This article exposes the hidden career of Shuichi Yutaka of the Asahi Shimbun, who publicly insists that Prime Minister Abe should personally apologize to former comfort women, while concealing his own direct involvement in the Osaka Social Affairs Department—the very epicenter of the newspaper’s fabricated comfort women reporting. It reveals the double standards and lack of accountability within the Asahi Shimbun.

Another article concerning Shuichi Yutaka has also surfaced as follows.
All emphasis and portions marked with asterisks are mine.
Idle Talk and Kawaraban
April 6, 2016
The Hidden Career of Shuichi Yutaka, Who Insists That “Prime Minister Abe Should Personally Apologize to Former Comfort Women”
Shuichi Yutaka, a member of the editorial board of the Asahi Shimbun, proposed in a dialogue with Makoto Iokibe that “Prime Minister Abe should directly convey his words of apology to the former comfort women.”
This is an extremely impudent stance, but this is precisely the quality of the Asahi Shimbun, and it is obvious that expecting anything higher from them will only result in futility.
“What about Mr. Abe personally meeting with the former comfort women and conveying his apology? Wouldn’t that allow him to become a great statesman like Chancellor Brandt of West Germany?”
I learned for the first time through this remark that Asahi Shimbun employees truly believe in such a comparison with Chancellor Brandt. I am convinced that any reasonable Japanese citizen would regard the current Prime Minister Abe as a far greater statesman.
“He could go and meet them, for example, at the embassy in Seoul. That would not be unreasonable. At the time of the Asian Women’s Fund, the Japanese Prime Minister sent heartfelt letters to each individual woman.
Therefore, personally handing those letters to them, holding their hands, and conveying one’s feelings would not be inappropriate.
However, I wonder whether they would reject such a gesture. Some might accept it. If their supporters show a forward-looking attitude, I think there may be a possibility. But one cannot go to a place where they insist that ‘no agreement will ever be recognized.’”
The career of Mr. Yutaka, who appears in the article as the interviewer, is described as follows: “After serving as an editorial writer and deputy chief of the Tokyo headquarters social affairs department, he currently works as an editorial board member of the Asahi Shimbun in charge of constitutional issues, media, and the judiciary.”
However, how many readers noticed that one particular piece of his career history has been neatly concealed?
Mr. Yutaka stood on the lectern as a lecturer in 2011 for the cooperative lecture course “Hanshin Cultural Studies” jointly organized by Konan University and the Asahi Shimbun. When one confirms what his title was at that time, it is recorded as “Deputy Chief of the Osaka Headquarters Social Affairs Department of the Asahi Shimbun.”
Why is this title not listed on the Asahi Shimbun’s WEB RONZA profile?
The reason is that those directly responsible for dragging the Asahi Shimbun into the comfort women issue were all stationed in the Osaka Social Affairs Department.
Takashi Uemura, who wrote the signed article stating that women were “taken to the battlefield as members of the ‘women’s volunteer corps,’” was a reporter in the Asahi Shimbun’s Osaka Social Affairs Department.
Kiyoyasu Kitabatake, who wrote numerous editorials portraying Seiji Yoshida as a hero and is believed to have called for “active atonement” in the editorial the day after Uemura’s grossly erroneous article, was also an editorial writer at the Osaka headquarters.
Norio Suzuki, who ordered Uemura to cover South Korea, was a desk editor in the Osaka Social Affairs Department, and at the time of the 1997 comfort women special feature, he was the department head.
Why did the individuals who held key posts in the Osaka Social Affairs Department—the very epicenter of the scandal—not take the initiative in saying, “Let us convey words of apology to our readers. Only then can the Asahi Shimbun become a truly great newspaper”?
If they cannot assume responsibility for the problems they themselves caused, there is no reason for readers to lend an ear to the Asahi Shimbun’s claims. Instead, their moral rhetoric is subjected to severe criticism on the internet.
They may appear to the public as mere “petulant children.” However, it is precisely through such defiant posturing and brazen attitudes that one survives as a reporter for the Asahi Shimbun.
Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the Asahi Shimbun will ever place apology advertisements in newspapers around the world regarding the comfort women issue and go around prostrating itself in apology.
This is because their pride would never permit them to bow their heads to what they regard as foolish common people. Even if some bookmaker were to offer a wager on whether the Asahi Shimbun would ever admit its wrongdoing and apologize over the comfort women issue, it would probably be at a level where no bet could even be established.
Their stance of showing extreme leniency toward their own organization while continuing to bash others inevitably invites public resentment, and they should reflect on this fact.