Issue:
February 2025 | Obituary
As Yomiuri overlord, Tsuneo Watanabe was bold, brash, and riven with contradictions
Tsuneo Watanabe, the towering figure behind the Yomiuri Shimbun, was sometimes referred to as the Rupert Murdoch of Japan, and for good reason.
Like Murdoch, Watanabe wielded immense power through his control of one of the world’s most widely circulated newspapers, shaping not only public opinion but also the political landscape. Over his decades at the helm, he transformed the Yomiuri into a media behemoth that dominated Japanese print journalism and profoundly influenced the country’s political narrative. Yet, while Watanabe’s contributions to journalism were undeniable, his career was also marked by controversy, accusations of partisanship, an uneasy relationship with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and allegations of abuse of power.
I was a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun for over 12 years, from 1993 to 2012. I know how much power he had at the newspaper and I was also dragged into scandals where he abused that power.
In an editorial for Yukan Fuji in November 2011, I wrote the following about him:
Mr. Watanabe is relentless in crushing those who are his enemies. He will use all his power, including the media, politicians, police, and lawyers, to destroy them. He is always ready to sue people for defamation and make them suffer financially. He is similar to the black-hearted yakuza called "the Chairman" in the movie Outrage directed by Takeshi Kitano.
Chairman Watanabe is a "cancer" of the Yomiuri Group. It is an open secret that during the past few years, he has privatized the Yomiuri Shimbun and tried to turn the National News Department from a "watchdog" into a "lapdog.
There is not a single person, inside or outside the company, who is brave enough to stand up to him.
I have something to say to Chairman Watanabe, because the spirit of company loyalty still remains. I don't expect him to lend me his ear.
But as a warrior's mercy, I would like to advise you as follows. Please retire, for the sake of Yomiuri Shimbun and for your own.
There is still time for you to do good in some (Buddhist) temple somewhere.
He never took that advice.
Watanabe’s rise in the world of media was nothing short of meteoric. After joining the Yomiuri Shimbun circa 1950, he worked his way up to become editor-in-chief in 1985, and eventually the paper’s president and chairman. Under his leadership, the Yomiuri set circulation records, consistently reaching over 10 million readers. Watanabe wasn’t content with merely reporting the news; he wanted to shape it.
One of his notable achievements, surprisingly, was his push for newspaper reform. Watanabe championed investigative journalism and modernized the newsroom, ensuring that the Yomiuri maintained its relevance in a rapidly changing media environment. In the 1990s, he played a pivotal role in fostering discussions about Japan’s role in the post-Cold War world, encouraging debates about constitutional revision and military policy – issues that had long been taboo in Japan’s pacifist society.
Like Murdoch, Watanabe understood the power of the press as a tool for political influence. Both men were unabashed in using their platforms to advance their political agendas. Murdoch’s influence on Western politics – particularly in the U.S and Britain – is legendary, with media outlets such as Fox News and the Sun championing conservative ideologies. Similarly, Watanabe’s Yomiuri Shimbun became a mouthpiece for the LDP, Japan’s dominant political party.
But where Murdoch’s influence was overt, brash, and often unapologetic, Watanabe’s was more insidious. He operated in the shadows, leveraging the Yomiuri’s editorial pages to subtly push policies that aligned with the LDP’s agenda. Critics argued that, under Watanabe, the Yomiuri was less an independent watchdog than an accomplice to power. This alignment wasn’t coincidental; Watanabe had a close relationship with many LDP leaders and was rumored to exert significant sway over party strategy.
Watanabe’s relationship with the LDP is perhaps the most controversial aspect of his legacy. While he claimed to support a free press, his tenure at the Yomiuri often suggested otherwise. The paper’s editorial stance consistently echoed the LDP’s positions, particularly on contentious issues such as constitutional reform, economic policy, and Japan’s alliance with the United States.
For instance, during the debates over Japan’s military role in the early 2000s, the Yomiuri vigorously supported the LDP’s push to reinterpret Article 9 of the constitution to allow for collective self-defense. Critics accused Watanabe of abandoning journalistic neutrality in favor of political expediency, turning the Yomiuri into a de facto propaganda arm of the ruling party. This capitulation undermined the credibility of Japanese journalism, as it blurred the line between news and opinion, leaving many to wonder whether the country’s largest newspaper was serving the public interest or the interests of its political allies.
Despite these criticisms, Watanabe’s tenure wasn’t without its merits. One of his most commendable contributions was his role in advancing Japan’s reconciliation with its neighbors, particularly South Korea and China, over historical issues. In the early 1990s, the Yomiuri published a series of editorials acknowledging Japan’s wartime atrocities and calling for greater efforts toward regional understanding.
This was a bold move in a country where revisionist views of history often dominate the political discourse. Watanabe’s willingness to confront these uncomfortable truths, however briefly, demonstrated a rare moment of journalistic courage and commitment to fostering dialogue in East Asia. Unfortunately, this progressive stance was short-lived, as the Yomiuri later pivoted to a more nationalist tone under Watanabe’s leadership, aligning with the LDP’s revisionist agenda.
Watanabe’s influence came at a cost, not just for his own reputation but for Japanese democracy as a whole. His alignment with the LDP contributed to the erosion of media independence in Japan, reinforcing a culture where press freedom is often sacrificed at the altar of political convenience.
Much like Murdoch’s impact on Western media, Watanabe’s legacy is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, he modernized Japanese journalism and expanded the Yomiuri’s reach to unprecedented levels. On the other, he used his platform to blur the line between reporting and political advocacy, raising questions about the role of media in a democratic society.
He did not shy away from wielding his power to get what he wanted. When my former boss at the Yomiuri, ace investigative journalist Hidetoshi Kiyotake, publicly criticized Watanabe for his autocratic rule in 2011 and resigned, Watanabe was furious. He told Kiyotake point black, “I’ll destroy you.” He certainly tried to live up to his words.
There were other scandals in which his abuse of his position and connections came to light. In 2004, as chairman and chief editor of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, Watanabe reportedly used his own police reporters to approach officials of the then Metropolitan Police Department to illegally renew his driver's license without taking a formal course for the elderly – as reported by Shukan Bunshun in November 2012.
Everyone was afraid of him. In the National News Department, we did a one-year feature series on rising crime in Japan entitled Anzen Merutodaun (public safety meltdown). He never read it. But shortly after it finished, we did a rehash of the entire series called Chian Saisei (restoring law and order). When I asked the editor in charge why we were essentially recycling the same themes, he said, “Nabetsune read something about the decline in crime clearance rates here and ordered a feature series on the issue. No one had the guts to tell him that we had already done it and he just hadn’t read it. So here we are.”
Watanabe understood the power of words, and the power of those who control them. His tenure at the Yomiuri Shimbun was marked by moments of brilliance and integrity, but also by capitulation and complicity. His legacy serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of concentrated media power and the fine line between influence and manipulation.
As Japan continues to grapple with its own challenges – political, economic, and social – Watanabe’s shadow looms large. Whether this is a gift or a curse depends on who you ask, and what headline you’re reading.
Jake Adelstein has been an investigative journalist in Japan since 1993. He co-hosted and co-wrote the award-winning podcast about missing people in Japan, The Evaporated: Gone With The Gods. He is the author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan (Vintage) which is a series on (HBO) Max and also The Last Yakuza: Life and Death In The Japanese Underworld (2023) and Tokyo Noir (2024).
