2010-9-26
At the time this article was published, the author used the pen name “Kenji Akutagawa.”
To bring the copyright notice into line with the author’s current name, it has been changed to “© MIKIO KISARA.”
The arguments and content of the main text remain as originally written.
The sense of relief felt by the editorial writers of the major newspapers did not last even a week.
Their subsidiaries…the wretched state of television over these past twenty years…beyond the things I have already written about time and again…although Japan has true, genuine scholars in every field, they put incomprehensible, half-baked people…reasonably presentable, glib, speaking in short sentences, suited to fleeting performances…on almost every program, as though such qualities made them the representatives of intellect.
Since it is only natural that truly genuine people would not want to appear on television as it is today, this is an inevitable outcome.
A young critic whom television described as an emerging talent, in a dialogue with an outspoken critic in the pages of the Shukan Asahi…spoke evasively, taking the position that politically motivated investigations could not possibly exist…and that the prosecutors were right…but, in stark contrast to the working people who have suffered these past twenty years, he must at least have earned enormous sums of money.
At the very least, this latest disgraceful outcome did not begin just now; it is the result of these past twenty years.
To speak of more everyday matters, twenty-odd years ago, it was a matter of money worship.
Now, large numbers of female university students are appearing in Kitashinchi and Ginza because their families are struggling financially…but perhaps ten years ago, when I was with a friend, I asked some of these young women to name the four prefectures of Shikoku.
Astonishingly, although every one of them lived in the Kinki region, not a single one could name them correctly…
Yet all of them could probably have named the entertainers belonging to the talent agencies I have already written about.
People like these grow older and become housewives, office workers, and members of society, and the mass media that created this state of affairs conduct public opinion polls…
There is no way that such public opinion can hold its own on the stage of international politics.
Moreover, this has been happening daily for twenty years, on countless programs, in every corner of Japan.
Before considering the essence of a matter, before examining it…who can say that thoughts such as “This will make me stand out” or “This will let me look good on television” do not come first….
Over these past twenty years, has what existed in this country not been simply the desire to stand out, and nothing more?
Public opinion created by television that has submissively endorsed comedians calling themselves geniuses, saying, “Yes, that is certainly true.”
Who can say that they did not jump at an important issue between nations just as they jumped at the fake email?
I do not regard as politicians those whose foremost concern is becoming the next prime minister, or the one after that, or defending their current position at all costs.
I believe a politician is someone who thinks only of governing our country without leading it astray and guiding it along the path to prosperity.
I believe that, as the time becomes ripe, such people should naturally become prime minister.
Assuming that sixty million people can read the printed word, Newsweek has a circulation of ninety thousand, and the Shukan Asahi two hundred and sixty thousand.
How can public opinion capable of dealing on equal terms with countries holding different ideologies, religions, and philosophies possibly be formed in such a country?
I want to ask those involved in television broadcasting.
You who, across every station, have continued to produce countless hours of countless programs that can only be called moronic—what do you think the world is?
Surely you do not imagine that there is no intellect in the world, no thought, no religion, no philosophy, and no poverty.
All that exists is yourselves, the television stations.
Surely you are not telling us that all there is is this frivolous programming, that we need only laugh amid irresponsible information, irresponsible judgments, and self-serving professions of humanism, and keep repeating, “Thank you for moving us.”

© MIKIO KISARA