This chapter examines the misuse of the term “liberal” in Japan and contrasts it with the modern American understanding of liberalism, which has shifted from freedom and tolerance to perceptions of control, censorship, and ideological rigidity. Referencing Kent Gilbert’s analysis, the text highlights how American society has become increasingly suffocating under extreme liberal activism and warns that Japan is beginning to follow the same path. Examples include media bias, political narratives, and the Hillary Clinton email controversy. The chapter calls for critical evaluation of liberal ideology and awareness of its societal consequences.

Liberals have created a society that is the opposite of “freedom,” a society that is totalitarian and suffocating.
This was written on May 10, 2024.

The words “selfish and egotistical, violating others’ freedom for their own freedom,” and “ignoring reality and speaking only in idealistic terms,” were written on May 9, 2018.

I told a friend that the May issue of the monthly magazine Voice, released on April 10, was full of essays worth reading.
I then realized that I still had many essays left unread.
The following is from Kent Gilbert’s essay titled “Japan and America Suffering from the Poison of Bureaucrats: The Sin of Highly Educated Elites Who Cannot Objectively Review and Correct Their Own Behavior.”
Voice contains these essays and costs 780 yen.
Every Japanese person who can read print should rush to their nearest bookstore on May 10 and purchase it.
Otherwise, they will never learn the truth of things.
As of May 10, 2024, most readers, like myself, would lament that Japan is imitating the worst aspects of the United States, but with a significant delay.
The emphasis in the text below is mine.

Is the Communist Party liberal?
As I wrote in detail in my book published in mid-March, “The Melancholy of Japan and America Poisoned by Liberalism,” the usage of the word “liberal” in Japan feels strange to me.
For example, an Asahi Shimbun article on October 2, 2017, reporting that Yukio Edano was forming the Constitutional Democratic Party, contained the following description.
“With the formation of Mr. Edano’s new party, the House of Representatives election to be announced on October 10 becomes a three-way battle: the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, the Party of Hope including former Democratic Party members, and the new party of Mr. Edano and cooperating liberals including the Communist Party.”
As this reporting shows, the Japanese media grouped the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Communist Party together as “liberal forces.”

“What? The Communist Party is liberal?”
For someone like me who grew up in the United States, where Communist Party activities were outlawed by federal law in 1954, such a classification feels extremely strange.
Communism and socialism, as seen in the former Soviet Union or in present-day China, do not allow free speech or free reporting in practice.
Censorship and suppression of expression are routine.
These systems tend toward closure and totalitarianism.
Even so, in Japan, the Communist Party—whose roots lie in the Comintern Japanese branch—and several left-wing parties that only oppose the ruling party are called “liberal,” meaning “pro-freedom.”
What does this mean?

While having such doubts, I heard that TV Tokyo, during its 2017 election coverage program “TXN House of Representatives Election Special: Akira Ikegami’s Election Live,” offered the following definition.
“[Liberal] A self-designation used by people who do not want to be called left-wing.”
It is frank and ironic.
But this may be the correct definition in Japan and the generally accepted usage.
If that is the case, then it is understandable why Kiyomi Tsujimoto, who moved from the Democratic Party to the Constitutional Democratic Party, declared, “I believe in the power and importance of liberalism.”
If “liberal” is a self-designation used by those who do not want to be labeled left-wing, then the term must carry a positive image in Japan.
However, I cannot help but feel discomfort about this.

I do not know the situation in Europe in detail.
But in conservative states in the United States, many people, not all but many of a certain level, understand “liberal” in recent years as follows.
“Sly and suspicious.”
“Oppressive, critical, and annoying.”
“Arrogant, believing themselves to be absolute justice.”
“Fast-talking, irresponsible, and unwilling to admit fault.”
“Selfish and egotistical, violating others’ freedom for their own freedom.”
“Idealistic and ignoring reality.”

Language is alive.
Among a certain level of people in America, this perception of liberals has become almost common sense.

Do not follow the path of America.
In America, a lifestyle that values religious precepts was once called “conservative.”
Those who insisted on personal “selfishness” were sometimes called “liberal.”
Now the term often refers to those who strongly advocate minority rights and emphasize welfare policies.
When such activities go too far, the term “liberal,” once associated with freedom, open-mindedness, and tolerance, now evokes an image closer to “totalitarian.”
It produces a suffocating social atmosphere.

As the title of my book indicates, “The Melancholy of Japan and America Poisoned by Liberalism,” Americans now see liberals as something far removed from “free,” “broad-minded,” and “unbiased.”
They see them as a force that spreads poison in society.
Japanese people should understand this clearly.
Regarding how liberals, in the name of freedom, created a society that is the opposite of freedom—totalitarian and suffocating—America is far ahead of Japan.
Japanese people must think for themselves about the merits and dangers of liberalism.
They must learn from America’s failures, their causes, and their countermeasures.
Japan must never follow the same path.
To put it simply, “Do Japanese people truly want Japan to become a suffocating society like today’s America?”
“Do they understand the dangers of liberalism?”

The dark shadow of Hillary.
When Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, many Japanese wondered why the highly intelligent and experienced Hillary, supported by liberals, lost to Trump, who had no political experience.
In America, many people stopped trusting major media after that election.
Most major media outlets, except for a few like FOX News, were liberal.
They supported Hillary excessively from beginning to end.
They reported repeatedly that Hillary’s victory was certain.
Polls also gave the impression that Hillary was constantly leading.
On November 9, 2016, the day of the election from Japan time, I appeared on four live programs between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Beforehand, none of the programs planned for the possibility of a Trump victory.
NHK Radio, which depends heavily on scripts, was in a panic.
I voted absentee for Trump, and my family in America had told me earlier that Trump would definitely win.
Yet I myself did not feel confident until the day before the election.
Looking back, Japanese media coverage was extremely biased toward “anti-Trump.”
Despite overwhelming support from major media through “fake news” and psychological manipulation, Hillary lost decisively.
This reveals something about the true nature of “liberals” in modern America.
One example is Hillary’s use of a private email address for official business while serving as Secretary of State.
This issue is far more serious in America than Japanese reporting suggests.
There was a risk of leaking state secrets.
She used a private server for communications that should have been preserved as important government documentation.
Her actions as Secretary of State became obscured.
All documents created by government officials, including emails, are public records and must be preserved.
Hillary avoided using an official email address because she did not want others to see her wrongdoing.
She deleted tens of thousands of emails.
She even had her hard-drive data destroyed.
What was she trying to hide?
A dark shadow always follows her.
This chapter continues.