This chapter analyzes a newspaper article as evidence of a coordinated effort involving hostile states, media narratives, and market manipulation aimed at depressing Japan’s stock market and undermining economic recovery policies.

2016-04-02
On page seven of the March 31 issue of the Asahi Shimbun, a curious article was published.
It reported that Masayoshi Son of SoftBank was engaging with China, Russia, and South Korea—three countries that, taken together, are either openly hostile to Japan or have territorial disputes with it.
The article conveyed an air of grandiose ambition, or perhaps the unmistakable posture of a political merchant.
Asahi deliberately noted that Son advocates an anti-nuclear stance, yet failed to mention that he has raised no objection whatsoever to the fact that both China and South Korea have decided to massively expand their nuclear power programs.
Of the three countries involved, two are not merely critical of the Abe administration; they are countries that, through their governments and intelligence agencies, are working day and night—both inside Japan and around the world—to divide Japanese public opinion and weaken Abe’s political influence.
I am even inclined to suspect that the true aim of this meeting was to prepare for large-scale short selling on the Tokyo Stock Exchange starting the following week, in order to reap enormous profits.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Japanese government must therefore establish a system to fully identify, monitor, and closely observe those who engage in short selling from the coming week onward.
There could be no stronger combination of forces more deeply obsessed with driving down Japan’s stock prices, slowing the economy, and bringing Abenomics to failure.
Japan’s nine world-class electronics manufacturers were driven into dire straits, resulting in Sharp falling into the hands of a Taiwanese company.
An individual who, together with Naoto Kan, Asahi Shimbun, and Mizuho Fukushima, initiated an immediate and total shutdown of nuclear power plants also pushed Toshiba into severe difficulty.
As a result, Chinese companies acquired Toshiba’s globally renowned home appliance business and the Toshiba brand itself.
Beyond this, these forces have continuously diminished Japan’s honor and credibility on the international stage.
They encouraged Asahi to promote a strong-yen narrative, thereby weakening Japan’s industrial and national power, while their own countries continued currency manipulation to rapidly increase their competitiveness against Japan.
This represents a remarkably blatant collusion between those countries and a newspaper company.
To be continued.