Asahi never correct or apologizes for leaking a false story.
They pretend not to know but are too proud to be accountable to other companies.
KY", the symbol of the coral graffiti incident
I clearly remember when I was disgusted with Asahi Shimbun.
In the spring of 2007, a story appeared on Asahi's society page with the headline "Do you know KY?
For a moment, I couldn't believe my eyes.
I couldn't believe my eyes for a moment because "KY" was a word that symbolized the disgraceful "coral graffiti incident" that got Asahi's president, Toichiro Ichiyanagi, fired.
The incident occurred more than 20 years ago, in 1989.
The word "KY" was carved into a large thistle coral by Yoshiro Honda, an Asahi photographer who dived into the sea of Iriomote Island using a flashlight handle.
Honda published it in a newspaper as "graffiti by Japanese people who do not value nature,"
And Kenichi Furuhata wrote in an explain-a-picture that "it is a picture of poverty of spirit, of a cluttered mind that is not ashamed of instantly damaging something that has been nurtured for a hundred years…
Asahi takes much time and effort to make up such a story to criticize the Japanese.
It is the behavior of a Korean or a Chinese.
But Asahi's malice was immediately exposed by the locals.
Asahi arrogantly denied it, but its malice angered its readers in slandering the Japanese people with false stories.
Subscriptions declined tremendously, and eventually, Asahi decided to have Ichiyanagi resign.
That is how it happened.
So I never expected to see the word "KY" proudly on the front page of Asahi. I read that "KY" means "can't read the air" and is used by "JK (high school girls).
In short, it's a leisurely story. So I felt even more uncomfortable.
If you are a reporter at Asahi, there is no way you would have forgotten about the coral incident.
It is, especially if you are a copy editor.
Did the reporter hesitate to write the article just because "KY," the symbol of the coral reef incident, appeared in another popular word?
Even if they had, the desk would have rejected the article because "KY" is an old injury of Asahi.
The fact that they still published the article in the paper shows that they no longer feel ashamed of KY and have no remorse for their actions.
I gave up on Asahi at that point because I could not expect decent reporting from such a company.
But to be sure, I rechecked to see how far Ichiyanagi's remorse had survived.
Being moved forcibly and sex slavery were both lies.
I was going to give him leniency if he had any good points.
Then, just two years after the coral incident, Ichiyanagi's successor, Nakae Toshitada, had already had Uemura Takashi write the "comfort woman Kim Hak-sun" lie.
It was a big lie that the Japanese, who had no history of slavery, used sex slaves in the last war.
Any remorse over the coral incident was gone at that point.
Nakae also let Nobuo Ishihara, known for his sharpness, stand against reformist Yukio Aoshima in the Tokyo gubernatorial election, and let him drag his feet on the front page of the paper.
The Utsunomiya bureau forged a noshibukuro (gift bag) with the words "parting gift, all of Tochigi Prefecture."
It printed a photo of the bag to give the impression that Ishihara was involved in a money scandal.
The MO was the same as that of the coral graffiti incident.
The "recruiting scandal" is being called an Asahi scoop.
Although Asahi denounced the politicians and bureaucrats who were latching on to Ezoe Hiromasa with an air of righteousness, the truth is that both Honda Katsuichi and Hikita Keiichiro of Asahi were latching on to Nakae as well.
This article continues.
They pretend not to know but are too proud to be accountable to other companies.
KY", the symbol of the coral graffiti incident
I clearly remember when I was disgusted with Asahi Shimbun.
In the spring of 2007, a story appeared on Asahi's society page with the headline "Do you know KY?
For a moment, I couldn't believe my eyes.
I couldn't believe my eyes for a moment because "KY" was a word that symbolized the disgraceful "coral graffiti incident" that got Asahi's president, Toichiro Ichiyanagi, fired.
The incident occurred more than 20 years ago, in 1989.
The word "KY" was carved into a large thistle coral by Yoshiro Honda, an Asahi photographer who dived into the sea of Iriomote Island using a flashlight handle.
Honda published it in a newspaper as "graffiti by Japanese people who do not value nature,"
And Kenichi Furuhata wrote in an explain-a-picture that "it is a picture of poverty of spirit, of a cluttered mind that is not ashamed of instantly damaging something that has been nurtured for a hundred years…
Asahi takes much time and effort to make up such a story to criticize the Japanese.
It is the behavior of a Korean or a Chinese.
But Asahi's malice was immediately exposed by the locals.
Asahi arrogantly denied it, but its malice angered its readers in slandering the Japanese people with false stories.
Subscriptions declined tremendously, and eventually, Asahi decided to have Ichiyanagi resign.
That is how it happened.
So I never expected to see the word "KY" proudly on the front page of Asahi. I read that "KY" means "can't read the air" and is used by "JK (high school girls).
In short, it's a leisurely story. So I felt even more uncomfortable.
If you are a reporter at Asahi, there is no way you would have forgotten about the coral incident.
It is, especially if you are a copy editor.
Did the reporter hesitate to write the article just because "KY," the symbol of the coral reef incident, appeared in another popular word?
Even if they had, the desk would have rejected the article because "KY" is an old injury of Asahi.
The fact that they still published the article in the paper shows that they no longer feel ashamed of KY and have no remorse for their actions.
I gave up on Asahi at that point because I could not expect decent reporting from such a company.
But to be sure, I rechecked to see how far Ichiyanagi's remorse had survived.
Being moved forcibly and sex slavery were both lies.
I was going to give him leniency if he had any good points.
Then, just two years after the coral incident, Ichiyanagi's successor, Nakae Toshitada, had already had Uemura Takashi write the "comfort woman Kim Hak-sun" lie.
It was a big lie that the Japanese, who had no history of slavery, used sex slaves in the last war.
Any remorse over the coral incident was gone at that point.
Nakae also let Nobuo Ishihara, known for his sharpness, stand against reformist Yukio Aoshima in the Tokyo gubernatorial election, and let him drag his feet on the front page of the paper.
The Utsunomiya bureau forged a noshibukuro (gift bag) with the words "parting gift, all of Tochigi Prefecture."
It printed a photo of the bag to give the impression that Ishihara was involved in a money scandal.
The MO was the same as that of the coral graffiti incident.
The "recruiting scandal" is being called an Asahi scoop.
Although Asahi denounced the politicians and bureaucrats who were latching on to Ezoe Hiromasa with an air of righteousness, the truth is that both Honda Katsuichi and Hikita Keiichiro of Asahi were latching on to Nakae as well.
This article continues.
