This essay examines how media influence can shape public opinion and diplomacy, raising structural concerns about the stability of democracy in Japan. It explores the information-war era, the vulnerability of open societies, and the importance of rational judgment by citizens in defending democratic integrity.

2019-01-23
In any case, the greatest problem is that such a situation is allowed to continue.
Taken to the extreme, it has become the very cause that has turned Japan into a “paradise for espionage.”

A chapter I published on December 13, 2018, titled “We must recognize that media reporting itself destroys democracy and violates the Constitution of Japan, which defines democracy based on free will,” has now entered the top ten of goo search results.
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
Preface omitted.

Sanctions against the media.

So what should Japan do?
Quite simply, it must first “terminate the agreement.”
However, it would be misguided to demand this of the government.
As noted earlier, this agreement does not represent “the will of Japan established through proper procedures.”
Therefore, there is no alternative but for the media organizations that signed and participate in it to recognize this themselves and declare its termination on their own.
A national consensus must emerge not to trust reporting from media bound by such agreements.

Next, it is necessary to further enlighten the public.
People must recognize not only the existence of such agreements, but also how they reflect public opinion and influence politics and diplomacy.
They must understand that the intentions of the Chinese Communist Party are entering the will of Japanese voters, and that the media itself is placing democracy in jeopardy.

More than that, it must be recognized that media reporting itself is undermining democracy and violating the Constitution of Japan, which defines democracy based on free will.
At the same time, when the government takes the lead in accordance with national interests, and the media protests that “freedom of speech has been violated,” should not the people, as readers and viewers, impose sanctions as citizens?
Should we not cultivate the rationality to judge matters by truth and by right and wrong, rather than by the loudness of voices?

In any case, the greatest problem is that such conditions are permitted to continue.
This has created the very soil that allows the People’s Liberation Army to conduct operations in Japan under what it calls the “Three Warfares”—public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, and legal warfare.
Taken to the extreme, it has become the root cause that has turned Japan into a paradise for espionage.