This article explains how anti-Japan media, led by the Asahi Shimbun, manipulated television commentators and talk shows to fabricate public opinion and bring down the first Abe administration, as exposed by Masayuki Takayama.

This article explains the mechanism by which anti-Japan media, led by the Asahi Shimbun, brought down the first Abe administration.
2017-08-09
The following is an essay by Masayuki Takayama that I originally published on September 27, 2015.
It was an article he wrote for the March 2013 issue of the magazine Seiron.
It explains the mechanism by which anti-Japan media, led by the Asahi Shimbun, succeeded in toppling the first Abe administration.
…Seven years ago, when the Abe administration declared that it would no longer tolerate lies, this newspaper abandoned any pretense of journalistic fairness and brought down the government through abuse and fabricated reports.
The subsequent Newspaper Convention turned into a victory celebration for the Asahi Shimbun, where former president Toshitada Nakai was awarded the Newspaper Culture Prize.
He was the man who used his subordinate Takashi Uemura, who had a Korean wife, and Chuo University professor Yoshimi Yoshiaki to launch the so-called “comfort women” campaign.
In other words, he was rewarded for defeating the enemy of the postwar regime and contributing to its expansion.
Reveling in victory, the Asahi Shimbun published a two-page dialogue between Tetsuya Chikushi and Yoshifumi Wakamiya, in which they proudly explained how they had managed to bring down the government.
In summary, Wakamiya stated, “The Abe administration was destroyed by public opinion created by the Asahi Shimbun.”
However, it was not the Asahi Shimbun that directly formed public opinion.
“Public opinion is created by repeatedly implanting ideas through wide shows and news program commentators. Commentators who seem like ‘ordinary neighbors’ are more effective,” said Chikushi.
For example, an actress whose husband was stolen, a dull-looking baseball player, or even a cameraman would suffice.
The question then becomes how to imprint the Asahi’s arguments onto them.
Because they are not intelligent enough to form their own opinions, they are given the Asahi Shimbun’s editorials before going on air and trained to parrot them, Wakamiya explained.
Therefore, there is no need for the entire nation to read the editorials.
“It is enough if only a small minority reads them,” Chikushi said.
In short, by feeding Asahi editorials to foolish commentators and having them repeat them on television day and night, those views become public opinion, and even an Abe administration can be brought down.
Television wide shows flatter what Ortega y Gasset called “the rebellious masses” and come to dominate politics.
“This is truly the age of television politics,” said Chikushi.
The grotesque dialogue ends with the two men rubbing cheeks and declaring that Japan’s governments are decided by the Asahi Shimbun and television.
In fact, with this strategy, the Asahi Shimbun succeeded in imposing the Democratic Party on the nation.
The result was so disastrous that a snap general election was called in December, yet Wakamiya still seemed to believe that television politics retained its mystical power.
This belief was evident in Asahi’s front-page headline on election day: “Will the government change or be maintained?”
They believed, more than halfway, that the Democratic Party could still survive.
That was because the Asahi’s editorials called for abandoning nuclear power, attacked the LDP for advocating constitutional revision, and stirred fear by portraying deflationary escape as a dangerous gamble.
Foolish figures like Akihiro Ohtani and Minomonta screamed day and night in line with the editorials that Japan should abandon nuclear power and that the LDP was ready to wield metal bats, while Ichiro Furutachi solemnly repeated that Yukiko Kada, who advocated phasing out nuclear power, was the right choice.
For further details, readers should consult this blog, but for decades the Asahi Shimbun had been dominated by leftist journalists such as Yoshifumi Wakamiya, who finally left the company this year with an enormous retirement bonus.
Having risen to the position of editor-in-chief, he could have remained at Asahi for some time, but perhaps criticism of him has finally begun to swirl even within the company.
To be continued.