This essay examines a Japanese commentary that suddenly drew an order-of-magnitude increase in readership.
It critically analyzes the claim made in Japan on the Brink, co-authored by Martin Fackler and a former Japanese Foreign Ministry official, asking a fundamental question: if Japan truly stands on the brink, who created that condition?
The text exposes the historical responsibility of Asahi Shimbun and Honda Katsuichi, tracing postwar manipulation, fabricated narratives, and shadowy networks centered around Kyoto University’s Kumano Dormitory.

May 18, 2016

What follows is a Japanese commentary that, as of yesterday, was being read at a level completely different from previous search results—an order of magnitude higher.

I will introduce it to people around the world in two chapters.

It concerns the title of a book co-authored by Martin Fackler and a former official of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, apparently called Japan on the Brink.

If, as they claim, Japan truly stands on the brink, then one should properly consider who created such a condition in the first place.

This is a fact that even an elementary school student can understand.

Here, I will write only two facts.

The first is the grave crime committed against the Japanese state and the Japanese people by Asahi Shimbun, together with Honda Katsuichi, who is explicitly described online as not being Japanese but a resident Korean.

In general, when one searches this man, he appears extremely suspicious.

First of all, his date of birth is unclear.

Moreover, although he graduated from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Chiba University, he apparently spoke as if he had studied at Kyoto University.

The truth seems to be that after graduating from Chiba University, he slipped into Kyoto University’s mountaineering club.

In the period immediately after the war, Kyoto University must have been a state like a den of specters lurking in the dark.

As with the Songduhoe, which will be discussed later, the truth is likely that he lived in Kumano Dormitory at Kyoto University without paying rent—that is, he had infiltrated the dormitory.

The Songduhoe, which I have mentioned several times, was a man who manipulated a housewife from Oita, a Kyushu University graduate named Aoyagi, repeatedly placing bizarre advertisements in Asahi Journal, and eventually fabricating the so-called “comfort women” issue.

After the war, he did not return to the Korean Peninsula, insisting that he was Japanese, and even sued the government, claiming that it was unacceptable for his nationality to be returned to Korea simply because Japan had lost the war.

Although he had no connection whatsoever to Kyoto University, he continued to live in Kumano Dormitory without paying a single yen in rent.

The period during which Honda Katsuichi claimed to have been in Kyoto University’s mountaineering club must overlap with the period when this man lived in Kumano Dormitory.

Is it not likely that Honda Katsuichi also lived in Kumano Dormitory in the same manner?

Such a man was referred to as a representative journalist of Asahi Shimbun.

To be continued.