By tracing the origins and escalation of the Moritomo Gakuen controversy, this essay exposes how politicians and media collaborated in spreading SanbyakuDaigen-style falsehoods, warning the public against blind trust in mainstream reporting.

2017-05-02
The following is a revision of paragraphs from a paper published on March 25.
What the Moritomo Gakuen uproar truly was should be immediately clear if one considers how it unfolded.
At the outset, it was reporting by Asahi Shimbun.
The opening shot was fired by a person described as a Toyonaka City council member whom no one across Japan had ever heard of.
For those who have lived in Osaka for a long time, this is a figure that immediately raises suspicions.
Most likely, he is not a purely Japanese individual.
The affairs of a kindergarten operator unknown to the entire country were treated as if they were a major incident, and ferocious attacks on the school continued day after day.
Then, suddenly, the narrative shifted to portraying this operator as if he were a champion of justice, and attacks on the Prime Minister’s wife—meaning attacks on the Abe administration—began.
Beginning with the legislator who calmly stated during a televised Diet session that the land in question was suitable as residential property,
my commentary identifying legislators of the Democratic Party and the Communist Party as SanbyakuDaigen has been proven 100 percent correct by their own conduct.
However, the Japanese people must now firmly recognize that media organizations such as Asahi Shimbun are, in reality,
no different from those same SanbyakuDaigen operators.
One must never even dream of believing that media outlets like Asahi—whether newspapers or television—are conveying the truth.
The chairman of Moritomo Gakuen was from the very beginning nothing more than a figure in a monkey-show-like performance.
He likely does not even realize how thoroughly he has been used as a prop.
Yet who can say that among those who manufactured this uproar there were no spies or agents of China or South Korea.
Or who can say that all of those creating it are not, in fact, people of the same kind as Hotsumi Ozaki.
Given the history and present state of Asahi’s traitorous style of reporting,
all Japanese citizens must engrave in their minds the fact that such media constitute an extremely dangerous and harmful presence for Japan.