This essay exposes Asahi Shimbun as a propaganda leaflet rather than a newspaper, condemns Masato Hara’s pseudo-moralistic defense of low growth, and contrasts it with the harsh poverty of rural China, while criticizing Asahi’s manipulation of readers, misuse of the Emperor, and distortion of Japan’s economic and political reality.

I was the first person in the world to inform the global audience that the employees of Asahi Shimbun are by no means the most capable individuals in Japan. On the contrary, as Mr. Kiyoshi Nagae mentioned in his co-authored book with Mr. Hiroshi Hasegawa, American surveys indicate that newspaper reporters are among the most unpopular professions, and there is no doubt that this reflects reality. In Japan, the most capable individuals—from the middle upward among my own classmates—aim to become executives in leading Japanese companies. Or they enter the ministries in Kasumigaseki or the Bank of Japan and take responsibility for steering the nation. Those who take other paths become doctors. They become physicians and save complete strangers who suffer from illness. They do not become newspaper reporters or television people—I proclaimed this to the world. This New Year, most working adults in Japanese society, led by the most capable individuals, are first and foremost thinking about the direction of Japan’s economy this year, while hoping for economic improvement. Or they are holding their breath as they watch what Trump’s policies will bring. In other words, they are thinking about the course of the economy and diplomacy. Those adults in Japanese society who still subscribe to Asahi Shimbun must have been astonished when they read today’s issue. Long-time readers all know that Asahi Shimbun has always been a newspaper critical of the imperial system. It would be no exaggeration to say that among the scholars and so-called cultural figures whom Asahi has featured, not a single one has ever been an enthusiastic supporter of the Emperor. Yet Asahi Shimbun has long had something strangely inconsistent about it. I know this well because I subscribed to Weekly Asahi for many years until August of the year before last. From time to time they published special features on the Imperial Household that were more lavish and adulatory than those of any other company, and they must have sold far better than similar publications by competitors. This morning, in order to lead the public into believing that the Japanese Constitution was never imposed by the Occupation forces but was a voluntarily created peace constitution, Asahi Shimbun used the Emperor in a front-page banner headline article. People who wish to know the true state of this year’s world economy—especially the trends in the United States and China—and this year’s global diplomacy—especially U.S.–China diplomacy including military strategy—must all have been left speechless. My friend was not only astonished. After reading the large-space editorial in which economic editor-in-chief Masato Hara criticized the policies of the Abe administration and the Bank of Japan—policies aimed at eradicating deflation at any cost and escaping from it—he uttered a sentiment of utter contempt toward Asahi Shimbun. Having become somewhat of a night owl since the New Year, I watched a program last night that examined whether China’s economic growth had reached even highland villages. They said conditions were better than when they had visited seven years earlier, but even now it would be no exaggeration to say that the people’s lives remain in extreme poverty. They spread crude dishes on the dirt floor, sat on the ground, and ate. The son of the family being interviewed had failed his high school entrance exam, and the father, who had lived a life of grinding poverty, was utterly dejected. But two sons of a cousin had passed successfully, and the relatives gathered to celebrate. They all brought money, which would become the children’s school fees. I watched this as if to confirm what I had previously learned through acquaintances about how Chinese villages support one another collectively. Pork and beef were served together—an extravagant feast that comes only once a year for them. Yet the container in which the food was placed was a plastic bathtub. It was lined up on the dirt floor, and both children and adults squatted and ate it with their hands. It goes without saying what I felt when I later saw Masato Hara’s pseudo-moralistic editorial declaring, “What is wrong with low growth,” and “We cannot continue to grow forever.” As Mr. Hiroshi Hasegawa, who was once a genuine reporter at Asahi Shimbun—meaning that the pursuit of fact was everything to a reporter—pointed out, Asahi Shimbun is not a newspaper but a propaganda leaflet. That is exactly the case. They produce their pages in order to lead readers in accordance with their own distorted ideology. And only they themselves do not know how childish and how malicious such conduct truly is. This article continues.