean “comfort women” an issue, describing them as having been “taken to the battlefield under the name of the Women’s Volunteer Corps and forced to engage in prostitution for Japanese soldiers.”
Today, it is widely known that this reporting has completely destroyed Japan–Korea relations and erected a major barrier before young Japanese seeking to venture into the world.
In those days, when poverty dominated the world, there were many women who, due to various circumstances, unfortunately entered the trade of selling sex, both in Japan and Korea.
Many of these unfortunate women were guaranteed a “monthly income of 300 yen”—about thirty times a soldier’s pay—and entered such work.
However, Asahi turned these women into people who were “forcibly taken” to battlefields and “forced into prostitution.”
In doing so, it was the Japanese themselves who were “denigrated.”
The “Yoshida Testimony” reporting that Asahi began on May 20, 2014 shared the same basic structure.
The scale of this campaign article was astonishing.
It spread from the bold top headline on the front page through the second page, and even included a special page created on the digital edition.
In the article, Asahi reported that on the morning of March 15, 2011, ninety percent of TEPCO workers at Fukushima Daiichi “disobeyed the plant manager’s orders” and “withdrew from the nuclear plant.”
In other words, it claimed that the majority of workers “fled the scene against orders.”
And Asahi asserted that it had become clear through the government accident investigation’s “Yoshida Testimony,” which the newspaper had obtained.
If true, it would be a massive scoop—something never before reported.
But was it true?
(To be continued.)
Below is the book review written by Masayuki Takayama and published in the Sankei Shimbun.
Calling for a return to sanity.
“The Disease of Newspapers.”
By Ryusho Kadota (Sankei Shimbun Publications, 880 yen + tax).
There is no shortage of people who say, “This is what’s wrong with Asahi Shimbun.”
It is not just “this.”
Everything is wrong.
For thirty years they spread lies about comfort women and demeaned the Japanese people.
That alone would justify shutting down the paper, yet they remain unfazed.
The environment around them is also indulgent.
Shukan Bunshun’s “Newspaper Untrustworthy” column still treats Asahi as a respectable major newspaper.
Most of those who spoke about distrust of Asahi have faded away.
Just when it seemed Asahi’s self-righteousness was returning, the author appeared in this paper’s “A Scolding for Newspapers!” column.
This book largely compiles those writings, but it also includes the Yoshida Testimony incident, with which Asahi has a deep connection.
The devotion of Plant Manager Masao Yoshida and his staff, who stayed on site during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, was praised worldwide.
The government’s accident investigation committee’s Yoshida Testimony was confidential, but Asahi obtained it and reported that “seven hundred subordinates fled for fear of losing their lives,” making a mockery of global praise.
The source was a confidential document.
There was no way to verify its authenticity, but the author had conducted long interviews with Yoshida himself and listened to his subordinates.
Through steady reporting, the author pointed out Asahi’s false reporting, exposing its lies.
The journalist who wrote the article had not even visited the site.
He had no intention of writing the truth; all he wanted was to find ways to denigrate the Japanese people.
Like this reporter, today’s journalists no longer conduct reporting.
The author says that this has led to the collapse of newspapers.
Not conducting any reporting, yet boasting, “We are fighting with our pens against those who want war,” the author identifies this as a symptom of a disease of self-intoxication that refuses to see reality.
Thus, when faced with the outrageous behavior of China and South Korea, they suppress valid arguments with a baseless self-flagellating view of history, saying, “Do not forget the pain of the victims of colonial rule and invasion.”
Regarding the Megumi Yokota abduction case, they wrote, “It is an obstacle to Japan–North Korea friendship negotiations.”
Regarding Diet member Renhō’s dual citizenship, they wrote, “Is being a pure Japanese really that important?”
The author questions Asahi and the newspaper world that imitates it: “For what purpose are they using all their influence and eloquence to denigrate the Japanese people?”
The author is from Tosa.
His voice, strengthened by the sea breeze, was powerful enough to make President Donald Trump turn toward him at the Kokugikan and honor him with a handshake.
With that great booming voice, he calls on today’s newspapers to regain their sanity.
It is a book that the journalists of Asahi Shimbun, more than anyone else, should read.
Reviewed by Masayuki Takayama (journalist).