体質的な批判拒否？ ― 2015/04/28 21:41
内田は学者のはずなのに、このブログのエントリーには出典の明示がなかったが、朝日新聞の記事には出典が日本外国特派員協会の機関誌だと書かれている。先生いけませんねぇ。原文を読みたければ日本外国特派員協会 (FCCJ) のウェブサイトで読めるし「短期間に大きな反響を得た」ため和訳もアップされている。
原文の著者であるカルステン・ゲルミス元東京特派員の所属する
Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) はドイツの保守系有力紙だ。朝日新聞の報道によればFAZ側はFAZの記事内容に抗議するために訪れた坂本秀之フランクフルト総領事との会話記録には自信があるとのことで、これは恐らくFAZに坂本との会話の録音があるからだろう。坂本がいくら朝日新聞の取材に対して「金をもらっているというようなことは一言も言っていない。ビザも、中国の言論統制の話の流れで話題に出たが、ゲルミス記者個人のビザの話は一切していない。思い込みで言っているとしか思えない」と否定しみても出るところに出れば恥をかくのは恐らく坂本の方だ。
ということはこの問題、行くところまで行けば「出先の外交官が勝手な判断で動いたからこんな結果になった。誠に遺憾なことで今後このようなことのないよう関係各所に周知徹底する」と出先を討ち死にさせる形で幕引きになるのかもしれない。
朝日新聞の取材に対してFAZ側は「政府関係者が直接抗議に訪れたのは、北朝鮮の政府関係者以来」と言っているという。
なんでそんなことを外務省が出先の総領事に指示したのだろう？
それは「FAZの書くことがケシカランから何とかしろ」という指示が内閣府から出たからだろう。
しかしこの種の報道に対する対応策の中には「一方はあえて放っておくが、別なところでそれを中和するような情報をあれこれ流す」という選択肢があるはずだ。FAZのような先進国の一流紙相手の場合、この選択肢を選ぶべきだという判断は、政府の雇っているPR会社にはあったはずだ（そんな提言も出来ないような会社を雇っているのなら予算の無駄遣いだ）。
それが何故？
それは恐らく内閣府のトップに立つ安倍晋三の性格や嗜好を内閣府の優秀な官僚たちが斟酌して敢えて業界の常識とは異なる「放っておくな」という判断をしたからだろとしか考えられない。
「インサイドライン」というその筋では有名な永田町業界紙がある。主筆の歳川隆雄によれば「安部首相はプーチン（ロシア）、エルドアン（トルコ）、エルベグドルジ（モンゴル）のように独裁的な権力を握っている政治家とウマが合う」そうだ。独裁志向の殿の逆鱗を恐れて官僚が諫言を控えていて、その殿は殿で諫言を受け止められないくらい体質的に批判を拒否する性向を持っているとしたら、日本の行く末は暗い。
Thin skinned to a fault? ― 2015/04/29 09:59
A ripple has occurred within the Japanese blogosphere after locally
well-known liberal commentator and Kobe College emeritus professor
Tatsuru Uchida, uploaded his personal translation of "On My Watch --
Confessions of a foreign correspondent after a half-decade of
reporting from Tokyo to his German readers" on his blog. The
Confessions of a foreign correspondent after a half-decade of
reporting from Tokyo to his German readers" on his blog. The
original article was written by ex Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Tokyo correspondent Carsten Germis, and had appeared in Number 1 Shimbun
the monthly journal of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (to his
discredit Uchida does not quote the source of his translation). As of
writing reTweets stood at 4,928, Facebook Likes 10K and the FCCJ has
uploaded its own Japanese translation of the Germis piece on its website.
The ripple has been sufficiently large for the liberal Asahi Shimbun (with
7M+ plus paid readership the second largest Japanese daily) to weigh in
with an article of its own.
The Germis piece details his and FAZ' multiple encounters with the
apparently increasingly thin skinned administration of Shinzo Abe,
while the Asahi article includes interviews of the two antagonists, the
FAZ and the Japanese consul general in Frankfurt who went to FAZ
to complain about its article on Japan.
A quick question that springs to mind after reading the Germis and
the Asahi articles is why the Japanese consul general went ahead to
the FAZ to verbally lodge his complaint (apparently in perfect
German), when he must have known that his complaint could potentially
appear on FAZ' page and embarrass him and his government.
The overwhelming possibility is that he took action because he was
ordered to do so by his superiors at the Japanese Embassy in Berlin,
who in turn were instructed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs (a very
normal chain of command), who in turn took his cues from the Cabinet
Office, whose head is ultimately the Prime Minister of Japan.
It is however surprising that the Cabinet Office was not aware of the
risks of a direct confrontation with the FAZ. Surely the PR firms in
the Office's employ must have counseled more subtle ways to address
the government's concerns. But the Office must have gone ahead with
the blunt approach anyway. Why?
Was that because when push comes to shove, the incident could be
swept under the rug by a statement by the government to the effect
that this was an unfortunate initiative taken by a minor official which
would henceforth never be repeated (alas the front line guys always
end up as fall guys)?
Takao Toshikawa a journalist who runs a well known local politics
newsletter Inside Line has on several occasions observed that Shinzo
Abe has good personal chemistry with Presidents Putin, Erdogan and
Elbegdorj (Mongolia) all famously sharing an authoritarian streak. If
Abe's own authoritarian streak renders his minions' initiatives to
anticipation and action on the whims of their master only, and makes
them fear seeking permission to speak freely, or if the confrontation
with the FAZ was indeed made on orders from the very top, then
Japan is truly and unfortunately headed for a rather dim future.
On the other hand if it was the bureaucrats' way of telling the PM
that you don't do things this way in the civilized world, that would be
quite a stunt pulled by these faceless men and women -- but that
IMHO is reading too much between the lines.
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