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Hi Blog. Now here’s a wonderful turn of events that I can’t help feeling a bit karmic about.
Gregory Clark, columnist for the Japan Times and xenophobic perpetual denier of racism in Japan (he’s even had a JT column entitled “Antiforeigner discrimination is a right for Japanese people“!), has gone beyond petty whines about, say, how he couldn’t enforce his White Privilege and make Roppongi police arrest some “African touts” because they were “hecklers”. Now he’s complaining about something far more serious — about being targeted by Japan’s right wing. Check out this excerpt from Jeff Kingston’s most recent commentary in the Japan Times:
/////////////////////////////////////////////
From “Are forces of darkness gathering in Japan”, by Jeff Kingston, Japan Times, May 16, 2015
JT: “[Government officials] have become more numerous, blatant and unapologetic,” [US-based journalist Ayako Doi] says, adding that the government is targeting both Japanese and non-Japanese critics alike.
Japan Times columnist Gregory Clark says the atmosphere of intimidation has become exceptionally “ugly,” attributing it to a “right-wing rebound and revenge.”
“Something strange is going on,” he says, citing recent attacks on progressive media. “Particularly given that Tokyo keeps talking about its value identification with the West.” […]
Clark himself was publicly defamed for his alleged anti-Japanese views because he raised some questions about government and media representations concerning the North Korean abductions of Japanese nationals. Following that, he says his university employer received a cascade of threatening letters demanding he be sacked.
“Requests to write articles for the magazines and newspapers I had long known dried up,” Clark says. “Invitations to give talks on Japan’s lively lecture circuit died overnight. One of Japan’s largest trading companies abruptly canceled my already-announced appointment as outside board director with the vague excuse of wanting to avoid controversy.”
Lamentably, he added, “You cannot expect anyone to come to your aid once the nationalistic right-wing mood creators, now on the rise, decide to attack you. Freedom of speech and opinion is being whittled away relentlessly.”
/////////////////////////////////////////////
Full article at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/05/16/commentary/forces-darkness-gathering-japan/
COMMENT: That’s how bad it’s getting for NJ in Japan — even the worm has turned. But it’s pretty rich for Clark to say this given the past fabrications and intimidations, not to mention decades of profiteering from pandering to those forces that have now turned against him. As for claims of “defamation”, how about the long-standing vituperative (okay, I’ll use his favorite word: “ugly”) criticism doled out towards anyone who questioned the system and its unfairness to anyone else in a similar position as a long-term resident (and in my case, a citizen) of Japan?
I’m not sure you have a leg to stand on here, Greg. After all, isn’t discriminating against you a right for Japanese people?discriminating against you a right for Japanese people?
I’ll let Debito.org Reader JDG conclude this blog entry:
======================================
JDG: Please spare a moment’s thought for the plight of Gregory Clark. Even though this has happened to him (and seriously, see how low an opinion of him is held in the article ‘Our Other Man in Japan’), I have to say that such intimidation and discrimination, EVEN against Gregory Clark, is deplorable (in fact, when you or I are discriminated, we get the whole apologist slapdown. When it happens to Clark, suddenly it’s ‘The Forces of Darkness’! I mean what is this? Lord of the Rings?). I just wish that he’d used all his years of access to policy makers to work to improve the lot of NJ in Japan, rather than for his own personal gain, and IMHO, vain pride and sense of self-entitlement.
Anyhow, starting with that time he got annoyed with the police because they didn’t care who he was, and therefore didn’t arrest some black guys for him, he seems to have just gone downhill. What’s next? Black vans outside his house, and bullets from the uyoku in the post?
Since I read in previous articles about Gregory that he was loaded and flush with cash from property deals and public speaking, I won’t be asking Debito.org readers to donate any money to get Gregory off the street, nor will I be asking any of you to ‘adopt an Australian’ for $5 a month (or anything like that).
Dear Greg,
If you’re reading this, you always have a home here with us (maybe. I dunno, after all, it’s Dr. Debito’s page, and you’ve been kind of critical of him in the past. Just sayin’.). What I mean is, now that you’ve seen Japan ‘through the looking glass’ as it were, had your bubble burst, and have experienced the kind of discrimination that you always said didn’t exist for NJ in Japan, anytime you want to pitch in and lend a weighty hand in this struggle for human rights, we (well, I guess ‘I’, after all, I can’t speak for the others) would welcome you, and your past sins would be forgiven, as it were (again, that’s an ‘I’ statement).
Yours sincerely, JDG (the kind of NJ you wouldn’t have given the time of day to).
======================================
ENDS
32 comments on “J Times Kingston on Abe’s intimidation of media: You know it’s getting bad when even apologist bigot Gregory Clark complains about Rightists targeting him”
My heart bleeds for him, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Anyway, maybe now he’ll have to face up to NJ’s reality in Japan.
Better to say we hope the guy is learning. Nobody deserves that kind of mistreatment even if they’ve done blockheaded things in the past.
— I would not be so charitable. It’s like saying that someone who has done wrong constantly in the past (in this case, done all possible to discount NJ rights in Japan, and in particular spread falsehoods about the Otaru Onsens Case — see also here), and all he has to do in his twilight times is recant (which he hasn’t really done even now), say a few Hail Marys, and all is forgiven? No, as they say in Japanese, お禊ぎが終わっていない。
@ Douglas #2
I see your point of view, I really do.
But Greg is a special case. He has spent years close to power with the ears of policy makers, and yet used that time only to feather his own bed, and ingratiate himself further by viciously attacking NJ that called Japan out on human rights and discrimination issues.
But now he’s feeling the heat, he’s complaining about his human rights and discrimination?
Face palm Greg.
It is interesting and important to note that the Japan Times has stopped taking comments on Kingston’s last 3 pieces. All 3 were about how Abe, et al have pressured foreign journalists, publishers of textbooks, and historians, etc to modify their writings about Japanese history, comfort women, etc. While the JT is to be lauded for publishing Kingston’s articles, it makes me wonder why it stopped taking comments.
@Douglas Perkins, #2
Unfortunately, most diplomatic expat or self-proclaimed ‘expert'(or intellectual ‘pundit’) like him cares little about the plight of people whom he cannot see. GC is a typical, self-indulged, old frat-boy living in a fantasy of libertarianism being protected by the insularity of cultural ‘shades’–similar to institutionalist(e.g. NYT columnist David Brooks), a privatization pundit(e.g. Tom Petrilli, Joel Klein), or libertarian pundit (e.g., Tom Friedman) who thrive in the Twilight of the Elites. Apologist is an apologist. He won’t turn into a new man unless his wrong choice leads to a severe life consequence that would put him in jail.
Gregory Clark is no different from anyone else who’s never suffered discrimination in Japan; until one day their bubble bursts. Japan is great, Japan is awesome, stop complaining. And then one day it happens.. oops you didn’t think it would happen to you, did you?
Hi Debito,
Read this article and now it’s nice to see the apologist bigot now got the taste of his own medicine by experiencing the racism and discrimination all foreigners/NJ faced. Now he’ll never forget it, I hope he’ll join you guys in the future. I’m sorry to hear about what happened to Gregory Clark, he didn’t really deserve it but I hate to play devil’s advocate but I believe this was necessary in order for him to “open his eyes” and know what it feels like for NJ to experience discrimination in Japan. I hope this story can help NJ or big fans of Japan to wake up and realize that Japan isn’t what foreigners envision.
And a bit off topic and in a brighter new, I saw this on Crunchyroll (are you familiar with that video streaming website, that’s how people in US are able to watch anime legally). I just saw a report about otakus are rallying against racism/discrimination in Akhibara:
http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2015/05/18/otaku-rally-against-racism-in-akihabara
“Gregory Clark is no different from anyone else who’s never suffered discrimination in Japan; until one day their bubble bursts. Japan is great, Japan is awesome, stop complaining. And then one day it happens.. oops you didn’t think it would happen to you, did you?”
Ha ha, so true, and so so predictable. I knew this was going to happen once the rightist got their way, and even better, I knew the rightist would eventually turn on the apologist. If you’re not japanese, then you’re outta luck; it doesnt matter what side you stand on. I would have to agree with Dr. Debito on this one; these types were busy dishing it out when times were “good” for them in their make believe world. One day it did happen and its going to happen more.
I find all these posts of schadenfreude, concerning Clarke, rather childish and pointless.
I’m no great fan of Gregory Clarke, but he was man enough to help Kingston prove a very important point, which otherwise would be totally denied by the apologists.
Sure the guy has written some of the most asinine articles concerning inverted racism and sure the guy’s behavior and attitude at Akita International university was reprehensible, but give credit where credit is due, otherwise you become no better than Havill and the ‘Sailor Moon’ gang of that other site.
Now when the Michelangelo of the resume, Mike ‘I got my MA from UBC but I didn’t’ Guest gets his come uppance – as Tim says, it’s part of the baptism of fire of living in Japan – then I might not be so charitable.
Clark has written some excellent articles on the Northern Territories dispute, the abductions issue and the Sino/Korean – Japanese disputes, while Guest has written absolutely nothing of worth.
Empathy where empathy is due and credit where credit is due.
— Fair enough. But watch: Just as soon as Greg gets what he considers to be his due, he’ll revert right back to trying to deny others theirs. He’s got a lot of credit to make up for in terms of having a leg to stand on to complain about discrimination and denial of opportunity in Japan. You can call it schadenfreude, but I would call holding a person accountable for his record precisely giving credit where credit is due. Especially since there is no hansei on Greg’s part here, only bellyaching.
Speaking of the topic of “Japanese abducted by North Korea”, which is one of those topics where it is hard to get factual and non-skewered information about, does anyone have an objective (which probably means, non-East Asian) source to bring one up to speed on this matter?
Most Japanese I know claim that this has happened often, and is still happening, while I remember reading somewhere that it’s wildly exaggerated or even completely fabricated by the Japanese side for whatever xenophobic reason.
I suppose Clark questioned the validity of the claims of the Japanese side, and got into trouble for it? That would be a huge hint that the matter is very fishy, indeed.
— You can find his columns both at the Japan Times site and on his own personal website.
@Scipio, #9
If you want to put him in lesser-evil list, that’s fine. Go ahead. But no matter how you slice it, he will receive little from most people he slammed and denigrated–if he still keeps behaving like who he was/is. To most NJ here in Japan, having GC is like having Al Petrilli or Joel Klein who mocks teachers and schools in national propaganda of failing public education. He deserves consequence, which is painful yet still not catastrophic injury at this point.
— Just speaking for myself, he’ll get no kudos from me on this matter until he shows some contrition for all the damage he has done NJ residents of Japan.
Once again, would have to agree with Dr Debito. For some reason, not worth wasting my time or effort on, many apologist make it their lifetime commitment to defend all things aparthied and seem to enjoy the suffering of fellow NJ, dismissing their “complaining” as personal issues and that they are somehow above it all or dismiss them as trivial. I dont know which camp Clark falls into, but I think for allot of them, defending Japan at all cost is their comfort zone and dont feel comfortable without that blanket. For them, the rest of the world is messed up and they have found the “answer” Kind of a sad but dont waste your time trying to unwind it or understand it, I stay away from them. when the heat comes, as it eventually will, I always enoying the discomfort that they are now experiencing.
— It’s kinda hard to stay away from someone who keeps coming after you.
Gregory Clark wrote “Antiforeigner discrimination is a right for Japanese people.” Remember this fact folks:
http://www.debito.org/?p=2128
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2009/01/15/commentary/antiforeigner-discrimination-is-a-right-for-japanese-people/
https://web.archive.org/web/20130304131850/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2009/01/15/commentary/antiforeigner-discrimination-is-a-right-for-japanese-people/
http://i.imgur.com/0A41eKw.png
Normally I’d have sympathy for any NJ who gets over his ‘Wow! Japan is great!’ phase and has his bubble burst by discrimination, but Greg’s transgressions are many;
1. He has attacked and undermined human rights advocates many times.
2. He has defended Japanesr racism as ‘thier right’.
3. He has been in a position of influence to improve the human rights of NJ in Japan, but refused to do so.
Now he’s down on his luck, he’s butt-hurt that his gravy-train has come to an end, he expects us human rights advocates to step up for him? I don’t think so.
We should be the ‘bigger man’ and give him a pass? No, we need to make it clear to him that this is why he shouldn’t have actively worked against our interests all these years.
Greg’s made his own bed, I’ve just got no sympathy when he complains about having to lay in it.
Yeah, karma comes back to him.
Serves him right.
Debito wrote
Fair enough. But watch: Just as soon as Greg gets what he considers to be his due, he’ll revert right back to trying to deny others theirs. He’s got a lot of credit to make up for in terms of having a leg to stand on to complain about discrimination and denial of opportunity in Japan.
It’s not as if what Kingston said was anything new. The source which Kingston obviously used, has been out there since 2005 and written by Clark himself.
http://gregoryclark.net/lifestory/page33/page33.html
Clark was man enough to write it himself.
You do Clark a disservice by focusing only on Clark’s idiotic comments concerning non-Japanese rights in Japan because if you read the article it is frighteningly accurate about nearly everything that has developed in Japan since 2012, under Abe. Unless you’re just a self seeking individual who sees no further than your own well-being – which is what most posters on her accuse Clark of doing – the foresight of the article is astounding.
You also do Kingston, probably the best non-Japanese ‘in’ writer on Japan today, a great dis-service because the last thing he wanted us to do was use Clark’s confessions of mistakes as a stick to beat Clark.
— There are so many points you’re missing. The easiest: my citing Clark does no disservice to Kingston (i.e., he is not being made into an accomplice), so calm down and conflate less. When Clark is “man enough” (whatever that’s supposed to mean) to admit that he was *wrong by backing the wrong horses* (not just that he now feels deprived of his entitlements by them), then we’ll have some basis for agreement about his apparent “manliness”.
Jim, I ll play the Devil(Greg)`s advocate and say, he is not all bad- he argued Japan had no right to the Northern Territories (disputed with Russia) which really got the goat of the Foreign Ministry and is probably why the Abe regime has seen fit to put him on the blacklist. Also, he claims to have opposed the Vietnam War which got him in hock with the Australian diplomatic elite. See the link for “Our other man in Tokyo” above for details.
What can we learn from this? Only that the Abe regime desires 100% slavishly loyal NJs who will eat up the propaganda about beautiful, divine Japan etc and promote Japan as such overseas. To be absolutely honest, I DID THIS in 1988. But I was 21 years old, and the glory days of the Japan bubble were at their height.
Who could have avoided being dazzled, or mesmerized? It is this period of nostalgia, that Abe wants to somehow recreate, but really he is just living in the past-the 80s.
How to live in such an atmosphere? Well, I thought up a strategy, which I call “not interested”. Basically, whenever a Japanese person attempts to bring up a contraversial topic and “educate” you over your “mistaken beliefs”, just ACT LIKE AN 80’s JAPANESE PERSON. As documented in the “Guidebook to Japan” in the 80s, “the Japanese may avoid making a decision, e.g. answering when a business contract is to be signed etc by saying any of the following:
“Excuse me, I have to go and make an important phone call”
“Excuse me, I have to go to the toilet”
“Sorry, I have just been called away”
USed to drive me nuts but now I see this technique as perfectly ironic for dealing with these Team Japan Gaijin Handlers.
If you are teaching an English lesson and have the misfortune to get a “Pearl Harbor was in self defense” type comment, just correct their grammar, or word choice. Absolutely drives them crazy that you will not be drawn in, but they cannot complain as you are just “doing your job”.
Not unlike teaching in the cultural revolution though….
@Scipio, interesting insights by Clark in Koizumi (if one ignores Clark’s tone), I agree it has some value as its quite prescient, and he noticed the post modern twist-the advent of “theater politics” around 2000 (also coinciding with the rise of Ishihara)
“Koizumi, I decided, was a flaky ignoramus with an unbalanced personality, from a family and district with strong gangster connections. It is to the eternal discredit of the ignorant Western media that he was somehow seen as Japan’s savior simply because of his ‘structural reform’ mantra repeated at every corner and juncture of the political scene.
That he and George Bush admired each other says it all.
That he was also able to mesmerise the Japanese public with his flinty gaze, thick mane of hair, reform mantra, and ‘theatre politics’ also said much about Japan – some of it rather alarming.
His knowledge of, and interest in, foreign affairs was close to zero. In economics he was also ignorant.
The damage he did to Japan was great, and not just because he antagonised China and much of the rest of Asia by his visits to the militaristic Yasukuni Shrine. ”
Thanks for that link. Just a shame about Clark’s people skills with westerners.But that is almost certainly why he has re invented himself in Japan/Russia/China. Hell, I did a similar thing, its the land of the second chance and certain personality defects are not scrutinized in the same way.A kind of freedom for some.
@ Baudrillard, #17
‘I ll play the Devil(Greg)`s advocate’. I shouldn’t if I was you!
Seriously, what is there to learn from Greg’s bleating about being thrown under the gravy-train?
This;
Like all apologists, he thought that sucking up to those in power by agreeing with and reinforcing their racist bias would get him ‘special treatment’ and ‘honorary Japanese status’ (that is to say, that he thought, like all apologists, if he slammed NJ exactly the way the Japanese did, that he would be ‘accepted’ as ‘one of them’).
However, Greg got too cocky and thought the he *was* accepted as one of them, and that this would afford him the right to speak his mind about the N. Korea abduction issue.
Big mistake!
He criticized one aspect of Japan as a foreigner, and therefore is seen by the Japanese as being anti-Japan in it’s totality.
Like all apologists, he didn’t realize that he wasn’t ‘accepted’ and valued as ‘one of them (uchi)’, he was always seen as ‘soto’, he just didn’t know it. And now his little world is turned upside down, and he’s all hurt, and hard done by because *he paid his dues bashing NJ for ‘the man’, so how dare they treat him like just another ‘gaijin’!*
Greg, even in being discriminated against, isn’t agree that he as an NJ has less human rights than Japanese in Japan, he’s angry that his access, prestige, and cash flow have been cut short.
No sympathy at all. Don’t be taken in by his ‘poor little me’ routine now that the giant crumbs he was getting from the masters table have stopped.
He chose the wrong side in the struggle for NJ rights in Japan. This should put an end to his NJ slamming in the press.
— Guess what. It won’t. I double-dare Greg to prove me wrong.
Debito wrote.
When Clark is “man enough” (whatever that’s supposed to mean)
Something you have to seriously learn.
It’s the acceptance that you make mistakes and fess up to those mistakes. That’s the difference between a man and a boy
Now be ‘man enough’ to publish this?
— Okay. And even by your definitions, Clark is still a boy, then. As I have stated repeatedly, there is no fessing up on Clark’s part here except what you are reading into it. I think we’ll agree to disagree and let your objections be noted. Drawing this discussion between you and me to a close.
Gregory Clark has NOT admitted he was wrong about “Antiforeigner discrimination is a right for Japanese people.”
Antiforeigner discrimination is NOT a right for Japanese people, Gregory Clark, we demand you admit that publicly now.
Since 1995, Japan has been violating the signed treaty “The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).”
This CERD treaty, which is legally superior to domestic law, legally bounds national Japanese government and local Japanese government to ENACT and ENFORCE legislation AGAINST antiforeigner discrimination.
http://www.debito.org/kunibengodanenglish.html
And yet, on January 15th 2009, Gregory Clark publicly stated, “Antiforeigner discrimination is a right for Japanese people.”
We have been waiting over 6 years (6 years, four months, nine days now) for Gregory Clark to admit his January 15th 2009 public statement was wrong.
http://www.debito.org/?p=2128
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2009/01/15/commentary/antiforeigner-discrimination-is-a-right-for-japanese-people/
https://web.archive.org/web/20130304131850/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2009/01/15/commentary/antiforeigner-discrimination-is-a-right-for-japanese-people/
http://i.imgur.com/0A41eKw.png
@ Anonymous #21
Quite right!
He isn’t retracting and apologizing for having said that ‘it is a right for Japanese to discriminate against foreigners’.
He is simply whining that *he* is being discriminated against.
It shows a total lack of self-awareness.
Jim, you mean Clark lacks empathy.He is certainly self aware, but unable to sympathize with others. I am starting to see a sociopathic trend- also with Donald Keene for example, when the 3/11 earthquake happened, stated his first concern was “for the ancient temple that was located near there”.
What about the victims?
If this isnt a sociopathic symptom, I do not know what is. Now, from my own experience, if one wants to “get on” in Japan, and submerge oneself in the culture, there can be a kind of self imposed pressure to ignore other NJs and absolutely focus on the one thing you want to achieve in Japan, due to all the barriers and hoops one has to jump through in an ultra conservative, static society.
Thus, if someone who wants to reinvent themselves, who is alienated from their own society, wants to build a niche for themselves as a pet gaijin, “anyone who competes on the same turf becomes a bit of a hate figure” (quote from the “Our Other Man in Tokyo” article about Clark).
It positively encourages sociopathic tendencies, at least toward other NJs.
I move that Clark has given up on his fellow westerner (I confess I can relate why, but I digress), and only opposed the Vietnam War because 1. It was a western power victimizing an Asian one and 2. He spoke out against the Japan claim to the Northern Island disputed with Russia because Clark has fond memories of Russia and speaks Russian ,i.e. that is another place where he successfully reinvented himself.
It is not in Clark’s vocabulary to support other westerners, because he has left that society behind due to the rejections he suffered at the hands of the Aussie Govt (real or perceived) in the 60s.
Again, see the “Our Other Man in Tokyo” article about Clark for a lot of anecdotal evidence that backs this up. He is obsessed with the slights he suffered 50 years ago.
You really think this guy is going to stand up for NJ rights? No, just his rights as the “special house gaijin”.
“Man enough”? Gender issues aside, there’s no reason to think men actually admit their mistakes more than boys. Should expect the opposite. Power goes up, admitting mistakes goes down.
Scary Abe/Ishihara tangent http://www.chinausfocus.com/peace-security/china-japan-island-row-must-in-dangerous-waters/
Now, however, Ishihara has designed an indirect approach to save the empire: not to hit the US directly but to guide China and the US to confrontation so that the weakening of both will be an opportunity for Japan’s military rise again.
“The article revealed that Ishihara’s purchase was in no way a whim but rather a planned and strategically implemented plot. In November 2012, Takashi Okada, staff reporter of Kyodo News, published a new book, Question of the Senkaku Islands: Magic of Territorial Nationalism. In it, he argues that the row over Diaoyu Islands has been a plot by Shintaro Ishihara to seek a stage for adversarial nationalism, and that the ultimate political objective is to overthrow the post-World War II order established by the US and the UN after the Tokyo Trial and to overthrow Japan’s peace constitution. With that objective in mind and the realization that directly targeting the US would be self-destructive, Ishihara has been very smart in his plan. The first step is to challenge China by including Daiyu Islands in the scope of defense assistance identified by the Security Treaty between the US and Japan. When China responds with actions over the Diaoyu Islands, Japan will revise its constitution and re-arm itself on the ground of national calamity. Then, if war over Diaoyu Islands continues, the US will definitely be involved. The war will be a lose-lose situation for China and the US, and an opportunity for Japan to free itself from the US and reinvigorate the Great Japanese Empire.
“Ishihara has long been called the “anti-three man” (anti-US, anti-China and anti-government) and the standard bearer of the “gangs from pre- and during WWII.” The latter term refers to the remaining Japanese militarists who invaded Asian countries and launched the Pacific War by attacking Pearl Harbor in 1941. It is thus natural for Ishihara to have sinister motives to set a trap for not only China, but also the US. There are also personal reasons for Ishihara to hate the US. His father worked for a Japanese shipping company. Under harsh US attacks almost all the Japanese ships, both military and civilian, sank. Gone were the happy days of his family. Ishihara once hoped that Japan would win WWII and the whole Pacific would be Japanese inland sea. His dream was now broken. Now, however, Ishihara has designed an indirect approach to save the empire: not to hit the US directly but to guide China and the US to confrontation so that the weakening of both will be an opportunity for Japan’s military rise again. Nonetheless, people have reason not to believe neither China nor the US will give Japan this opportunity or rush into Ishihara’s trap.”
– See more at: http://www.chinausfocus.com/peace-security/china-japan-island-row-must-in-dangerous-waters/
Breaking News:
A right-wing self-serving crackpot Naoki Hyakuta made a blatant assault on two Okinawa newspapers for their anti-government stance over national security bills on 25th(Thursday). He also made an insult at local residents for pretending to be “victim” by making a choice to live in the middle of rice paddy where the Futenma military base is located.
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH6V3PL5H6VUTFK00F.html
「沖縄の地元紙、左翼に乗っ取られている」 自民勉強会
2015年6月26日11時38分 朝日新聞
安倍晋三首相に近い自民党の若手議員が立ち上げた勉強会「文化芸術懇話会」（代表＝木原稔・党青年局長）の２５日の初会合で、出席議員が、沖縄の地元紙について「左翼勢力に完全に乗っ取られている。沖縄の世論のゆがみ方を正しい方向に持っていく」と発言していたことが分かった。
出席議員は米軍普天間飛行場の移設問題で政権に批判的な沖縄タイムスと琉球新報をあげて「沖縄の特殊なメディア構造を作ったのは戦後保守の堕落だ。左翼勢力に完全に乗っ取られている」などと批判した。
出席者などによると、講師役として招かれた、首相と親しい作家の百田尚樹氏は「もともと普天間基地は田んぼの中にあった。そこを選んで住んだのは誰やねん」「沖縄は本当に被害者やったのか。そうじゃない」などと答えたという。
このほか、政権に批判的なメディアに関し「マスコミをこらしめるためには広告料収入がなくなるのが一番」などの声も出た。
これに対し、民主、維新、共産の野党３党は２６日、安全保障関連法案を審議する衆院特別委の理事会で、若手議員の発言を問題視して抗議した。
Two Okinawan newspapers blasted Hyakuta and LDP for their shameless media assault the next day.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/06/26/national/politics-diplomacy/media-fire-back-ldp-targeting-newspaper-funding/#.VY2PSGATuT_
Hyakuta made a typical apologist move by saying his remark as “joke” in response to Asahi Shimbun–which is, ironically, one of his main targets. He didn’t deny what he said at the LDP-sponsored seminar. This self-serving LDP carpetbagger has a history of public controversy, including disgusting “I-wanna-hottie-chicks” twit last year, and slant for right-wing swing that goes against media neutrality to serve as governing committee for NHK.
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH6V5JXVH6VUHBI028.html
百田氏「軽口、冗談のつもりだった」 沖縄紙つぶせ発言
2015年6月26日20時38分 朝日新聞
〈百田尚樹氏の話〉 報道されている発言内容は事実だが、講演で言ったのではなく、講演後の出席議員との雑談のなかでポロッと出た軽口だった。冗談のつもりで、本意ではない。出席者の誰かが「沖縄の人やメディアの意識はやっかいだ」と言ったので、それに答える形で「やっかいやなあ、（沖縄の二つの地元紙は）つぶさんとなあ」とは言った。地元紙はほとんど読まないし、自分の悪口ばっかり書くからきらいだが、本当に潰さないといけないとまで思っていない。出版社や新聞社はアンタッチャブルな領域で、権力によって圧力をかけられるべきではない、とも思っている。[…]
@ Loverilakkuma #26
That’s a frightening story! Here it is explained in English;
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/06/26/national/politics-diplomacy/media-fire-back-ldp-targeting-newspaper-funding/
Abe’s right-wing ‘author’ buddy who had to give up the NHK directors job that Abe appointed him to after he went on the campaign trail for a Japanese nazi in Osaka last year, wants to bankrupt newspapers that disagree with government positions.
Even worse, his idea was supported by a large group of younger LDP politicians, who clearly have as little respect for the constitution as Abe. When the current generation of old conservatives die, the next is already waiting to fill thier shoes.
More on the LDPs anti-free press gaffe;
Comments made at a meeting of the ‘LDP’s Youth Division’, ‘LDP loyalists close to Abe’.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/06/27/national/politics-diplomacy/ldp-lawmaker-to-lose-position-over-anti-media-meeting/
‘LDP Youth’ + Abe loyalists = Abe Youth? (shudder).
@Jim and Loverliakkuma, Hayakuta seems to be the next Ishihara, a rightist revisionist novelist, indeed frightening how the baton of idiocy is passed on to the next generation:
“Notably, Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, declared his support for this film and the book, saying that he had been “moved” by Hayakuta’s The Eternal Zero – “has come under criticism for its nationalistic and sympathetic depiction of the Kamikaze pilots.[12] Director Hayao Miyazaki in an interview accused the film of “trying to make a Zero fighter story based on a fictional war account that is a pack of lies”.[5] He added that this film was “just continuing a phony myth” and that he had “hated that sort of thing ever since [I] was a kid.”[5] Kazuyuki Izutsu, the director of the 2005 film Pacchigi! said that the film had “no basis in fact”.[5] The film has also courted controversy amongst Japan’s neighbors,[13] especially China, with one Chinese commentator reportedly accusing the film of being “propaganda for terrorism”.[5] wikipedia, The Eternal Zero.
@ Baudrillard, Loverilakkuma,
After condemning it on Friday (‘If that’s what was said’- Abe), Abe has now punished four of the LDP politicians involved;
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/06/28/national/politics-diplomacy/ldp-media-bashers-put-security-bills-doubt/
‘Of the four, Onishi had been reprimanded in July last year for directing sexist jeers against female opposition lawmaker Sayuri Uenishi during a Diet debate three months earlier.’
Typical Abe; his failure to speak out strongly against any of the many gaffes that he is presented with serves only to encourage even worse behavior.
Hopefully, this has shot his security bills in the foot, and it’d serve him right for not kicking them out of the party for any previous gaffes.
And don’t forget, this is the ‘LDP Youth’ we are talking about here! They’ve got nothing new to offer.
Abe’s friend Hayakata doubles down and wants three other newspapers put out of business (makes a total of five on his hit list).
Using vocabulary of war to describe his opinion;
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/06/29/national/conservative-firebrand-hyakuta-sticks-guns-hardens-stance-okinawa-newspapers/
Gregory Clark Update:
I found a somewhat interesting post on Clark s homepage. Apparently he wrote something that was rejected on some blog related to Australian politics so he put it up on his own page. It is dated 2017 and he hasn”t really put out much since then that I can see. Granted an 83 year old guy who just wants to putter in his garden in Chiba and be left alone should have that privileged, but this sounds like the bitter tears of a tired old man who wishes things had gone differently. Some excerpts:
http://gregoryclark.net/styled-21/page51.html
“Chapter 19a, Life Story, http://www.gregoryclark.net which includes details of my being also set up for an ugly article in The Australian denigrating my Japan activities and which required legal action to get corrections). Such are the rewards for being an Australian trying to make it alone in Japan.”
Debito has a separate post on this. I didn t care to read all about it in his autobiography, but you can if you want. Apparently this caused him to lose his very lucrative speaking gigs. He is obviously still bitter about it.
“Australian Institute of International Affairs – I have met with studied disinterest, or worse.”
“All that, I should add, was my sum result, in Australia, from years of painfully self-taught Russian and extensive Soviet experience. Needless to say, no job offers.”
“That hardly any of our ambassadors to the four countries I have been involved with over the years could speak the language of the nation to which they were accredited says it all.”
Most of it is a swipe at Australia for turning him down to be their ambassador to Japan I guess.
“Very successful Akita International Liberal Arts University now rated with Tokyo University for difficulty of entrance.”
Since when is difficulty of entrance a measure of quality for any establishment. I would imagine the standards have more to do with the size of the parents bank account as opposed to any measure of real merit.
I think by any measure Clark has lived a charmed life, especially by the standards of NJ in Japan. It could have been a lot worse. Instead of being bereaved over disappointments and past snubs to his ego, maybe he should grow some roses on his land in Chiba. That would give him something more pleasant to smell than his own bitter petunias.