Using media coverage of the Tsukiji Market relocation as a case study,
this essay exposes the malicious nature of pseudo-moralism shared by the Communist Party and Asahi Shimbun.
By suppressing scientific facts and appealing to fear through emotionally charged claims about arsenic,
they attempt to shape public opinion through outright falsehoods.

September 29, 2016
A news segment was broadcast that vividly demonstrated just how malicious pseudo-moralism can be.
It concerned the relocation issue of Tsukiji Market, which has become a perfect topic for television wide shows.
The idea that, because space is needed underground for piping and other facilities, it is better and more efficient to construct a concrete box beneath the buildings rather than placing landfill there, is something only an unreasonable person would find strange.
Seizing this opportunity, a female Communist Party assembly member held a press conference.
She spoke of “toxic arsenic,” and so on.
As I watched this news, I thought not only about the evil of pseudo-moralism but also about how vicious the Communist Party truly is.
About ten years ago, I myself was informed about arsenic.
I learned that arsenic exists naturally in the environment and is also contained in seaweed, which Japanese people, myself included, love and frequently consume.
I also learned that arsenic exists in soil.
An area was redeveloped, a subway line was built, and a fine building was constructed directly above the station.
Large condominium complexes by major real estate companies were also built nearby.
Circumstances arose that forced the owner of the building above the station to sell it.
A major brokerage approached me with a recommendation to purchase it.
I decided immediately.
Financing for the purchase was also approved.
Then suddenly, the deal collapsed because of talk about arsenic.
It was said that trace amounts of arsenic were found in soil that had been brought in during land preparation for the redevelopment.
Of course, not a single resident of the condominiums or office worker suffered any health damage.
Through this incident, which seemed designed for some ulterior purpose, I came to understand arsenic.
One could say that, due to the fixed notion that arsenic equals deadly poison, I lost a major business opportunity.
What makes the pseudo-moralism of the Communist Party female assembly member particularly malicious is that she fails to convey these simple facts.
As I myself only learned them ten years ago through business dealings, most people do not know these simple facts.
What they know is only the biased notion that arsenic equals deadly poison.
Instead of explaining the facts, she appeals to this biased perception—
in other words, she appeals directly to emotion.
Despite the fact that arsenic exists naturally and was detected only at levels below environmental standards,
she proclaims “toxic arsenic” and attacks Tokyo metropolitan officials as if they were heinous criminals.
This Communist Party female assembly member surely does not subscribe only to Akahata but also to Asahi Shimbun.
That is because their methods are exactly the same:
they do not convey facts, and for the sake of realizing their distorted ideology,
they openly and loudly assert any lie in order to shape public opinion.