This essay argues that the people clustered around Asahi Shimbun and Shukan Bunshun—those who live by commentary rather than real professions—are not Japan’s true top performers. Instead, Japan’s real strength lies in the millions of citizens working diligently in industry, government, medicine, and everyday professions. The author criticizes the cultural authority of institutions like Bungeishunju, which controls major literary prizes, and exposes the immaturity and maliciousness of media elites shaped by Asahi-style thinking. Through sharp critique and personal reflection, the essay asserts that the moral and productive backbone of Japan is found not in the media class, but in the hardworking majority who sustain the nation.

People who work at the Asahi and similar institutions are not Japan’s top performers.
When I think about it, it was Bungeishunju—the publisher of Shukan Bunshun—that also decides the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes.
Perhaps that is why—though readers already know that I encountered my “other self” in this world, Le Clézio, when I was twenty—I have never once read a writer or a work that received an award from that company.
I have never felt the desire to read them, nor have I ever wanted to.
It is only natural.
What kind of people are these so-called “writers,” chosen by such a childish and malicious company?
Put simply, they are merely people who grew up reading the Asahi Shimbun.
My intuition was completely correct, and this time Shukan Bunshun proved it one hundred percent.
As I wrote before, the people who work at the Asahi are not Japan’s top performers.
Japan’s true top performers are those who work in Japan’s world-class corporations, dedicating themselves—like Minister Amari—to tireless efforts for the good of society and for others.
Or those engaged in running the nation in Kasumigaseki.
Or those who become doctors to save the lives of strangers and to treat the countless illnesses that afflict almost every human being.
There are the 90% of citizens who work their whole lives earning five million yen per year, gaining instead the happiness of an untroubled family of four, devoting world-leading diligence—and almost artistic dedication—to their work from nine to five or six in real industry.
These are Japan’s true top performers, and people who avoid legitimate professions and live by “commentary” are not.
As fate would have it, the Asahi Shimbun itself proved the correctness of my argument completely and publicly in August the year before last.
Let me repeat: Akiko Santō’s criticism—that Shukan Bunshun and its informants are “the height of vulgarity”—was entirely correct, and every sensible Japanese person knows this.

https://youtu.be/XnO1LLX2Hx8?si=8v7Kv5tn1eR_z4su