Based on The Crimes and Punishment of the Mass Media (Masayuki Takayama × Rui Abiru, first published February 10, 2019), this article examines the ideological control imposed by GHQ and the formation of the “Japan as aggressor” narrative through Asahi Shimbun and NHK. It analyzes the justification of the atomic bombings, the Tokyo Trials, media narratives on comfort women, and the postwar propaganda that permeated Japanese society.

2019-02-17.
The postwar settlement carried out by the United States was extraordinarily thorough in the sense that it sought to fundamentally dismantle the Japanese people as a single nation.
First published on February 10, 2019, The Crimes and Punishment of the Mass Media by Masayuki Takayama and Rui Abiru is a book that every Japanese citizen who can read must study.
Takayama, the only truly independent journalist of the postwar era, and Abiru, one of the finest active newspaper reporters, senior and junior at Sankei Shimbun, engage in dialogue in this volume, which is also easy on elderly readers.
One should not only rush to the nearest bookstore immediately, but especially encourage the elderly, who are often information-vulnerable and who subscribe to Asahi, Mainichi, Tokyo, Chunichi and watch NHK.
Readers must recommend this book to elderly people around them and to women who rely on television as their main source of information.
●An Anti-Japan Tendency Permeating Society.
Takayama.
What was instilled into Asahi Shimbun and NHK was Cordell Hull’s message that Japan must never be portrayed as a hero who liberated Asian nations suffering under colonial rule, that they must not allow people to think Japan fell in devotion to Asian liberation.
They were required to rewrite history so that it was not white powers but Japan the aggressor who oppressed and exploited Asia.
Abiru.
Since they continued broadcasting under revised titles and serialized war histories in their own paper, they cannot survive unless they insist that it was correct.
Takayama.
NHK has still not corrected it.
Abiru.
Regarding the Moritomo and Kake issues, once they declared Mr. Abe guilty, they must keep saying so.
They can no longer admit there was in fact no connection.
Takayama.
Asahi Shimbun moved in accordance with GHQ to preserve its standing and avoid dissolution.
No one inside the company criticized this.
GHQ used the compliant Asahi to control thought.
Japan was portrayed as having done nothing but evil in Southeast Asia.
They reported whatever GHQ dictated.
Meanwhile Americans were depicted as noble.
They even assisted in portraying figures as protectors of Kyoto while documents later revealed Kyoto had once been considered an atomic bomb target.
Thus the narrative was reversed.
Takayama.
The postwar settlement carried out by the United States was extraordinarily thorough in dismantling the Japanese as a people.
Abiru.
This propaganda also served themselves.
They wished to teach their children that they were righteous.
Takayama.
America dropped the atomic bombs and then justified what had been an unforgivable massacre of noncombatants.
History was rewritten to frame the bombings as unavoidable.
Abiru.
Even at the Tokyo Trial, when Japanese lawyers tried to mention the atomic bombs, the stenographic record was halted.
That shows how uneasy Americans initially felt.
Over time, education convinced them it had been necessary.
Most Americans today believe it was justified.
Education is indeed a frightening force.