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This essay, dated November 21, 2019, is based on an article from the Sankei Shimbun.
It examines the opposition parties’ neglect of fact-checking in their pursuit of the “Cherry Blossom Viewing Party” issue, the claim involving the high-end sushi restaurant Kyubey, and the admission that the aim was not a legal issue but the creation of a negative impression of the prime minister.

November 21, 2019.
A mid-ranking opposition lawmaker reveals the aim, saying, “We know that we cannot raise a legal issue.
In short, it is a matter of the impression made on the prime minister.”
The following is from yesterday’s Sankei Shimbun article.
The parts marked with ＊～＊ are mine.
It proves that the moves to pursue the “Cherry Blossom Viewing Party” and the like are nothing more than false accusations lower than those of yakuza.
What kind of organization is NHK, which continues to report such moves as if they were a major incident?
If Japan had a CIA or FBI, they would surely be investigating immediately the people who control NHK’s news division.
Is it not, in general, a den of spies and agents?
Hypothetical talk and excuses.
Concerns also from within their own camp.
Mention of high-end sushi, but the restaurant denies it.
In the final stage of the Diet session, which ends on December 9, the Constitutional Democratic Party plans to intensify its offensive against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, centering on suspicions surrounding the prime minister-hosted “Cherry Blossom Viewing Party.”
However, there are many lines of pursuit that appear to make light of confirming the facts, and voices can also be heard from within the opposition expressing concern that their criticism will lose persuasiveness.
By Shinji Naito.
“First of all, we have to conduct a fact-check.”
At a press conference on the 19th, Kazuhiro Haraguchi, Diet Affairs Committee chairman of the Democratic Party for the People, answered in this way regarding a new suspicion connected with the Cherry Blossom Viewing Party, indicating his intention to carefully ascertain the facts.
Behind his restraint from giving an easy answer, one can see reflection on recent pursuit by opposition lawmakers that appeared to neglect fact-checking.
At the first meeting on the 12th of the “opposition pursuit team” over the issue, its chairman, Takahiro Kuroiwa of the Constitutional Democratic Party, referred to the dinner party held by the prime minister’s support group at a hotel in Tokyo on the day before the event, saying, “Judging from the photographs, sushi from the high-end sushi restaurant Ginza Kyubey was served, and it could not possibly be covered by the 5,000-yen fee.”
He asserted that if the difference had been covered by Prime Minister Abe’s side, it would violate the Public Offices Election Act.
Taiga Ishikawa, a House of Councillors member of the same party, also posted on Twitter statements such as, “The ‘Cherry Blossom Viewing Party Eve-of-Party’ was held with a 5,000-yen fee including Kyubey sushi.”
However, Ginza Kyubey, whose main store is in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, denied to the Sankei Shimbun that it had provided sushi at the dinner party.
When the two men were asked about this in writing, Mr. Kuroiwa explained, “I explained it as a hypothetical matter, prefaced by the words ‘judging from the photographs.’”
He did not answer questions such as, “Did you not confirm the facts with Kyubey before making the statement?” and “What about the possibility of business interference?”
In response to the same questions, Mr. Ishikawa explained on the night of the 19th, “When I requested an estimate for my own party, the hotel explained to my office that sushi served at banquets at the hotel in question was from the Ginza Kyubey inside the hotel.”
Ayaka Shiomura, a House of Councillors member of the Constitutional Democratic Party who had mentioned “Kyubey” on Twitter, wrote, “Although the truth is not yet known, I will correct the Kyubey part to ‘a high-end hotel.’”
A mid-ranking opposition lawmaker reveals the aim, saying, “We know that we cannot raise a legal issue.
In short, it is a matter of the impression made on the prime minister.”
What kind of organization is NHK, which continues to report such lowest-of-the-low false accusations as if they were correct?
However, regarding the words and actions of colleagues, he offered a bitter admonition, saying, “Those doing the pursuing must proceed carefully so that flaws do not appear.”