By cycling narratives through foreign outlets and re-importing them as “international fact,” the Asahi Shimbun has relied on a rotating cast of commentators.
Today, figures such as Genichiro Takahashi, Eiji Oguma, Takeshi Nakajima, Noriko Hama, and Sota Kimura now appear to fill that role.

2016-04-01
The following continues from the previous chapter.
All emphasis within the text, except for the headings, is mine.
“Using ‘history re-tailors.’”
This newspaper claims to be questioning not America’s dignity but Japan’s.
Its reasoning is revealing.
“Why does Prime Minister Abe deny it when U.S. papers say so?”
“Some media try to dodge responsibility by saying it was done by brokers, not by the Japanese state.”
They then lament, “How utterly shameful.”
U.S. reporting is treated as if it were synonymous with truth itself.
The Asahi believes the public has not noticed, but everyone is aware of the elegant system of laundering false stories between the Asahi and American and Chinese newspapers.
The method is simple.
The Asahi first has domesticated “history re-tailors” write articles that tamper with history.
Today, that role might be played by Genichiro Takahashi, Eiji Oguma, Takeshi Nakajima, Noriko Hama, or Sota Kimura.
Correspondents such as Norimitsu at The New York Times then place these pieces in U.S. papers, and further have them published in Chinese and Korean outlets.
The Asahi then cites them as “according to U.S. or Chinese papers,” declaring them “internationally established facts.”
It is akin to cleaning money earned from counterfeit dollars or narcotics by transferring it from Macao banks to Switzerland.
The Asahi is effectively mimicking, in journalism, the money-laundering techniques practiced by Kim Jong-il.
Yet this editorial has a flaw that cannot be covered even by such recycled falsehoods.
The Asahi initially wrote that “the Japanese military abducted women from Korea and made them sexual slaves.”
When Prime Minister Abe labeled this a lie, the paper retorted that “claiming it was done by brokers is an evasion.”
That is a sleight of hand.
The Asahi should first apologize for writing falsehoods that insulted the Japanese people.
Only then would it be appropriate to discuss “comfort women in wartime.”
To be continued.