February 6, 2014

Another member of the NHK Board of Governors, picked by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, praised the 1993 suicide of an extreme nationalist. The revelation came following controversial remarks regarding the Japanese military’s sex slavery system and the Nanjing Massacre made by executives of the public broadcaster.

Hasegawa Michiko contributed an essay to a leaflet published last fall commemorating the 20th anniversary of the death of Nomura Shusuke, a high-profile rightist who shot himself to death at the Asahi Shimbun headquarters in Tokyo in 1993.

Hasegawa, who is also professor emeritus of Saitama University, said in the essay that Nomura “sacrificed his life to talk with God” and “offered his death to God.”

In a Diet deliberation on February 5, Prime Minister Abe stated that he cannot comment on Hasegawa’s essay because he has not read it.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide at a press conference on the same day also defended Hasegawa by saying, “Board members’ freedom of thought and expression cannot be restricted.”

Regarding Article 9 of the Constitution, Hasegawa once stated, “The Japanese Constitution’s ‘pacifism’ amounts to a waiver of national sovereignty” (Sankei Shimbun on April 30, 2013).

Past related article:
> Public anger growing at NHK president’s remarks (January 28, 2014)