A firsthand reflection on Shinzo Abe’s November 18, 2014 appearance on TBS NEWS23, his objection to the presentation of street interviews on Abenomics, and the broader questions of television reporting, the Asahi Shimbun, democracy, and Japan’s 2014 general election.

2026-07-27
Shinzo Abe, TBS NEWS23, and Japan’s 2014 General Election — Abenomics, Street Interviews, and Television Reporting
Originally published on December 10, 2014.
On November 18, 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared live on TBS’s NEWS23 on the day he announced his intention to dissolve the House of Representatives.
During the program, he objected to the way street interviews concerning Abenomics had been presented.
I was watching the broadcast live that evening.
What struck me was that Abe immediately noticed something that I myself, although watching the same footage, had not noticed at once.
This article, originally published on December 10, 2014, concerns television reporting, democracy, and the responsibility of those who receive information.
December 10, 2014
This morning, the Asahi Shimbun wrote that television coverage of the current election campaign, particularly on morning information programs and television talk shows, had been remarkably limited.
I think that, in itself, is a very good thing.
Politics is, by its very nature, an extremely serious and important matter.
In my view, it is absurd to treat such matters in television programs designed for an extremely low intellectual level.
Yet while reading today’s article, I was reminded of something that perhaps very few people in Japan noticed.
It concerns Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s reaction when he appeared live on TBS’s NEWS23 on November 18, the day he announced his intention to dissolve the House of Representatives.
As my readers know, I happened to be watching the program live that evening, and I was deeply impressed by what occurred.
What impressed me most was the following.
Many viewers, myself included, watched the television footage without immediately questioning how the people interviewed had been selected or how their remarks had been edited.
Prime Minister Abe, however, noticed it instantly.
I cannot help but say that he possessed an extraordinary power of observation and a way of thinking that was far from ordinary.
For me, this also reaffirmed what I had written about Shinzo Abe in my book published on Amazon.
The program aired several street interviews asking people about the results of Abenomics.
Among the voices selected for broadcast, only one person spoke positively about the effects of Abenomics.
I myself was watching the scene in real time, yet I did not immediately notice this imbalance.
Abe did.
His sharpness astonished me.
Prime Minister Abe objected to the way the program had presented the voices of people on the street.
He questioned whether the interviews that had been selected for broadcast genuinely reflected public opinion as a whole.
I believe my readers, too, will be struck by how quickly Abe recognized what was happening.
Those who were watching the program that evening, as I was, must also have realized afterward the significance of that moment.
Most of us had not noticed during the broadcast that only one of the voices presented was favorable toward Abenomics.
At that moment, I became even more convinced that Prime Minister Abe’s sense of democracy was genuine.
In my view, this episode also clearly illustrates the problems of Japan’s mass media, with the Asahi Shimbun at the forefront.
Indeed, I cannot help but shudder when I think about our own folly as citizens in having continued, for so many years, to read and watch such media without questioning the way information was being presented to us.