An examination of criticism directed at Masakazu Honda, highlighting remarks by Yoshinori Kobayashi and Yasutaka Tsutsui, and revealing how activism, self-regulation, and internal media politics intersected within Asahi Shimbun.

Critics argued that Honda blurred journalism and activism, exposing deep tensions inside Japan’s leading newspaper.

2017-03-21

What follows is a continuation of the previous chapter.
Emphasis in the text is mine.

Kobayashi analyzed Honda by stating, “This man harbors jealousy and childish resentment toward popular writers,” and saw in Honda’s habit of picking fights with well-known commentators the shadow of a personal inferiority complex.

Regarding Honda, Yasutaka Tsutsui said in 1996:
“Up until now, he has promoted self-regulation while acting as a mouthpiece for the Buraku Liberation League, but he can’t understand the League’s change in policy, and he keeps arrogantly playing the role of a ‘champion of justice.’
He drags out some writer like Sen’ichirō Shiomi, whose works nobody even knows, and has him make comments, but this guy doesn’t even properly read the exchange of letters with the Japan Epilepsy Association before commenting.
He even opposes things that the Liberation League and the Epilepsy Association themselves have accepted as ‘okay,’ just to justify his own company’s self-regulation, and he comes after me with even greater ferocity than the discriminated groups themselves.
Are these guys fake ‘Dōwa’ activists or what?
Is it really okay for Asahi to just let people like this run wild?”
Tsutsui further noted that Asahi Shimbun refused to carry advertisements for the relevant issue.

Within Asahi Shimbun in 2006, there were voices saying of Honda, “He’s more of an activist than a reporter.”

Books
Megapolis: Fighting Garbage in Giant Cities, Asahi Shimbun, 1990, ISBN 4022562161
Environmental Racism—Traveling the ‘Cancer Corridor’ of America (co-authored with Fūsako DeAngelis), Liberation Publishers, 2000, ISBN 4759263233

“The Three Hondas of Asahi”
Honda Masakazu is grouped together with Katsuichi Honda, famous for reporting on the Nanjing Incident, and cameraman Yoshirō Honda, who caused the 1989 Asahi Shimbun coral fabrication scandal, collectively referred to as “the Three Hondas of Asahi.”