After decades of reading Asahi Shimbun, the author realizes—upon visiting Ise Grand Shrine—that its spiritual and aesthetic essence was never conveyed. This essay exposes why prewar Japan had to be portrayed as evil, citing Asahi Shimbun’s historical distortions and ideological motives.

They would never say that they denied it, yet the fact that they never conveyed the essence of the Ise Grand Shrine is something that,
2016-11-05
I, who had subscribed to Asahi Shimbun, knew nothing at all about Professor Emeritus Yutaka Hirakawa of the University of Tokyo.
Since last August, as already stated, I began subscribing to monthly magazines, and because a friend switched his subscription from Asahi Shimbun to Sankei Shimbun, I was able to read his essays.
Almost all those who subscribed to and carefully read Asahi Shimbun would never have felt the desire to visit the Ise Grand Shrine.
Those who subscribed to and carefully read Asahi would have unconsciously harbored some kind of antipathy toward shrines and temples, especially Shinto shrines. They were made to think that shrine-related things led to war, that Shinto had problems. That is how they must have been conditioned to think.
As for the Ise Grand Shrine, I have already written about it recently. To add here to that essay, the Ise Grand Shrine possessed supreme architectural beauty, perfect carpentry, and ultimate craftsmanship.
I, who had long awaited the opening of public visits to the Kyoto Imperial Palace and the State Guest House, visited them immediately. Naturally, I was impressed by the highest level of craftsmanship.
However, the architectural beauty found at the Ise Grand Shrine surpassed even that. Ultimate beauty.
I once wrote that the world’s best three who have continued to gaze upon the essence of Kyoto gardens are myself, Steve Jobs, and Jack Dorsey. If I add one more, I have mentioned that it would be Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle and one of America’s leading wealthy individuals, who purchased Nanzenji’s Koyusho for about 8.5 billion yen and has magnificently maintained it.
Steve Jobs must have sensed that the essence of Japanese beauty lies in ultimate simplicity. I am convinced that this ultimately led to the creation of the rectangular, ultra-lightweight iPod, the very pinnacle of simplicity that overtook Sony’s Walkman.
However, as already noted, the crucial circular dial operation system was developed by Japanese engineers, and I felt a certain satisfaction upon reading that those engineers had won their lawsuit.
That the highest intellects of the West, represented by Malraux, praise the Ise Grand Shrine as the pinnacle of Japan is something that is entirely natural.
When I visited the Ise Grand Shrine for the first time the other day, I keenly realized this, and at the same time felt an unforgivable anger toward Asahi Shimbun and NHK, as already stated.
Why did Asahi Shimbun deny the Ise Grand Shrine, which possesses such magnificence, the ultimate beauty of Japan, the very essence of Japanese culture.
They would never say that they denied it, yet anyone who has subscribed to and carefully read it for many years knows that they never conveyed the essence of the Ise Grand Shrine.
Today, upon reading an essay by Professor Yutaka Hirakawa published in Sankei Shimbun, which my friend subscribes to, I understood everything. It was as if Professor Hirakawa had given me the answer.
The essay by Professor Hirakawa that instantly revealed the answer to me will be introduced in the next chapter.
Here I will briefly write my answer. That Asahi Shimbun had to regard prewar Japan as evil is perfectly proven by the words and actions of Asahi Shimbun employee Yayori Matsui, the essays continuously written by its editorial writers,
by the major serialized feature “Travels in China” written by Katsuichi Honda, who embodied Asahi Shimbun itself, which spread to the world the Nanjing Massacre, a propaganda narrative of the Chinese Communist Party,
and by the use of the complete fabrications of Seiji Yoshida to publish as many as twelve special reports and spread the issue of so-called comfort women throughout the world.
Yet prewar Japan, Japan throughout recorded history, was, unlike those childish and extremely malicious people, great in a way that is rare in the world. (I will write about this in the following chapters.)
Asahi’s childish and malicious nature is also evident in today’s editorial. As already stated, the person who created Japan’s deflation—that is, the lost twenty years of Japan—was a single reporter in the economics department at that time.
The Abe administration is the first to attempt with all its might to resolve this unnecessary stagnation of Japan. The greatest factor slamming the brakes on the Abe administration and the Bank of Japan’s fight against deflation is the consumption tax increase that media led by Asahi and scholars aligned with them have continued to vociferously advocate.
Or even more than that, without even realizing that the deflation created by Asahi—the first deflation lasting over twenty years in the history of advanced nations—has instilled a stubborn deflationary mindset in the hearts of the Japanese people, they lecture the Bank of Japan to admit defeat and change policy.
This childish, foolish, and malicious behavior is beyond description and can no longer be tolerated.