Mr. Abe, once a popular former prime minister, may indeed be on his "social death" day. According to the "Observer Network" news, Netflix's latest TV series "News Reporter" is becoming very popular in Japan, and has successively become the ratings champion of the Daily and Weekly Lists, and has formed a hot topic.
As soon as the drama came out, the Japanese media almost noticed the relationship between the plot and Abe. It is difficult to say whether Abe's popularity has driven the popularity of the series, or whether the drama's popularity has attracted the public's attention to turn to Japanese politics again. But in any case, this drama is undoubtedly Abe's "mirror".
The series alludes to the "Moritomo Gakuen malfeasance scandal" in which Abe and his wife Akie Abe are involved, and it is also the black history that Abe is most reluctant to face and strongly hopes to get rid of the interference.
But the more you want to draw a line and the more you want to escape, it will be seen by more people and arouse the interest of more people. In this regard, the Japanese media also believe that seeing this insinuated tv series that satirizes themselves is very popular, it is estimated that the Abe couple will be dizzy.
The series is not entirely fictional, but is based on true events, and the original is a best-selling novel about the author's struggle against the Abe regime, written by Tsukiko Tsukii, a journalist who works for the Tokyo Shimbun.
Anyone familiar with Japanese politics knows that this reporter is not a fuel-saving lamp. She dared to question officials directly at press conferences and pursued some sensitive political issues so hard that some politicians cried out that it was not good when they saw her.
Especially in 2017, when the two Abe scandals broke out, the reporter was even more full of firepower, making Abe very faceless.
The so-called "Moritomo Gakuen scandal" refers to the fact that under the interference of Mrs. Abe, the academy auctioned a piece of state-owned land worth 1 billion yen at the price of a white pick, which caused a shock in Japanese society. In addition, Abe's friend's use of Japan's "National Strategic Special Zone" to establish a new veterinary college was also exposed as a directive from the top level of Japanese politics.
At that time, both of these events were alleged to be behind Abe's manipulation, and it was from this year that Abe's approval rating began to decline, and the female reporter who had been following up on these two scandals was the same.
She repeatedly issued sharp questions in front of Japanese officials, forcing the Japanese government to issue an ultimatum directly to the reporter's owner, the Tokyo Shimbun, and some people telephoned and threatened to "kill" Mochizuki, but the reporter was not afraid of power and insisted on fighting to the end.
Unfortunately, her arms could not twist her thighs, and as a journalist, Mochizuki did not pry open Abe's mouth; but as a writer, she completed the feat of "saving the country through the curve", allowing everyone to glimpse the darkness of the Abe regime. In Japan, TV series adaptations are different from book publishing, and censorship and control are more stringent, so there is a fairly wide gap between adapting novels into TV series. And because Japanese people have always been sensitive to politics, no director wants to touch this hot potato.
After all the efforts, the novel was finally adapted into a movie and released in 2019, because of the suppression of the Japanese government, the film was almost no publicity, and the landing theater line was also greatly restricted. However, the film went low and high, conquering the audience and film critics with excellent quality, not only breaking through 600 million yen at the box office, but also winning authoritative film awards in succession. Obviously, this script and theme are obviously attractive, and with the novel and movie as the foundation, it is natural that the TV series version with a wider audience will be launched.
This year's series depicts Abe in greater detail and scale, with the Japanese prime minister in the series saying, "If I or my wife are involved in this incident, then I will definitely resign as prime minister and member of the Diet." At that time, the audience saw the shadow of Shinzo Abe.
Because it is produced by an American online platform, it has been less interfered with by the Japanese government and can restore the spirit of the original work. The drama has achieved a good response in society, and it has also aroused more people's antipathy to the Abe regime.
The open-ended end of the film is very different from reality, and it can also arouse the public's hope that the "Moritomo Gakuen scandal" can come to fruition, and some netizens said that although the government in the play has been very dirty, this is still not realistic enough, because the real Japan is much uglier than this, and it can arouse the people's disgust, which is the success of this drama.
And the culprit of all this, Abe, is about to be abandoned by the Japanese people. Perhaps the drama will become the most unexpected political turning point for Abe, the thief-hearted politician.