Playback ’04] “I Love My Freedom” – A New Reporter Reports on Naoto Kan’s Disappointing Pilgrimage

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In “Playback Friday,” we take a look back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we will look back at the “FRIDAY ” article from the August 6, 2004 issue, which was published 20 years ago, “Our new female reporter will accompany you! Naoto Kan’s 200-kilometer Shikoku Pilgrimage,” which appeared in the August 6, 2004 issue.

In 2004, during the spring session of the Diet, the “pension non-payment problem” of then Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Taro Aso and three other members of the Koizumi Cabinet came to light. Naoto Kan, then 57, who had been the representative of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), pursued the issue vigorously, deriding them as the “three non-paying brothers,” was forced to resign as representative when it was revealed that he himself had not paid his pension for a period of time. Two months later, on July 15, Kan suddenly found himself on a “pilgrimage” to 88 sacred sites on the island of Shikoku. Our new reporter closely followed him along the way. We would like to report on his journey to the 88 sacred sites of Shikoku. (Descriptions in parentheses are quoted from previous articles.)

I don’t want to think, “That guy is so ungrateful.

On his website, he wrote, “The past three months have been (omitted) a series of major events. Before doing anything else in the future, I need time to stop and look at myself.”…… A new female reporter for this magazine, 22, who is no stranger to pilgrimages, having visited 88 pilgrimage sites as a student, flew to Shikoku to question Mr. Kan’s true intentions.