Asahi Shimbun’s influence lies in presenting ideologically aligned commentators with prestigious titles, masking their actual backgrounds and manipulating public perception.

2016-02-10

There is something that people who have long subscribed to Asahi Shimbun and unquestioningly trusted TV Asahi or TBS news programs have never noticed—or simply never known. I must clarify it here.

The so-called “Japanese-style long-term deflation,” which the world now detests like a plague and desperately seeks to avoid, coincided with the sudden emergence of certain figures on television during Japan’s prolonged stagnation known as the “Lost 20 Years.”

Among them were individuals such as Motani, Makabe, and Hama—former employees of financial institutions.

Asahi Shimbun effectively suspended the Japanese people’s ability to question who these people truly were.

The malice of Asahi Shimbun lies precisely in this: it brings forth individuals who speak according to its ideology, adorned with impressive titles.

Last night it was “Professor at Shinshu University”; on other occasions, “Professor at Doshisha University.”

Because 99.9 percent of Japanese citizens are not elites, they may not realize who these people actually are.

Nearly all of them previously worked at so-called economic research institutes affiliated with banking groups.

The best talents in those financial institutions were never there. They were steering corporate management, shaping Japan’s economic course.

Economic research institutes, to be blunt, were places where sidelined personnel gathered.

Asahi Shimbun gave such individuals academic titles and used them to manufacture public opinion.

From the moment they were mere employees of financial institutions to the present, when they flaunt titles such as “professor,” they have remained nothing more than functionaries.

Their faces and demeanor make it obvious that they were never of the caliber to become top executives or leaders.

Japan must never again allow such people to mislead the nation.

That is Japan’s responsibility to the world.