Looking at the thirty years of the Heisei era, there were quite a few thank-you press conferences, which almost became synonymous with Heisei.
On April 5, 2019, Japan's Deputy Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ichiro Tsukada held a press conference to "apologize" to the outside world because of his "hesitation" speech, and resigned from responsibility. But for the Japanese people, this is just one of many thank-you press conferences, which have long been used to.
Looking at the thirty years of the Heisei era, there were quite a few thank-you press conferences, which almost became synonymous with Heisei, and the protagonists of the apologies, whether they were politicians, artists, or entrepreneurs, the reasons for the apologies were also strange. Many funny artists often joke about the thank-for-sin press conference, and even the well-known Japanese ghost screenwriter Miyato Kankuro also wrote a movie "The King of Gratitude", which makes people wonder how much the Japanese love to apologize.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > one</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the "culture of apology" in the Heisei era</h1>
In fact, the Confession press conference was almost rare in the Showa era (1926-1989), but after the time series entered Heisei, there was a three-day and two-end thank-you news, which can be said that the Heisei era was the "era of apology". This phenomenon is mainly due to the fact that Japan went from the peak of its economy after the post-war period to the heisei period and entered a depressed era due to the collapse of the bubble economy.
In such an era, Japan's various industries are in a quagmire, and the operators of many companies have concealed the reality of poor management in order to make the company's books look good, and when they continue to lose money so that the company cannot continue, they have to declare bankruptcy; in such a situation, they have to hold a press conference and publicly apologize to the outside world, which has become an indiscriminate "thank you press conference" in the business community.
Some are to reduce losses, so they take many unforgivable measures, such as reducing costs and using other inferior quality alternatives, or food manufacturers will be about to expire products to change the reward period, once these things are exposed, under the pressure of public opinion, they have to hold a thank-you press conference.
How much do Japanese people love to apologize? The picture shows the classic apologetic ending of the 2013 novel adaptation of the Japanese drama "Naoki Hanzawa", which finally hit a 42% peak in ratings.
After the collapse of the bubble economy, the intertwined relationship between the political and economic golden power in the past has collapsed, and many unknown darkness has been spread out in the sun for people to test, and it has also become the subject of apology in the political circles. For example, in the Sagawa Emergency Incident in 1992 (Heisei 4), not only was the LDP's elder Kanemaru Nobu arrested, but many political and economic figures were implicated, and for a time everyone was in danger, and many heavyweights held press conferences to clean themselves up.
In 1992 (Heisei 4), the Sagawa Emergency Incident, in which the Liberal Democratic Party's Kinmaru Nobu (first from the left) was arrested, implicating many political and economic figures and holding press conferences to clean themselves up
In addition to the collapse of the bubble economy, the Heisei era was also the era of the Internet, because of the development of the Internet, the flow of information became increasingly rapid, so that many events spread throughout Japan at the first time, which can be described as a bad thing spread far and wide. Once he becomes the protagonist, if he does not apologize at the first time to stop the bleeding, he will only continue to prolong the fever, which also promotes the popularization of the thank-you press conference.
Of course, the ending after the convocation press conference can be said to be good or bad, depending on the attitude of the parties and the process of the press conference. A good thank-you press conference not only can stop the bleeding, sometimes there are unexpected developments, as for the bad press conference, if it cannot stop the bleeding, it will become the object of people's ridicule, and finally disappear into the torrent of history.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > two</h1>
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the "best model" in the art world, and the "god meeting" in the economic world</h1>
It can be seen how important the good or bad of the thank-you press conference is to the parties. Among the many thank-you press conferences in the Heisei era, the first to hold an apologetics press conference was the late character actor Tetsuro Tanba, who held an "unchaste press conference" in 1989 (the first year of Heisei). Tetsuro Tanba, who was 66 years old at the time, had an affair with a 51-year-old former actress and had an illegitimate child of 14 years old, so he was exposed by gossip magazines.
As a result, in the face of the reporter's questioning at the press conference, Tanba Tetsuro generously admitted, saying bluntly that "really, really, all are true, and only you (reporters) don't know." In this press conference, Tetsuro Tanba's response later became the "best model" in the press conference of the art industry.
Tetsuro Tanba's response later became the "best example" in the press conference of the art world's apology.
As for the announcement of the bankruptcy of Yamaichi Securities on November 24, 1997 (Heisei 9), the president's meeting at that time not only stopped the bleeding, but also had an unexpected ending, so it was called "God's Meeting".
Founded in 1897, Yamaichi Securities is a long-established securities company in Japan, which is one of the "four major securities after the war" along with Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities and Nikko Securities. However, due to the failure of investment and the collapse of the bubble economy, the company lost a huge amount of money, and the debt eventually accumulated to 3 trillion yen, so the then president Masahira Nozawa had to come forward to hold a press conference to apologize.
At this press conference, President Nozawa burst into tears and sincerely said a famous quote:
"The company's losses are all my fault, not the fault of the members, so I implore the members who support Yamaichi Securities, please!"
It is this passage that actually makes the public sympathize with the members of Shanyi Securities, and suddenly there are more than 4200 companies, seeking talent from Shanyi Securities, which has gone bankrupt and collapsed, so that the members of Shanyi Securities who were originally facing unemployment can regain their jobs, thus proving that a good thank-you press conference can not only reverse the bad impression of the public, but also save the company's employees.
The picture shows the 2011 yakini restaurant Ebisu food poisoning incident, which caused 57 people to suffer from food poisoning and 5 deaths, and the founder Kansaka Yasuhiro knelt down to apologize.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > three</h1>
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > counterproductive thank-you press conference</h1>
But to be honest, "god meetings" don't happen every day, and most of the thank-you press conferences only make things worse, such as the beef camouflage incident that occurred at hokkaido food companies in 2007 (Heisei 19). The company specializes in the production of beef-related processed products, in its heyday was the highest turnover of Hokkaido food processing industry, did not expect to be kicked in order to reduce costs, actually used pork grinding disguised as beef grinding, but also imported chicken from Brazil, disguised as Japanese domestic chicken.
After the investigation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the outflow of camouflaged meat reached nearly 10,000 tons, triggering a strong social tart. Minoru Tanaka, the president at the time, led the workshop director Masayoshi Nakajima and the president's eldest son, who was the director of the company at the time, to hold a press conference to apologize for their sins. At the press conference, the president and the workshop director faced the reporter's question, "Who is directing it?" At that time, the two pushed each other on the spot and denied that they were directed.
The Hokkaido beef camouflage incident severely damaged the company's image.
Unexpectedly, the eldest son of the president on the side, Tian Zhong, said directly to the reporters at the scene: "Please tell the truth, if you really have to do it, admit it", which made the reporters at the scene dumbfounded, the president had to admit that it was his instructions, of course, he was arrested by the police and finally sentenced to four years in prison.
The classic apology for food also includes the "Snow Seal Dairy Collective Food Poisoning Incident" that occurred in 2000 (Heisei 12). At that time, it was because when milk was sterilized and packaged, it did not really do a good job of hygiene management, and cow milk bred germs, resulting in food poisoning among consumers. At that time, President Tetsuro Ishikawa was still at the factory, dumping all the cow dairy products in front of reporters and holding a press conference to apologize for their sins.
Unexpectedly, after the press conference, Tetsuro Ishikawa responded impatiently when surrounded by reporters:
"I haven't slept yet!"
I didn't expect to provoke the reporter because of this, and I also directly choked back:
"(For your news) we didn't sleep either!"
In this way, the thank-you press conference of Xueyin Dairy fell short, and finally the president stepped down and bowed.
Snow Seal Dairy's thank-you press conference fell short, and the president stepped down and bowed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" ></h1>
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the classic apology of the political world "Weeping Parliamentarian"</h1>
As for the classic apology in politics, it is the "Hyogo Prefectural Councillors Crying Incident" that occurred in 2014. At that time, The Hyogo Prefectural Councilor Nomura Ryutaro was kicked out of the government affairs activities and suffered social tarts, so he had to hold a thank-you press conference to explain the beginning and end, but he did not expect to cry loudly at the press conference scene without saying two words.
The whole press conference turned into a personal show, not only the reporters on the scene were dumbfounded, a large number of netizens also competed to prank the press conference clips, and the Nomura congressman was also crowned as a "crying congressman" and became the laughing stock of the political circles. The most classic of the silly thank-you press conference should be the high-end kiosk "Osaka Funaba Jizhao Food Camouflage Incident" that took place in 2007.
The origin and consumption period of beef and other high-grade ingredients sold by Kiyoshijo, a high-grade pavilion shipyard, were found to be forgeries, and finally the boss lady and her son, who was the director, came forward to apologize. The female general of the high-level material booth sincerely apologized in front of the reporter, and said that "it was all her fault" and "the director did not know", etc. The incident should have ended here, but it was unexpected but it unfolded dramatically.
The reporter asked his son, "Did you already know about the problem of food forgery at that time?" The lady boss seems to have forgotten that there is a microphone in front of her, and actually plays chess with her son, asking her son to say "you don't know anything", "I have a blank in my mind", "talk more about things that don't concern you", and then the son follows the script on the spot - the end of course is that the company is closed.
Dubbed the "Ear-Biting Press Conference" by reporters, it has also become one of the classics of the thank-you press conference.
Another classic apology also involves absurd homicidal violence, the "Honjo City Insurance Murder Incident in Saitama Prefecture" between 1995 and 1999, in which the murderer Shigeru Yagi ran his own hotel and killed the victim through some means and received a high insurance payment, resulting in the murder of the two people.
However, the victim of the third case did not die, and the murder attempt of Shigeru Yagi was reported to the media, making the murder suspect the focus of the media's pursuit at that time. As a result, Shigeru Yagi not only did not flee, but also held a press conference loudly, and the reporter had to pay an "interview fee" ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 yen to report, which was jaw-dropping.
Sometimes the reporter asked too sharp questions, so that the suspect was not happy and would be beaten, and finally the suspect was arrested by the police in 2000, a total of 8 months from the revelation to the arrest, Yagi Shigeru held a total of 203 press conferences, but they were advocating their innocence, apologizing is only a false story, and even divergent from the topic, and the interview fee received is as high as 10 million yen, which can be called the most absurd press conference in Heisei history.
The almost unheard-of-thanks press conference in the Showa era became almost routine after entering Heisei, and from these classic cases, it can be seen that in the face of today's era of information explosion and rapid dissemination, only by being open and honest and having a good attitude can we get the understanding of the people, which is also unimaginable to people in the Showa era.
The picture shows that in 2017, Kobe Steel, japan's third largest steel manufacturer, broke out a product data fraud case, and finally the company's president and vice president resigned to apologize.
The Heisei era is over, the Reiwa era has arrived, and although people have learned a lot of lessons in Heisei, which is known as the era of apologetics, strange events continue to occur. In 2017, Kobe Steel, Japan's third-largest steel manufacturer, broke out a product data fraud case, shocking both at home and abroad, and finally the company's president and vice president resigned to apologize.