The following is from the preface to Masayuki Takayama's book, "Newspapers Lie Selfimportantly," published on December 15, 2022.
This paper also proves him to be the one and only journalist in the postwar world.
It is a must-read not only for the Japanese people but for people worldwide.
Introduction
In the commentary of "Pearl Harbor" by Blake Clark (translated by Colonel Hikota Hirose, Navy), which was considered book burning by GHQ, a passage reads as follows.
"Has Japan ever insulted the United States even once in the past?
Furthermore, did Japan ever threaten the existence of the United States even in the slightest?
However, they belittled Japan in vain and oppressed it, endangering the empire's economic and military existence."
(from the government's answers to the House of Peers and the House of Representatives Budget Session)
The government commissioner expressed his anger at the tone of the U.S., which intently abused Japan for its "sneak attack" on Pearl Harbor while giving Japan an ultimatum in the Hull Note.
This sense of "not criticizing other countries" and "not disrespecting other countries" among Japanese people has not changed to this day.
In addition, after its defeat in the war, Japan has been strangely quail to foreign countries and has even stopped willingly making judgments about right and wrong.
For example, the Asahi Shimbun continued to use the fullest possible honorific title, "Democratic People's Republic of Korea," even for North Korea, which has carried out terrorist acts around the world by pretending to be Japanese and abducting Japanese citizens as part of its operations.
When U.S. Secretary of State Albright called them a "rogue nation," they did not even try to report it.
Asahi likes to trivialize Japan.
"Japan is a defeated nation and a small Asian country without an army. Whatever Japan says is just feebleness anger."
I thought it was like that; once, I wrote a newspaper column about it's not my favorite Netherlands.
The Netherlands has a bad character.
When the Japanese arrived at Schiphol Airport, the Dutch often charged Japanese people excessive fees for bringing in Nikon and Pioneer products, telling them, "You're probably trying to smuggle them in.''
It's open harassment.
So, I began my column with a story about a troupe of traveling entertainers who toured Europe and the United States at the end of the Edo period (1603-1867).
During their tour of the U.S., they were invited to the White House, shook hands with the president, and that evening "went out to buy a woman."
I introduced the generous Japanese people with no pretense.
The troupe then toured England and France, where they continued to receive great reviews.
After the day's play ended, they repeated, "went out to buy a woman." every day.
Then, they entered the Netherlands, where the atmosphere changed.
If they go to the city, the citizens make accusations against them.
Not just once or twice.
Finally, there was a commotion of "pulling out a short sword and standing around intently," they didn't have time to buy The Woman in the Window.
The chairman's diary ends with, "Holland is an evil country, and its people are also wrong."
After quoting this, I then discussed the news at the time that the Netherlands was re-investigating the war crimes of Japanese troops in Dutch India (Indonesia) in connection with the Emperor's visit to Europe in the Heisei era.
In the last war, the Netherlands declared war on Japan.
In that case, after dropping Murray, 800 men of one battalion of the Japanese army attacked Bandung Fortress, where 80,000 British and Dutch troops were holed up; instead of fighting, they raised the white flag and enjoyed "living in a righteous prison with three meals and a nap until the war ended" (Rudy Kausbroek, "Western Colonialism The Loss of Western Colonies and Japan").
However, after the war ended, they executed 226 Japanese soldiers as BC class war criminals.
The Dutch colonel who put to death Colonel Toyoaki Horiuchi, who led the naval paratroopers down at Celebes, was asked by the defense attorney what constituted capital punishment.
He said, "Because he is Japanese.
They felt deep resentment for losing their colonies to Japan and being reduced to a poor country, among the world's royal families, this country was the only one absent from the grand mourning ceremony for Emperor Showa, and the investigation at that time was also the basis for a third claim for compensation.
I concluded my column with the words, "The Netherlands is bad, not only in the Edo period but also now, both as a people and as a country."
Then, the Dutch ambassador to Japan came to the editor-in-chief to protest in person.
Since he was the ambassador plenipotentiary, it was an official protest on behalf of the country.
Unlike the Asahi Shimbun, however, this newspaper only wrote the facts.
No, he said, the article is offensive and should be rewritten.
It also reeks of racial consciousness: "A yellow country should not criticize a white country."
Instead, would it violate press freedom if the Dutch government interfered with Japanese newspaper articles and forced them to revise them?
I was so angry that I criticized the Dutch government's arrogance in the paper.
It seems they were not happy about it, and the major newspaper "NRC Handelsblatt," the weekly magazine "Elsephia," and a TV crew came all the way over here to interview us.
At that time, I was kicked out of the editorial office for being a smoking editor and writing manuscripts in a storage room in front of the elevator hall.
They set up cameras in the shed and stuck out microphones.
I told them again about the terrible Western colonial rule in Asia and how, as Arnold Toynbee said, "Japan created the opportunity and momentum for Asian countries to gain independence.
I also reminded them that the Dutch were co-conspirators in the Holocaust, collaborating with the Nazis and sending Anne Frank to a concentration camp.
Then, a ton of letters protesting against Takayama appeared in the NRC Handelsblatt newspaper, and a particular feature on the opposition was written, devoting one page to the paper.
Many say that the Japanese army was the devil who carried out brutal invasions in Nanjing and other parts of Asia or that the Dutch had indoctrinated Indonesians to make them a better country.
That's what they said.
This column was one of a series of "Different Views" columns on the front page of the Sankei Shimbun's evening edition on Saturday.
As you can see from this incident, contrary to Asahi's assumptions, the rest of the world was quite serious about checking all the Japanese newspapers from cover to cover.
In other words, they nervously watch to see if Japan is coming to its senses.
As long as the newspapers are as bad-mouthing the Liberal Democratic government as the Asahi Shimbun and as enthusiastic about anti-nuclear power and Morikake, they can rest assured that Japan is still a fool.
Then, this column appeared.
The viewpoint they have imposed on history - the Tokyo Tribunal's historical viewpoint that the whites are correct and the Japanese are unilaterally wrong - is absolutely unacceptable to snicker at.
The Dutch Ambassador plenipotentiary immediately took action, and the media there also went wild, trying to crush this heretical viewpoint.
The result was counterproductive, but other newspapers in Japan intently ignored the situation.
On the contrary, a Fuji TV correspondent in Europe advised us, "Sankei Shimbun has published an outrageous article.
It was funny that Fuji TV's correspondent in Europe advised us to take immediate action.
It made me feel a little sad that there is such a shallow correspondent in Japan.
Let me give you another example.
Before the reversion of Okinawa to Japan, Prime Minister Eisaku Sato spoke of the so-called "three non-nuclear principles," which state that U.S. forces will not be allowed to bring in nuclear weapons after Okinawa is returned to Japan.
In the background was the failure of the U.S. management of Okinawa, which aimed to make the island "as good as Hawaii" (High Commissioner Galloway) due to the resistance of the Okinawans.
So, Nixon returned the administration to Japan, taking only the necessary bases and forcing the prefecture's people back to Japan.
Eisaku had a rare opportunity in the history of humankind to regain territory that had been taken from us without war.
But there were the opposition parties and the Asahi Shimbun who were stupid enough not to understand that.
It was before the big day.
As a political expedient, he said, "Don't have," "Don't build," and "Don't bring in" nuclear weapons.
The U.S. did not miss it.
What the U.S. feared most was the dropping of two atomic bombs, a violation of international law.
They believed Japan had the right to retaliate with two nuclear bombs against the U.S. and would undoubtedly use it.
That is why they imposed a strange constitution and have been thoroughly wary of Japan possessing nuclear weapons.
While insisting that Japan should have a strong military against China, Kent Gilbert said, "Japan absolutely must have nuclear weapons.
It is a real American intention.
And here we have the Japanese prime minister saying the three non-nuclear principles.
Well, it was said.
The U.S. immediately ordered the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Eisaku Sato.
Japan had declared itself to have renounced nuclear weapons.
Most people see through this shallow U.S. deception.
Eisaku himself has said that he would abandon his non-nuclear stance at any time.
So the Nobel Committee said that it was a big mistake to give the prize to Eisaku," the news reported.
However, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says, "The three non-nuclear principles are Japan's national policy.
He should rethink his position by banging his head on the corner of a tofu block.
What do the above two episodes tell us?
Japan suddenly appeared on the international scene at the end of the 19th century.
And, for example, it relieved the world by quickly discovering the plague bacillus, which had terrorized the world for five centuries since the 14th century, the Black Death.
The Japanese also taught the existence of vitamins, freeing people from the deadly diseases of beriberi and scurvy.
We also revealed the existence of adrenaline and even developed the vaccine therapy we know today.
The Japanese also won the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, quickly changing the form of naval warfare that had continued since Greek times.
Japan also criticized colonial imperialism, an unscrupulous form of governance that enslaved entire nations and advocated racial equality.
In the 20th century, white society banded together to crush Japan.
Still, it was not until much later that the world understood the Japanese language, and the colonies became independent, leading to a society of racial equality.
The U.S. has used all its wiles since the end of World War II to keep Japan, which possesses such a formidable power, in check.
In lay terms, the U.S. has blocked the Japanese people from their past and erased their sense of national identity.
China and South Korea have been happy to lend a helping hand to the U.S., repeatedly slandering and slandering Japan, and the Netherlands has been watching from afar.
Such is the situation in Japan today.
I think it is the job of newspaper reporters to inform the public of such an environment.
Some say, "No, our job is to monitor power.
And so they chase after the gaffes and misstatements of cabinet ministers.
That isn't quite right.
The prime minister of Japan is not a powerful man.
In fact, he has been crushed many times by allegations made up by the newspapers.
Real "power" is a totalitarian state; think of George Orwell's "Big Brother" in 1984.
Or Mao Zedong or Stalin.
To think of it, Stalin locked up Mao Zedong when he came to pay him a courtesy visit, scaring Mao that he would be killed.
These two men dislike being contradicted or criticized for their policies.
They would immediately eliminate anyone who had such a cheek.
Peng Dehuai, who admonished Mao about the "Great Leap Forward," which only made the people suffer, was tortured and killed during the Cultural Revolution.
The same is true of foreign correspondents.
Stalin admitted only Walter Duranty of the New York Times, who wrote his puff pieces.
Mao Tse-tung also expelled all other Japanese journalists, leaving only one, Akioka Ishige of the Asahi Shimbun.
Now, Putin is no different.
Russians have no proud past.
He once served as the leader of the Eastern Bloc during a time when communism was under the false impression that "communism was rosy.''
He had a double illusion that this was Russia's strength.
He was short, like Stalin, with a secret shoe complex, and did not tolerate anyone who stood against him.
Aleksandr Litvinenko, who exposed Putin's self-made terror, was poisoned with polonium and died after suffering for two weeks.
That same year, Anna Politkovskaya, a female journalist who had criticized Putin, was shot dead in her Moscow apartment.
Tsutomu Saito, an editorial advisor to the Sankei Shimbun newspaper who criticized Putin's politics of fear, was banned indefinitely by the Russian government at the height of the Ukrainian invasion crisis.
At this time, many journalists from the liberal camp, including those from the U.S., Britain, and other countries, were expelled or banned from entering Japan, and a total of 63 Japanese journalists, including Tsutomu Saito and international political scientist Shigeki Hakamada, were indefinitely prohibited from entering Japan.
However, none of the reporters from the Asahi Shimbun or Mainichi Shimbun were punished.
The reporters at these newspapers, such as Akioka Ieshige of the Asahi Shimbun, are devoted to the powerful and write nothing that the powerful don't want them to write.
And yet, Yoichi Funabashi, who was the chief writer of Asahi, says pompously, "Newspaper reporters monitor those in power and fight them tooth and nail."
So what are they doing now?
For example, he slanders the former prime minister, who passed away after being hit by a bullet, saying that he "got stuck with the Unification Church" or some other such slander based on the intuition of a lowlife, taking advantage of the fact that the former prime minister was unable to refute the news.
He is nothing but a scumbag who deceives himself in the name of a reporter.
This fall, the column "Henken Jizai'' serialized in Weekly Shincho, celebrated its 1000th edition.
I'm a little proud of the fact that it never went out of print and that I managed to keep the story fresh, but one thing I realized after writing about it is the role of newspaper reporters.
I enjoyed my job as a newspaper reporter.
Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom passed away, and I was able to cover the event from close quarters during her visit to Japan.
I also had the opportunity to interview the new King Charles on the United States West Coast.
I also had dinner with Peter Drucker several times, and General Bo Nguyen Zap, a hero of Vietnam, taught me how to eat papaya.
I was also exposed to the smoke and rain of artillery shells during six trips to battlefields that even the Self-Defense Forces had not experienced.
In each case, my motivation was simply curiosity.
Thanks to that, I could see entirely invisible things.
I was able to continue writing this series because I was able to gather many stories thanks to my curiosity.
Active reporters have more to do than fry politicians and translate the Washington Post.
I feel that curiosity could save Japan today.
I would be happy if this book, which I have written only out of curiosity for the past 20 years, could help.
November 2022
Masayuki Takayama
