An essay from March 2016 examining the gap between a controversial Japanese court ruling on nuclear power and public reaction, highlighting how mainstream media narratives diverged sharply from popular sentiment expressed in real time on social media.

2016-03-10

By and large, there were more opinions criticizing this judge’s decision.

I fairly often watch NEWS WEB, which NHK broadcasts starting at 11:30 p.m.

This morning’s Asahi Shimbun, which can no longer be described as anything other than traitorous—or, at best, the embodiment of ultimate foolishness, or even criminality—devoted its entire front page, with undisguised delight, to the ruling handed down by a single judge of the Otsu District Court.

However, the reaction of the Japanese people is quite different from that of the Asahi Shimbun. Last night, opinions tweeted simultaneously during the opening segment of the program included remarks such as: “So twenty-nine people can stop a nuclear power plant…,” “Do they even understand that repeatedly stopping and restarting nuclear plants is a bad idea?,” and “First, the judge needs to clearly indicate the criteria on which this decision is based” (many similar opinions were voiced). Others questioned whether this was even a matter that should be decided by a single judge. Overall, opinions criticizing the judge’s decision were in the majority.

When it was mentioned midway through the program that this judge had previously rejected a similar petition, several tweets appeared saying things like, “So one person just decides to stop it and then restart it again?”

Asahi Shimbun, if you think the Japanese people are made up of traitors like yourselves, you are gravely mistaken.

To put it bluntly, no one trusts what you say anymore, and no one is listening—except for people like Alexis Dudden, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, so-called civic groups, and politicians belonging to the Democratic Party who are little more than traitors themselves, merely repeating your talking points.