Suddenly, I thought of Yoko Ono.
July 31, 2010 8:59:30 PM | Uncategorized
On my way home from dropping by the office for some business, I suddenly thought of Yoko Ono. I wondered if there is a single person in Japan today who would spend 35 million yen to right the wrongs of the government and the mass media.
If I am the only one out of 120 million people in this aspect, I feel sad, and this is not a good thing at all.
I'm sure some of you have seen the opinion ads that Yoko Ono ran in the Washington Post or the New York Times after 9/11, with specific lyrics of "Imagin" written in the blank.
I'm sure some of you have seen the opinion ads.
It will be a shame if no single person in our country is in the prime of life, or even more prosperous than Yoko Ono, who would do such a thing.
About journalism in our country.
July 30, 2010, 11:40:16 PM | Economy and Mass Media
In this country, it is strange that even if an unknown person like me wants to suggest, even if I have to pay a lot of money, newspapers do not publish opinion ads by such an unknown person.
For example, in April 1990, there was a chief of the advertising bureau of the Osaka branch of the Nikkei Shimbun who used to come to hear me regularly.
I asked him to publish a concise and straightforward advertisement in the national edition with all the columns punched out as soon as possible. The cost was 35 million yen...no problems for us at the time.
"Dear Mr. Governor of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan. Isn't the current restriction on the total amount of money violating the Constitution on the following two points?"
First, (I'm not a so-called leftist, so that I won't use the word "workers")
A real estate agent is a group of small and medium-sized companies. Aren't we violating the right to life of the employees who work there?
(2) Doesn't it violate the freedom of choice of occupation to not lend money to one industry or one type of business?
Even if you don't go that far, the foundation of capitalism is the private property system, and finance (banking) is born by lending money against the land. Eventually, securities, the stock market is held. It will shatter the foundation of this system.
Isn't it fascism, not democracy, telling people not to lend money to one industry or sector?
He said, "We are packed in April and May, so we will be able to publish in June."
When June came, and there was no response, I called him then he said, "I'm sorry, but June is also full with ads for the financial results of large corporations."
At that moment, I knew instantly that journalism in our country was not journalism.
It is impossible for the New York Times or the Washington Post to spend 35 million dollars and not publish a piece of writing that tries to advocate and correct the country's mistakes.
You may think that there is freedom in this country, but there is no absolute freedom.
He said that he had never met a president who thought like me, and he came to my office regularly.
I said, "You must never come to my company again," even though he was a good man. I have never seen him since.
Don't you think that the "lost 20 years" would have been a little better if the above opinion ad had appeared in every household that subscribed to the Nikkei newspaper in Japan at that time?
The ads in the Asahi Shimbun until recently were terrible.
They looked like the pages of a sports newspaper, pushed by the recession and the Internet.
The newspaper business must be in the doldrums right now.
I want to suggest that if you are going to fill the paper with such terrible advertisements, why don't you offer all the space for individuals who wish to publish their opinions? I don't know. I can't afford to do that right now, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who are in the prime of their lives.
It is the most suitable for journalism, which is supposed to signify freedom of speech. It is thirty-five million yen to correct uselessly harsh expressions and unnecessary parts and advise on the layout.
I think it's a high income.
