An essay analyzing a February 2016 broadcast of “Hōdō Station” as definitive evidence of Asahi Shimbun and TV Asahi’s ideological bias. It critiques their self-appointed moral authority, persistent national self-denigration, and the distortion of public sentiment—particularly in coverage related to Korea and China.

February 13, 2016

Last night’s broadcast of “Hōdō Station” perfectly demonstrated what kind of media organization Asahi Shimbun and TV Asahi truly are.

I have a friend who graduated from Soka University—a highly capable individual, and in other words, an elite within Soka Gakkai.

Some years ago, when we were talking about “Hōdō Station,” he said, “At that time slot, there’s really nothing else to watch…”

Even so, like Asahi Shimbun, this program presents itself as though it were the embodiment of justice, an absolutely infallible existence, and the guardian of democracy. Under this guise, it repeatedly misleads the nation, constantly undermines national strength, diminishes Japan and the Japanese people, and continues its obsequious, biased reporting—particularly toward South Korea, and then China. A television network of this kind can no longer be left unchecked.

Many people must have been appalled by the behavior of Furuta, the host on the day when Japan’s U-22 national soccer team faced South Korea in a decisive match for the championship.

A normal Japanese person would naturally say, “Go Japan.” Yet he calmly made remarks as if he himself were Korean. He truly believes such statements to be morally virtuous. In doing so, he publicly proved himself to be a textbook example of a person raised on Asahi Shimbun, thoroughly brainwashed by its superficial moralism.

Likewise, Sayuri Yoshinaga, who sent him the strongest possible words of encouragement, also proved to the world that she is the queen of this same brand of false moralism.

To be continued.