The Sankei Shimbun book review column introduces Murotani Katsumi’s The Common Sense of the Anti-Japanese Tribe, explaining the tragicomic consequences produced by ways of thinking and behavior taken for granted in South Korea.
The Japanese media’s tendency to dismiss criticism of South Korea as “anti-Korean” and suppress it may resemble the neighboring country’s method of replacing words in order to prevent people from thinking.

March 15, 2020
Does not the state of the media, which tries to silence criticism of South Korea, resemble the method of our neighboring country, which gives people no time to think and makes them believe that “it must be bad”?

The following is from yesterday’s book review column in the Sankei Shimbun.

The Common Sense of the Anti-Japanese Tribe
Asukashinsha
1,300 yen plus tax
Murotani Katsumi

The Facts of Our Neighboring Country as They Are

This book explains, in a very easy-to-understand way, what kinds of tragicomedies are produced by ways of thinking and behavior that are taken for granted in South Korea, things from which Japanese people would instinctively want to avert their eyes.
It is full of frightening examples showing that, when “anti-Japanese sentiment” becomes tribalized, even “common sense” can be turned upside down.
Eighteen facts appear in this book, including anger control disorder, the hunting of the Rising Sun Flag, the imprinting of history in educational settings, and the boycott of Japanese products.
All of these were reported by South Korean news organizations and media.
At the same time, they are also pieces of information that the Japanese mass media, which avoids reporting critically on the neighboring country and restrains itself by saying that “there are things that must not be written even if they are facts,” deliberately refuses to touch.
The author, Murotani Katsumi, carefully introduces the facts of our neighboring country as they are, with the conviction that he wants to change the present situation in which reporting that does not inform Japanese people of the facts benefits South Korea.
Mr. Murotani searches through South Korean newspapers, collects articles from South Korean media on the internet, critically quotes the bursting forth of ethnic emotion together with South Korea’s official statistics, and argues that Japan should keep its distance from its neighbor.
Against the tendency in our country to brand and deny such writing as “anti-Korean articles,” he boldly raises objections and continues to fight.
Does not the state of the media, which tries to silence criticism of South Korea, resemble the method of our neighboring country, which replaces the Rising Sun Flag with the phrase “war criminal flag” and calls political opponents “deep-rooted evils,” thereby giving people no time to think and making them believe that “it must be bad”?
This book, which consists throughout of calm observations of concrete examples, has been very well received by readers, and a reprint was decided soon after its release.

Asukashinsha Publishing Department
Kudo Hiromi