In 2017, Japanese media—led by Asahi Shimbun—waged an all-out campaign against the Abe administration by inflating a non-criminal issue into a national scandal.
This article exposes how vested interests, regulatory capture, and media hysteria eroded public trust.

Japan’s media crisis in 2017 revealed how a major newspaper transformed a non-criminal policy dispute into a political scandal, undermining trust, shielding vested interests, and destabilizing democratic discourse.

2017-07-31

The following is taken from the current issue of the monthly magazine HANADA (840 yen).
It is an article that should be read not only by the Japanese people but by people all over the world.
“Asahi Shimbun Is in a State of Frenzy.”
By Abiru Rui, Editorial Writer and Deputy Editor of the Political Desk, Sankei Shimbun.
This is a continuation from a ten-page, three-column feature article.
An all-out battle risking the company’s fate.
Regarding Asahi Shimbun’s reporting posture, the manga artist Hiroyuki Sugawara—known for works such as Kibun wa Keijijō and Tengoku Nyōbo, and noted for his sharp commentary on current affairs—posted the following tweet as of May 18.
“The stance of Asahi Shimbun can be summed up in one word: creepy.
In order to damage the Abe administration, they use every possible means to turn matters with no criminality whatsoever into things that ‘society must not tolerate.’
As a result, they even end up aligning with the Japan Veterinary Medical Association, which dislikes the reduction of its vested interests that would occur if the number of veterinarians increased.
That should originally be a target of Asahi’s criticism.”
I could not agree more.
Was it right that for more than half a century the Ministry of Education blocked the establishment of new veterinary schools with nothing more than a “notice,” not even a law?
Was it good for Japanese society that the veterinary association made large political donations to block the creation of new veterinary schools?
How should we evaluate the purpose and significance of National Strategic Special Zones, which aim to break through the bedrock of bureaucratic vested interests?
The essential points are almost entirely ignored, while only the impression that the Abe administration has close ties to Kake Educational Institution is endlessly disseminated.
From the standpoint of Prime Minister Abe, it must feel as though he is being constantly followed by a dangerous and unsettling stalker.
Akihisa Nagashima, former Vice Minister of Defense who left the Democratic Party, also wrote the following on his Twitter account dated May 19.
“Regarding the authenticity of the internal Ministry of Education documents about Kake Educational Institution that were exposed the day before yesterday, it is impossible to speak with preconceived conclusions, but the expression on the face of a certain Asahi Shimbun executive whom I happened to speak with yesterday had an intensity suggesting an all-out battle against the Abe administration, staking the company’s fate.”
In the end, just as Sugawara pointed out and Nagashima revealed, is it not the reality that Asahi Shimbun is forcibly fabricating something with no criminality into a major issue by waging an “all-out battle” while “staking its corporate fate”?
Needless to say, other newspapers and television wide-show programs that follow along are equally culpable.
If reporting continues in this manner—without presenting concrete evidence or clear facts, merely repeating that things are “suspicious,” “dubious,” or that “doubts remain”—the mass media will lose what little credibility it has left.
With a small amount of research on the internet, one can easily reach the truth that newspapers and television pretend not to understand.
At present, most of the mass media appear to be running toward self-destruction while being dragged along by Asahi Shimbun.
To be continued.