The Price of Free Speech in Japan
Posted: November 11, 2015 Filed under: Asia, Censorship, Japan, Mediasphere | Tags: American Enterprise Institute, Art of the Third Reich, Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Dmitry Peskov, Harlan Crow, Irving Kristol Award, Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Marco Rubio, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Nuclear program of Iran, Shinzō Abe Leave a comment
Koji Murata was dismissed Friday as president of a prestigious Japanese university for supporting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policies. Photo: Kyodo
“Japan’s academics are known to be a largely liberal lot, but the concerns over free speech in the Murata case reflect Japan’s larger problems. At root, it’s about how the country will face both its past and its future.”
A favorite claim of liberal academics and activists is that Japan remains one of the most conservative societies. In recent years, their invective has been directed toward Mr. Abe, who is charged with repressing and intimidating liberal views. Media outlets argue that they have been pressured, and academics warn that government forces are trying to stifle debate about the country’s wartime past.
Yet punishing free speech in Japan is no prerogative of the right. Last week, the president of the prestigious liberal-arts college Doshisha failed to be re-elected due to his support earlier this year of Mr. Abe’s controversial security legislation to relax post-World War II restrictions on the use of the military.
Koji Murata is a well-known and respected academic and public intellectual in Japan. A fixture on news shows, the nattily dressed Mr. Murata is also an expert on foreign policy and security. In July, he was one of several experts testifying in front of Japan’s Parliament in favor of Mr. Abe’s security bills, which would modestly expand Japan’s ability to conduct military operations abroad. Read the rest of this entry »
pundit from another planet 