This excerpt from the dialogue between Masayuki Takayama and Maan Emi Kawaguchi (2016) offers a sharp critique of Japan’s postwar political structure and media dominance.
The authors argue that the Asahi Shimbun’s push for a “two-party system” was misguided, pointing out the Socialist Party’s weak leadership—exemplified by Takako Doi, Tomiichi Murayama, and Mizuho Fukushima—and the ultimate failure of the Democratic Party of Japan.
They contend that Japanese media, especially Asahi, distorted political debates, undermined national interests, and repeatedly destabilized governments for ideological reasons.

There was a casual conversation with an editor I once knew.
He wondered if the Japanese mass media mistakenly believe that “it is they who must speak out against the ruling party.”
Because the opposition is unreliable, they think they are the substitute for the opposition.
That may be fine, but when national interests are secondary and all they do is criticize the government, the damage becomes too great.
Takayama
The key actor has always been the Asahi Shimbun.
One of the points at issue, particularly in Japan, is that in the Edo period administration, for example, the town magistrate oversaw everything—the judge, the attorney, and the prosecutor.
A Swedish visitor, Thunberg, was astonished by this.
A single yoriki supervised the judge, attorney, and prosecutor, and yet extenuating circumstances were taken into account, and even the person being judged accepted the outcome.
It was not exactly noblesse oblige, but in Japan, those in higher positions possessed an inherent “awareness of being in a position of responsibility.”
It was the sense embodied in the saying, “A samurai, even when starving, still holds his toothpick high.”
However, the Asahi Shimbun constantly used expressions like “the Liberal Democratic Party’s one-party dictatorship,” insisting that “true democracy requires a two-party system.”
But the majority of Japanese people, like the yoriki of old, maintain balance through a certain degree of variation within fairness, and in that sense, the function of an opposing party can generally be absorbed within the level of LDP factions.
Yet Asahi cannot understand this.
They mindlessly repeat, “A democratic parliament must have two major parties.”
Kawaguchi
The Asahi Shimbun has a habit of looking down on others, believing that they represent the intellectual class and that they are producing a newspaper for intellectuals.
Takayama
They insisted on a “two-party system,” and at one point tried to use the Socialist Party as their pawn.
But when it comes to the human resources that emerged from the Socialist Party—Takako Doi, Tomiichi Murayama, and now Mizuho Fukushima—they are ultimately nothing more than second-rate, if not worse.
So the party disintegrated, and Socialist Party politics were utterly dysfunctional.
And when the Socialist Party collapsed, the Asahi Shimbun put the Democratic Party on its shoulders.
Kawaguchi
Hatoyama, Kan, and Noda collapsed one after another.
Even if they succeeded in taking power, governing requires actual capability.
It requires the relationships with foreign countries built over the years, and the intuition cultivated over time. The Democratic Party had none of it.
They had assumed the media were their allies, but once they became the ruling party, they suddenly found themselves attacked—and that must have surprised them.
But the Japanese media were simply doing what they had always done: attacking the administration.
The only reason they had not attacked earlier was not because they “loved” the Democratic Party.
In Germany today, both the CDU and SPD are declining, and small parties are proliferating, but for the entire postwar era they formed a two-party system.
In that sense, both CDU and SPD possessed genuine governing ability.
However, to add one more point, a two-party system involves great loss.
Every time the administration changes, policy direction changes.
This is evident when observing American politics.
Takayama
The Asahi Shimbun is now attempting once more to create a two-party system by pushing the Democratic Party to form a united front with the Communist Party—a move that will likely be their last attempt.
The Socialist Party failed, the Democratic Party failed, and yet they still proclaim, “Next is the Democratic–Communist coalition.”
They assume the masses are foolish enough to be deceived two or three times, and that any lie can be imprinted with ease.
Kawaguchi
It is truly problematic that the Asahi Shimbun and television agitate the public while ignoring national interests.
A certain well-known cultural figure once wrote in a magazine column something like, “It is vulgar to put national interests at the forefront,” and I was shocked.
This connects to the claim that “Japan does not belong solely to the Japanese.”
But if politics does not pursue national interests, then what is the purpose of politics?
As former British Prime Minister Palmerston said: “A nation has no eternal friends nor eternal enemies; it has only eternal interests.”
International goodwill and cultural exchange should be left to others; politicians must pursue national interests.
More to come.