The November issue of Sound Argument features a column by Masayuki Takayama that exposes violence and deception long concealed during Japan’s occupation period.
For just 780 yen, it delivers truths that remain invisible even after paying thousands for mainstream newspapers.

2016-10-04
Within these 780 yen are facts you have never known.
A friend who read my essay yesterday went out and bought the November issue of Sound Argument.
In this issue as well, Masayuki Takayama once again proves that he is a one-of-a-kind journalist in the postwar world.
My friend said that you and Takayama seem to resonate with each other, and indeed, he demonstrated that my intuitive criticism of Niigata Governor 泉田裕彦 had been spot on.
Incidentally, the November issue of Sound Argument also costs 780 yen.
Even if you pay 5,000 yen a month to the 朝日新聞, you will learn nothing about the true nature of events, yet within these 780 yen are facts you have never known.
What follows is an excerpt from his serialized column that opens the issue.
Introductory passages omitted.
John Dower claims that postwar governance of Japan succeeded because of “General Douglas MacArthur’s charisma and the gentlemanly conduct of American soldiers.”
Is this ignorance, or an innate tendency to lie?
After the U.S. forces arrived in Japan, reports spoke of forty cases of sexual assault against women every day, and Finance Ministry Budget Bureau Chief 池田勇人 allocated one hundred million yen at the time to procure prostitutes for American soldiers.
Later, while riding in a car with Maeo Shigesaburō, his vehicle was seized by U.S. soldiers at a Hibiya intersection.
石原慎太郎, then a boy, was beaten by American soldiers, and 手塚治虫 was set upon and beaten senseless.
Even so, in those days, such soldiers were still among the better ones.
Taiwanese and Koreans were incited by GHQ, told they had been freed from slavery and urged to wreak havoc.
Taiwanese forced the National Railways headquarters to “arrange a special train for us” and kicked Passenger Bureau Director 下山定則 in the groin, crushing his testicles.
Later, during the Shimo-yama Incident, the foolish forensic doctor 古畑種基 misinterpreted the crushed testicles as “injuries inflicted just before death,” giving rise to the theory that “the JNR president was murdered.”
Both Furuhata and the Taiwanese caused needless turmoil.
The Koreans were no different.
On a packed Shin’etsu Line train, three Koreans smashed a passenger window and climbed aboard.
They dragged out a Japanese man who reprimanded them and beat him to death with shovels at Naoetsu Station before fleeing, in full view of the crowd.
The police could do nothing.
Around that time, Sakamachi Station on the Uetsu Line was known as a shipping point for black-market rice.
The police moved in to make arrests.
Normally, the carriers would raise their hands and lament their bad luck, but that day was different.
The carriers were Taiwanese and Koreans.
Instead, the police were beaten down.
This was reported by Yomiuri Shimbun and the Niigata Nippo.
GHQ had ordered newspapers not to report crimes committed by Allied forces.
Koreans protested to both papers, asking why they had written about them.
Yomiuri apologized.
Niigata Nippo, however, stood firm.
They refused outright.
The rioters rampaged, wrecking the editorial office and even destroying the printing plant.
That Niigata Nippo has now, after a long time, once again shown a thorough fight for justice.
The opponent is Niigata Governor 泉田裕彦.
To be continued.