Published on September 2, 2019.
Based on an essay by Kadota Ryusho published in the Sankei Shimbun, this chapter criticizes the bias in newspaper reporting on the Aichi Triennale exhibition “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’”
It argues that newspapers avoided reporting the core of the exhibited works, such as the burning of Emperor Showa’s portrait, and instead focused only on the cancellation of the “girl statue” display, revealing a journalistic tendency to degrade Japan.

Published on September 2, 2019.
Except for the Sankei, almost all newspapers carried articles saying that “the exhibition of the girl statue was canceled because of criticism and pressure.”
Why do they not report the contents of those works, such as the work in which Emperor Showa’s portrait is burned with a burner?
The following is from an essay by the writer and jar-sarlist Kadota Ryusho, published in yesterday’s Sankei Shimbun under the title “Why Do They Want to Degrade Japan?”
Many citizens now know that newspapers “do not report” things that are inconvenient for their own principles and assertions.
If they could correct that, newspapers might possibly regain the trust of their readers.
But this summer, on the contrary, events that became fatal wounds for newspapers occurred one after another.
First is the reporting over the “Aichi Triennale.”
Newspapers have an obligation to report facts objectively.
That is the most basic of basics in journalism.
When some problem occurs, they must accurately convey the facts and leave judgment to the readers.
At that art festival, in a section called “After the Exhibition of Unfreedom of Expression,” there were exhibited the girl statues that South Korea has erected around the world, a video in which Emperor Showa’s portrait is burned with a gas burner and the process of its burning and the ashes are trampled underfoot, and works that insult Japanese soldiers who went off to war.
As much as one billion yen in tax money had been poured into that art festival, and great criticism arose, asking, “Why is such an exhibition being financed with tax money?”
That is only natural.
On the internet, those tremendous works were immediately introduced.
I myself also went to see them at once, and they were indeed nothing but “hate works” in which hatred toward Japan was laid bare.
Aichi Prefecture Governor Omura Hideaki, who was also chairman of the executive committee, announced the cancellation of the exhibition on the third day, citing a flood of terrorist threats and threatening phone calls.
It was an astonishing situation, because a section that claimed to address lack of freedom of expression had easily yielded to pressure.
The problem is newspaper reporting.
Except for the Sankei, almost all newspapers carried articles saying that “the exhibition of the girl statue was canceled because of criticism and pressure.”
Why do they not report the contents of those works, such as the work in which Emperor Showa’s portrait is burned with a burner?
The answer is easy to understand.
Because for newspaper reporters who want to report that “freedom of expression is being violated in Japan,” in other words, who want to degrade Japan, that is “inconvenient.”
The series of reports on South Korea was also terrible.
The Asahi and the Mainichi consistently stood on South Korea’s side and continued criticizing Japan for removing South Korea from the white countries list.
Why do they hate Japan that much?
Why do they want to degrade Japan so far?
Newspapers that once believed in socialism and communism and supported the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea had no choice, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, but to specialize in “anti-Japan” and continue siding with China and South Korea.
There is no way such media can win public support in the internet age, and their circulation continues to decline.
The Reiwa era will become an age in which many newspapers, except those with good sense, disappear.
This was the first summer of Reiwa, which once again thrust that fact before us.