The argument is made that persistent anti-Japanese propaganda warrants the closure of Asahi Shimbun and broadcast suspension of TV Asahi and TBS under Japan’s Radio Act.

2016-02-10

The Asahi Shimbun should be shut down, and TV Asahi and TBS should have their broadcasts suspended under Article 76 of the Radio Act.

The reason is that they did not merely sympathize with anti-Japanese narratives, but actively disseminated them—continuing to sensationally report stories such as the “Hundred-Man Killing Contest” and the “Nanjing Massacre.” In doing so, they acted exactly as China intended, effectively providing 30 trillion yen of Japanese taxpayers’ money to the Chinese Communist Party.

The phrase “30 trillion yen” was used by Atsushi Yamada of the Asahi Shimbun’s economics desk when he helped bury policies that Kiichi Miyazawa attempted in order to save Japan—policies that might have prevented the long-term Japanese-style deflation now despised across the world.

Through these actions, and through the large-scale fabrication of reports on comfort women and forced conscription, they damaged Japan’s value and credibility, and injured the honor of past and present Japanese citizens.

Considering that such acts would constitute serious crimes—possibly even capital offenses—in China, the severity of their misconduct should be self-evident.

Moreover, the appalling conduct of figures such as Hamada Noriko of Doshisha University and Professor Makabe of Shinshu University, who appeared on Hōdō Station last night—both former members of the financial industry—is simply intolerable.

This essay continues.