The Japanese government under the leadership of Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party have since returning to power in December of 2012 worked hard to marginalized, intimidate and quash any voice which is critical of the ruling party. Members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are about half a step from being out right authoritarian.
When Abe appointed the new director of NHK Japan's national public broadcaster (paraphrasing here) he stated that the broadcaster wouldn't stray from the government line. NHK is supposed to be neutral, giving all sides a place to voice their agreement or disagreement with government policy. By coming straight out and articulating a policy that parrots the governments NHK can no longer be seen as objective observer of the news or government policy.
NHK hasn't been the only target of the government the Asahi Shinbun has been on the receiving end of an endless string of abuse from the government and more than 8,000 right wing activists who have sued the newspaper over a series of articles they published in the 1980's and 90's about Comfort Women.
Yes, Shinzo Abe and the rest of the LDP are a bunch of scumbags who live in world of their own construct. A world where Japan was humiliated by its defeat in World War II, a place where no war crimes or crimes against humanity were committed by the Japanese Imperial Army, a place where history must be rewritten so it reflects their beliefs and a world where blind obedience is the only way.
Let's face it they could bring back authoritarian rule they would.
When Abe appointed the new director of NHK Japan's national public broadcaster (paraphrasing here) he stated that the broadcaster wouldn't stray from the government line. NHK is supposed to be neutral, giving all sides a place to voice their agreement or disagreement with government policy. By coming straight out and articulating a policy that parrots the governments NHK can no longer be seen as objective observer of the news or government policy.
NHK hasn't been the only target of the government the Asahi Shinbun has been on the receiving end of an endless string of abuse from the government and more than 8,000 right wing activists who have sued the newspaper over a series of articles they published in the 1980's and 90's about Comfort Women.
The 18 articles were formally retracted last year.
According to the suit filed with the Tokyo District Court, the plaintiffs, including researchers, journalists and lawmakers, demanded that ¥10,000 in compensation be paid to each person, arguing the major daily “damaged Japanese people’s personal rights and honor.”
It also demands the paper run an ad to apologize for “spreading erroneous facts to international society.”Recently their efforts have focused on individual reporters and commentators appearing on various news programs.
The left-leaning daily withdrew the 18 stories last August because they focused on a man named Seiji Yoshida, who claimed to have participated in rounding up females for use as sex slaves by the Japanese military.
It was an unexpected act of protest that shook Japan’s carefully managed media world: Shigeaki Koga, a regular television commentator and fierce critic of the political establishment, abruptly departed from the scripted conversation during a live TV news program to announce that this would be his last day on the show because, as he put it, network executives had succumbed to political pressure for his removal.
“I have suffered intense bashing by the prime minister’s office,” Mr. Koga told his visibly flabbergasted host late last month, saying he had been removed as commentator because of critical statements he had made about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Later in the program, Mr. Koga held up a sign that read “I am not Abe,” a play on the slogan of solidarity for journalists slain in January at a French satirical newspaper.
Yes, Shinzo Abe and the rest of the LDP are a bunch of scumbags who live in world of their own construct. A world where Japan was humiliated by its defeat in World War II, a place where no war crimes or crimes against humanity were committed by the Japanese Imperial Army, a place where history must be rewritten so it reflects their beliefs and a world where blind obedience is the only way.
Let's face it they could bring back authoritarian rule they would.
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