The mere fact that he was writing these eye-opening commentaries back in 2007 makes it absolutely clear that he is a truly one-of-a-kind journalist in the world.
April 1, 2016
The following is an excerpt from “35 Thrilling Chapters to Awaken the Japanese Mind” (¥1,000) by Masayuki Takayama, the only journalist of his kind in the postwar world.
That he was writing such bold and illuminating commentary as early as 2007 is, in itself, proof enough that he is an authentic and unparalleled journalist on the world stage.
At the same time, he exemplifies what a journalist ought to be—not just for Japan, but for the world.
Those who claim the title of journalist around the world must immediately read all of his published works.
Because, without doing so, it is now obvious that they have no right to call themselves journalists.
"The Comfort Women Issue" – How Asahi Cleansed Its False Reporting
— Jumping on the bandwagon of anti-Japanese outcry, from the New York Times to Chinese newspapers —
Mike Honda and the Question of “Dignity” in a Japanese-American
U.S. Congressman Mike Honda once claimed,
“The Japanese military abducted 200,000 women from their homes in Korea and elsewhere, forced them into sexual slavery, and then massacred them.”
The accusations he cited were fabricated by Koreans with deep-seated hostility toward Japan.
Honda had a track record. As a member of the California State Assembly, he previously proposed and passed a resolution condemning Japan for the "Nanjing Massacre," using the same language as Jiang Zemin.
He never once investigated the basis of his claims.
John F. Kennedy, for instance, was of Irish descent.
He was ridiculed as a “White N****r” and struggled in a predominantly Protestant America as a Catholic.
Even so, after becoming President, he proudly attended mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York and embraced his Irish roots.
In the U.S.—often called a “melting pot of races”—people proudly identify with their ancestral homelands and heritage.
Yet Mike Honda, as a Japanese-American, stands alone in having thrown away any pride in his ancestral country and choosing instead to cozy up to Koreans and Chinese.
It’s almost unbelievable that a man like him is ethnically Japanese, and yet his statements as a U.S. Congressman cannot simply be ignored.
That’s why Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally refuted Honda’s remarks.
Naturally.
If Japan is subjected to false accusations, it is the duty of the head of state to publicly and decisively defend its honor.
But then, Norimitsu Onishi, a Japanese-American reporter for the New York Times, added fuel to the fire, writing:
“Abe’s denial reopened old wounds of former comfort women.”
The New York Times, famous for its anti-Japanese bias, followed up with an editorial declaring:
“The comfort women system involved violence and abduction. This wasn’t prostitution—it was continuous rape. There’s nothing wrong with calling them ‘sexual slaves of the Japanese military.’”
The Washington Post also chimed in, stating as if it were fact:
“Historians say the Japanese military detained 200,000 women.”
In the face of this chorus of anti-Japanese narratives from major American newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun ran an editorial titled, “The Dignity of a Nation is at Stake.”
But what Japanese people truly want to question is this: Where is the dignity of Japanese-Americans?
Why would people like Mike and Norimitsu go so far as to fabricate lies to dishonor their ancestral homeland?
Yoshihisa Komori of the Sankei Shimbun offers part of the answer.
He reports that Mike Honda received money from a U.S.-based Chinese organization associated with Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking.
In the end, it's a matter of personal character—or lack thereof.
As for Norimitsu, the same applies: his character is base.
Yet Asahi chose to invoke the phrase “national dignity.”
At a time when cooperation between Japan and the United States is more crucial than ever in countering the harmful influence of China, it is deeply troubling that the U.S. itself would join in the chorus of “Korean lies” that continue to infuriate the Japanese people.
If one expected the Asahi to question American dignity, they would be sorely mistaken.
Using the “History Tailors”
The asterisks and notes are mine.
This newspaper (Asahi Shimbun) is not questioning the dignity of the United States, but rather the dignity of Japan.
And their reasoning is absurd:
“They ask, ‘If American newspapers report it, why would Prime Minister Abe deny it?’”
“They claim that some media outlets are making excuses, saying it was the work of private contractors, not the Japanese state.”
Then they sigh, lamenting, “How pitiful.”
They revere American media reports as if they were synonymous with truth itself.
Asahi seems to believe the public hasn’t noticed, but in reality, everyone is aware of the brilliant laundering system of falsehoods that exists between Asahi Shimbun and newspapers in the U.S. and China.
The method is simple:
First, Asahi uses its stable of domesticated “history tailors” like Akira Fujiwara, Motohisa Furuta, Ken’ichi Gotō, Yoshiaki Yoshimi, and Yasuhiko Yoshida to write articles that manipulate history.
(Today, the names would include Gen’ichirō Takahashi, Eiji Oguma, Takeshi Nakajima, Noriko Hama, and Sōta Kimura.)
Then, Norimitsu Onishi and others, correspondents from the New York Times housed in the same building, pick up these articles and publish them in U.S. newspapers.
From there, Chinese and North Korean papers reprint them.
Finally, Asahi cites these reports as “According to American and Chinese newspapers…” and declares that these claims have now become “internationally accepted historical facts.”
It’s akin to how illicit money, gained through counterfeit dollars or drug trafficking, is laundered by transferring it from banks in Macau to accounts in Switzerland.
In essence, Asahi Shimbun is mimicking Kim Jong-il’s method of money laundering—only they do it with articles.
However, even with this sophisticated cycle of falsehoods, there is a fatal flaw in this particular editorial.
Asahi was the one that first reported, “The Japanese military abducted women from Korea and turned them into sex slaves.”
But when Prime Minister Abe exposed that as a lie, Asahi tried to wriggle out by saying, “It was private contractors, not the state.”
That is a sleight of hand.
What Asahi must do first is apologize—for publishing falsehoods that insulted the Japanese people.
Only then would it be appropriate to begin a discussion about “comfort women on the battlefield.”
But I was astonished.
As someone who visits Kyoto almost daily and considers it my own backyard, I was especially struck by the natural clarity of the commentary I read:
"The Japanese military was a force of a people with a samurai tradition. Therefore, it valued discipline above all else, and held honor in the highest regard."
(The implication being: The comfort women issue is a complete fabrication.)
A female lawyer in the United States—someone who runs her own law firm and is a formidable professional—retweeted the English translation of this essay with a resounding “Like!”
It was because that article served as a 100% vindication of the truth behind the original commentary.
(All emphasis within the text other than the title is mine.)
Prostitutes Arriving by Wagon
But before anything else, the Asahi Shimbun needs to clean up the historical stains left by the falsehoods its so-called “scholars” have smeared upon it.
If they did that, they would begin to understand that war means to conquer the enemy, and that conquest means to plunder what belongs to them.
Even Islam, which arose in the 7th century, teaches that plunder is acceptable—as long as the distribution of war spoils is fair.
And the greatest spoil of war?
It is women.
To seize and violate women is to contaminate the bloodline of the conquered nation or people—to insert the conqueror’s blood and remove ethnic purity.
In other words, the act of conquest is defined as plunder and rape.
Thus, throughout history, nations and peoples across the world have waged war following this universal and eternal definition.
Take the Russians, for instance.
At the end of World War II, when they invaded Berlin, they raped approximately 130,000 German women within just six months.
10,000 became pregnant.
8,000 managed to get abortions, but 2,000 gave birth to mixed-race children with narrow foreheads and slanted eyes, unmistakably Slavic in appearance.
In the 13th century, the Mongols advanced into Europe and left behind countless mixed-race children in regions such as Iran and Russia.
When Mongol features appeared in a newborn child, that child was often ostracized from society.
This was explained as an effort to reestablish blood purity—but as a Mongoloid Japanese person, I can’t help but feel a certain unease about that.
Americans, too, behaved similarly to the Russians.
Upon entering World War II, U.S. soldiers committed 400 rapes in the United Kingdom alone.
On the European front, a total of 14,000 rapes were recorded.
In Japan, which had surrendered unconditionally, the behavior was even more brutal.
American soldiers stormed into private homes, raped wives and daughters, and killed those who resisted.
According to records from the Procurement Agency, over 2,600 civilians were murdered during the occupation period.
This kind of behavior was committed by militaries around the world.
But there was one exception: Japan.
From the First Sino-Japanese War onward, the Japanese military operated under regulations that prohibited plunder and rape.
This discipline held true during the Russo-Japanese War, in China, and even in the Pacific War.
However, forcing young soldiers in a life-or-death battlefield to repress their urges could, conversely, lead to a breakdown in unit cohesion.
Thus, red-light district brothels in towns were brought near the battlefield.
This is reminiscent of a scene from East of Eden, a story set in America’s frontier days, where prostitutes would travel from town to town by wagon.
It was the same concept.
A Newspaper That Cannot Tell the Truth Should Be Shut Down
(May 2007 issue)
Among those who understood the uniquely Japanese consideration of sending wagons to the battlefield to preserve, at least in part, the dignity of the opposing nation’s people, was Kim Wansop (Kim Wan-sŏp).
He wrote about it with praise in his book “A Vindication of the Pro-Japanese Faction.”
Historian Ikuhiko Hata has clarified that the number of comfort women was around 20,000, and that half of them were Japanese.
Even the story of Koreans being abducted, which the Asahi Shimbun spread in collaboration with Seiji Yoshida, was later denied—by the Koreans themselves.
The U.S. military conducted its own interviews with comfort women.
From statements collected on the Burma front, it was recorded that Korean brothel owners who exploited the women were expelled.
It was also noted that the women were granted one day of rest per week and were subjected to mandatory medical examinations for venereal diseases.
There are even records of Korean women, sold into prostitution to repay their parents’ debts, who returned home after having fully paid off those debts.
On April 1, Asahi Shimbun declared in its newly redesigned edition that it would cease publishing lies, and addressed the comfort women issue.
While the article was—for a change—not filled with falsehoods, it still lacked integrity.
Even though they had the chance to interview Mike Honda, they failed to ask him the most obvious question:
Why did he lie?
Nor did they question the dubious reliability of the data he cited.
It was as if they were sending out a child on an errand—completely lacking in substance.
Now that they’ve stopped printing lies, they seem confused about what they’re even allowed to write.
If they cannot report the truth, perhaps it would be better for them to cease publication altogether.
