As cherry blossoms rush toward full bloom, Japan’s reverence for fleeting natural beauty reveals the core of its spirit.
In contrast to nations defined by “bottomless malice” and “plausible lies,” the idea of “Beautiful Japan and I” has been formed through this aesthetic tradition.

This year, I was genuinely astonished by how quickly the cherry blossoms moved toward full bloom.
Yet the Japanese have, since ancient times, cherished the beauty of nature precisely because it fades.
I believe this forms the core of the Japanese spirit.
In stark contrast to countries defined by “bottomless malice” and “plausible lies,”
the idea of “Beautiful Japan and I” has been shaped in this way.
Those unaware of this truth are limited to so-called cultural figures, led by Kenzaburō Ōe.
From the outset, I believed that today would be the last chance to see this year’s blossoms.
Given the weather and the timing of full bloom, there was no other day.
This year, I chose the Keage Incline, the Okazaki Canal, and Kiyomizu-dera as my main destinations.
(Daigo-ji and Tenryū-ji had already been visited and photographed.)
While reading the Nikkei on the train, I became firmly convinced of something.
It concerned a peculiar article previously published by the Asahi Shimbun.
Masayoshi Son—no more than a private business executive whose actions have gravely harmed Japan’s national interests—
had met with figures from the economic circles of China, South Korea, and Russia,
promoting a dubious plan involving subsea cables, wind power on land he amassed in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert,
and supplying electricity to Japan at low cost.
The Asahi Shimbun devoted significant space to this story, portraying him as an anti-nuclear activist.
After acquiring solar power companies under strict gag orders,
he traveled to Fukushima with a Geiger counter after the Great East Japan Earthquake and serialized the spectacle in weekly magazines.
By exploiting the circumstances of the prime minister at the time,
he secured guaranteed purchases at prices double the global standard for the next twenty years.
Such a figure’s story was treated almost as a noble cause.
What I concluded was that the true substance of their meeting was far more mundane and calculating:
driving the yen higher, pushing stocks lower,
selling short on the Tokyo Stock Exchange—where roughly seventy percent of daily trading is dominated by foreign capital—
weakening the economic policies of the Abe administration,
and reaping enormous profits in a short time.
That hypothesis is far more convincing.
Even so, it is intolerable that a man driven by greed,
who has inflicted severe damage on Japan and its leading corporations,
should cloak his self-interest in grand rhetoric on energy policy alongside China, South Korea, and Russia,
and that the Asahi Shimbun should report it unquestioningly as a virtuous endeavor.
Once again, it must be said:
Japan and the Tokyo Stock Exchange must rigorously monitor and verify
who is driving the yen upward and who is selling short this week.