Young Student Reporter Tackles Hyogo Election and Moritomo Scandal in Media Critique

The current state of the junior high school journalist who went viral

“The biggest change is my glasses.”

When asked what had changed most about himself in the two and a half years since his first interview, Kawanaka Daiji laughed and said this.

When FRIDAY Digital interviewed him about six months after he launched the “Japan Junior High School Newspaper” in September 2023, the boy on the other side of the screen had a serious gaze. About two and a half years have passed since then. This spring, Kawanaka, who had just graduated from junior high school, published his first book, “This is the Japan Junior High School Newspaper”, from Kashiwa Shobo, and appeared here once again.

The book publication was triggered by the FRIDAY Digital article going viral on social media and generating a huge response. The editor in charge told him, “If you write 10,000 characters a month, that’s 120,000 characters—enough for a whole book.” However, doing interviews and writing at the same time proved difficult.

“I enjoy interviewing, but I get tired before I can get to the point of actually writing it, and I also have school, and before I knew it, two and a half years had passed.” Even so, the desire to publish a book before graduating from junior high school kept Kawanaka going.

Originally, Kawanaka became interested in politics around third grade in elementary school, triggered by an election for the House of Councillors. His interest deepened further during the Osaka Metropolis Plan referendum the following year. The launch of his newspaper in March 2023 was also motivated by his desire to ask then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (68) at the G7 Hiroshima Summit why Japan had not signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. However, when he applied online for press accreditation for the G7 Summit, he was not even allowed to submit his application by the Foreign Ministry official in charge, being told things like because you are a student and because you have no track record. Even so, he did not stop reporting.

No hesitation, self-funded reporting into the hidden side of politics

Over the past three years, the range of people Kawanaka has covered is astonishingly diverse: the Osaka Yumeshima IR issue, the Expo, Kyoto mayoral election, Hyogo gubernatorial election, politicians involved in slush funds, and more. He has crisscrossed the Kansai region, directly confronting politicians one after another. “Almost all of my reporting is in the red financially. But during the Kyoto mayoral election, when I asked candidate Takaji Matsui (65) what he thought about Osaka’s IR, he said, ‘It might be fine for some cities, but it’s not needed in Kyoto.’ You only understand many things by actually meeting people,” he says.

One of the people he has interacted with since the beginning of his reporting career as a fellow journalist is election writer Rihito Hatakeyama (53). After being impressed by questions asked during former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s press conferences, Kawanaka read Hatakeyama’s books and met him through a mutual acquaintance. They first met during the unified local elections in April 2023, and he still uses the IC recorder they bought together that day. Hatakeyama’s words, “You should really become a newspaper journalist,” still remain in his heart.

“My motto is to write what I want without worrying about anyone. The most important thing is to avoid turning it into positional rhetoric. I read both so-called right-wing magazines like ‘Hanada’ and ‘WiLL’, as well as the left-leaning ‘Sekaifrom’ Iwanami, and I think it’s important to listen to a wide range of opinions, even opposing ideologies.”

Breaking through refusals at the door! Tenacious direct questioning

Even as recognition increases, doors for interviews do not always open. During the House of Councillors election, he joined a press gaggle with Sohei Kamiya (48) of the Sanseito party, but was told freelancers not allowed and sent away. The scene was filmed by TV Osaka, which was covering the election, and spread as a short video, even causing non-politically interested friends to message him saying, “What happened?” During ambush interviews with Sanseito candidates in single-member districts, he was asked to go through the party, and one candidate even refused photography of campaign activities on a public road.

On the other hand, when his press registration for the Japan Innovation Party was rejected, he directly appealed to party Diet member Nobuyuki Baba (61), and the next day he was added to the mailing list. His belief that nothing changes unless I act myself is the source of his drive.

November 3, 2024 Hyogo gubernatorial election. At the front of Shin-Nagata Station, approaching candidate Takashi Tachibana, who is drinking milk tea, and conducting an ambush interview (PHOTO: Provided by Japan Junior High School Newspaper)

Anger at modern politics that mocks the weak

One of the main focuses of the book is the Osaka Yumeshima IR issue. Through an interview with gambling addiction support expert Noriko Tanaka (61), he came to grasp the outline of the irresponsibility surrounding casinos.

“People say that paying an entry fee of 6,000 yen makes it safe as a countermeasure, but for someone betting in the millions, 6,000 yen is trivial.

Addiction countermeasures should be implemented at a more advanced level than the EU before moving forward, and even education in schools is problematic. It is taught in health and physical education classes, but the textbooks used present people with addiction and people without addiction in contrast, which ends up encouraging discriminatory attitudes.

Even the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare points out that people who develop addiction may come to believe they are weak-willed, blame themselves, and worsen their condition, yet school education is reinforcing that prejudice. Government administration should exist for the weakest members of society, but that is not being done at all.”

The book also covers the case of Toshio Akagi (aged 54), a Ministry of Finance official who was forced into falsifying official documents in the Moritomo Gakuen scandal and died by suicide, as well as former Hyogo prefectural assembly member Hideaki Takeuchi (aged 50), who opposed Governor Motohiko Saito (48), was targeted by false information on social media, suffered defamation, and died.

“Being able to say something is wrong when it is wrong requires intelligence and confidence, doesn’t it? So why can people call Toshio Akagi or Hideaki Takeuchi weak? The fact that people like Takashi Tachibana (58) say things like politicians should expect criticism; dying just makes them weak is what most strongly shows the cruelty of the adult world.

For both Mr. Akagi and Mr. Takeuchi, there are surprisingly many people—both those labeled conservative and those who call themselves liberal—who think of them as weak. I believe that is fundamentally wrong.”

The darkness of elections without fact-checking

Regarding the House of Representatives election, he raises concerns about a video by Sanae Takaichi (65) allegedly reaching 100 million views in just a few days.

“Unless you’re someone like Hikakin, a video from the Liberal Democratic Party with about 200,000 subscribers cannot reach that kind of number in just a few days.

It is more natural to think that massive advertising spending was used to boost views, and the fact that it surpassed 100 million views in less than 10 days—compared to YOASOBI’s ‘Idol,’ which took 35 days—is evidence of that. Rules on advertising during election periods need urgent conclusions, and the monetization of political content is also distorting public opinion. I also monetize my own YouTube, but if discussions about restricting monetization arise, I would support them.”

Through his interviews with election expert Hajime Imai (71), representative of the Citizens’ Information Office on referendums and national votes, he strongly felt the importance of citizens engaging with politics in their daily lives.

Regarding the Hyogo gubernatorial election, he notes: “While allegations against Governor Saito were reported in extreme detail, when it came to the election itself, media outlets did not conduct any fact-checking even when Takashi Tachibana made statements that were contrary to fact. In today’s world where there is no brake on the internet, the media must fulfill that role.”

Regarding the media’s idea of neutrality, he also says: “There are cases where fear of being attacked on social media prevents action. We need to redefine what neutrality means.”

A backlash against the irrational political taboo

Kawanaka’s starting point was a personal experience: he was scolded by a teacher for talking about politics at school. Even when he argued back using Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child—the right to express opinions—he was told in return that there are various opinions, so you should not talk about it at school.

“I think Japan’s awareness of children’s rights is still at the level before World War I. There are still many people who see children as objects of adult protection. It has been nearly 32 years since ratification of the treaty. I hope this book helps people realize that we are subjects of rights,” he said.

That frustration led to the founding of “The Japan Junior High School Newspaper”, his role as student council president (for up to three terms), and three years of reporting activity.

“Since around the time Shinji Ishimaru (43) stepped down as mayor of Akitakata, more of my peers began to loosely take an interest in politics through social media. We started discussing things like whether Japan should take a position on an attack on Iran or the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. But I think we still don’t really see the reality that children the same age as us are being killed.”

A young reporter taking on the Constitution and the Moritomo scandal

Regarding his future, he says, “Broadly speaking, either a politician or a journalist.” If he becomes a politician, he wants to focus on activating constitutional reform debate and UN reform.

“Article 9 of the Constitution shouldn’t be treated as untouchable. I think this is a time when everyone should reconsider what Japan’s pacifism should be.

The original meaning of Article 9 is that even self-defense wars are not permitted.

However, because constitutional interpretation has been changed multiple times, the government now states that collective self-defense is partially permitted. Rather than allowing arbitrary reinterpretation by those in power, we need to seriously debate what ‘Japan’s pacifism’ should be so that it does not become a revision that worsens the Constitution. Ultimately, the final decision belongs to the people.

I think the current Liberal Democratic Party draft constitutional revision is not good, but the only part I agree with in the draft is making it mandatory to convene an extraordinary Diet session within 20 days. Article 53 of the current Constitution states that the Diet must be convened if one-quarter or more of members request it, but there is no deadline. Because of that, the ruling party has ignored opposition requests for two to three months in the past.

That restriction should be written into the Constitution. In addition, we need updates such as the inclusion of privacy rights and the right to know, which have emerged in the age of social media. If the right to know were explicitly written into the Constitution, I think it would change the entire system of the country.”

The issue he is currently most focused on is the Moritomo scandal.

“The Ministry of Finance’s published investigation report states that then–Budget Bureau Director General Nobuhisa Sagawa (68) instructed the document falsification. Yet the ministry says there are no emails from senior officials because emails are automatically deleted after two months. If there are no emails, then how can we know how the instructions for falsification were given?

Bereaved family member Masako Akagi (55) has long been calling for an independent third-party investigation.”

On the 14th, the Ministry of Finance released documents related to the sale of state-owned land to Moritomo Gakuen. However, this seventh disclosure was said to be the final one, with staff notebooks remaining undisclosed and no documents found that clearly show when or how former director Sagawa gave instructions—effectively closing the lid just as it had begun to open.

This spring, Kawanaka became a high school student. The interview took place the day before, on March 31. While saying, “Professional journalists are amazing and I respect them,” he also added, “I think we need to further discuss how journalism should be conducted.”

Two and a half years ago, when he first appeared in front of “FRIDAY” Digital, his reporting experience was less than six months. Since then, he has hosted a regular segment on TV Osaka’s official YouTube channel “Junior Reporter Daiji’s Dialogue Club,” appeared on ABEMA and Culture Broadcasting, conducted direct interviews with former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and former Prime Minister Fumio Ishiba (69), and even published a scoop on a House of Councillors election candidate in “Nikkan Gendai.”

Shortly after graduating, he already held a published book in his hands. Kawanaka says, “It was FRIDAY Digital’s article that led to the book.” Few interviews are as fitting of the word homecoming as this one.