Sfrom Japan Although the parliamentary session began three months ago, one issue dominates the agenda: a financial scandal within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (PDL). Late last year, prosecutors opened an investigation into party factions. PDL who had failed to declare income from fundraising events, thereby avoiding tax. Several people linked to PDL, including accountants and parliamentarians, were indicted. In December, four ministers and five deputy ministers were dismissed. On April 4, Kishida Fumio, the prime minister, asked two of his party’s heavyweights to resign and punished 37 others. PDL members.
What is perhaps surprising is that this political unrest dates back Shimbun Akahata (“Red Flag Newspaper”), a relatively specialized newspaper run by the Japanese Communist Party (JCP). It is read by 850,000 subscribers, up from a peak of around 3.5 million in 1980. It first reported funding gaps in 2022. ‘I didn’t expect things to explode’ , says Sasagawa Kamiyu, 33. journalist who first reported the scoop after reviewing government documents. He worked with Kamiwaki Hiroshi, a law professor at Kobe Gakuin University, who filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors.
This is not the first time that Akahata punched above its weight. In 2013, she carried out investigations into black kigyo (“black businesses”), which highlighted the prevalence of abusive workplaces and pushed the government to introduce stricter regulation. In 2019, he reported on politicians subsidizing dinners for their supporters at an annual cherry blossom viewing party. Abe Shinzo, then prime minister, was questioned by prosecutors; Although he was never indicted, the scandal dogged Abe until his resignation in August 2020. The newspaper covers topics “that everyone is too afraid to talk about,” says Nick Kapur of Rutgers University in the USA.
The tumultuous history of the newspaper contributes to its “strong desire to oppose power,” explains Kogiso Yoji, its editor-in-chief. Akahata was founded in 1928, six years after the JCP have been established. Japan’s militarist regime banned the Communist Party because it was considered subversive. Akahata was produced and distributed clandestinely; the police arrested and tortured those who read it. After World War II, American occupying forces took JCP a legal party, because it claimed to promote democracy and freedom of expression.
But Akahata‘s achievements point to an inconvenient truth. Traditional media remains powerful in Japan. Yomiuri And Asahi, two of Japan’s national newspapers, have one of the largest circulations in the world, printing 6.8 million and 4 million copies per day respectively. Yet these mainstream media often fail to hold politicians accountable. Self-censorship is widespread as journalists develop close ties to authorities and try to avoid antagonizing ultranationalist groups, which police say have tens of thousands of members. These can be an intimidating force in public life.
According to Reporters Without Borders, a NGO based in Paris, Japan’s press freedom rankings rose from 11th in 2010 to 68th in 2023. AkahataScoops typically come from publicly available information, including government reports and social media posts. Regarding the cherry blossom scandal, journalists were invited and attended Abe’s banquet every year. Yet they failed to realize that it might violate political financing rules. “Usually the mainstream media already knows what we know,” says Kogiso. “We just have a different perspective.” ■