Haruki Murakami Criticizes Prime Minister Suga: "Counterattacking Criticism Is Shameful"

Haruki Murakami

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] Japanese author Haruki Murakami criticized politicians who refuse to accept criticism. It appears he made these remarks with recent events in mind, such as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga excluding scholars who opposed government policies from appointments to the Science Council of Japan.

On the 21st (local time), Murakami said in an interview with the French daily Lib?ration, "When criticized, they (instead of responding) throw back other criticisms. It is a shameful way to behave." He lamented, "Even Japan's prime minister acts like that," adding, "One must clearly explain what is inside oneself." He expressed this view while citing his recent concerns about the weakening of communication on social networking services (SNS) and the decline of the media.

Murakami also mentioned that when the government or politicians run the administration to maintain their own interests or power, "It is the role of scientists and researchers to say that we must not go in that direction."

His remarks evoke the recent controversy surrounding appointments to the Science Council. Since the Abe Shinzo administration, scholars who expressed critical opinions of government policies were excluded from appointments to the council immediately after the Suga Cabinet was formed, an unprecedented event. Criticism arose that Prime Minister Suga, who holds the appointment authority, was trying to control academic freedom through power, but Suga did not clearly explain the reasons for refusing the appointments, stating it was "a personnel matter."

The Suga administration responded to criticism over the Science Council appointments by counterattacking, raising issues such as existing members exercising de facto vested interests in the appointment process and the need to verify the council's budget usage.

Additionally, Murakami reflected on the year 2020, saying, "For me personally, 2020 was the year of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19)," and evaluated the spread of COVID-19 as "an event inseparable from globalization and populism."

Regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, he said, "It did not suddenly emerge from nowhere. It is part of a series of events," indicating the difficulty of separating changes such as economic globalization, populism, and the development of the internet and SNS from COVID-19, as reported by Asahi.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.