In the summer of 2021, Keigo Oyamada resigned his participation in the music for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This was because of a problem with his past interview, “Bullying Travelogue: Keigo Oyamada’s Volume. Shuichi Kitao was present at the interview.
These are the stories of two bullied children. Everyone in the room is laughing, including myself, cameraman Mori-san, Akada-san, and Kitao-san. It’s cruel, but it still makes me laugh. I’m still interested in this story.
--- Bullying Travelogue: Keigo Oyamada’s Volume” 064p (Kiyoshi Murakami, Quick Japan No. 3, 1995, Ota Publishing)
One of the purposes of this series of articles is to document the role that Shuichi Kitao played in Keigo Oyamada’s problems.
“What I thought after rereading Bullying Chronicles”
Keigo Oyamada is on fire. Shuichi Kitao, who was a party to the publishing side, would have noticed it very early on. At the same time, he would have acted quickly.
On July 20, in response to the flare-up of Keigo Oyamada in mid-July, Shuichi Kitao posted an article titled “What I thought after rereading Bullying Chronicles” (currently paid, hereinafter referred to as Kitao document) on the official blog of Hyakumanen Shobo, the company he represents, “Hyakumanen Shobo LIVE!“. I am convinced that this series of articles was an important article that shaped “a certain direction” in the early days of Keigo Oyamada’s problems.
Please refer to my previous article (“This Cunning 05 Dawn | NO PREFIX NOTES) for a brief description of what exactly was written in this article.
I am only guessing, but I believe that Shuichi Kitao has had this idea in mind for some time. It is so complete that it makes me think so.
Personally, I have many things to say about this Kitao document. However, first of all, I need to find out if the Kitao document is really what people think it is. I hope that reading this article will make you have some doubts about the Kitao documents.
I also hope that I can share the sense of discomfort I felt when I read the Kitao documents.
Is it emotion porn?
Leaving aside the question of whether or not to approve of the Kitao document, I suspect that many readers at the time may have felt that this was inspirational pornography or something similar.
Or perhaps they felt it was just a “nice story.
At first glance, it has the atmosphere of a light read.
And in fact, it was read as such a light read.
Can we treat it as “just” moving pornography or “just” a good story? Let me strongly say that we should not be so quick to judge. The result is that at least it’s not “just” emotional pornography, and it’s not “just” a good story.
Let’s try a little arbitrary verification.
Please always remember that this is just my interpretation.
Aggressiveness
Isn’t the Kitao document highly aggressive?
Aggression in impressionistic pornography, it may sound surprising. For me, it was vividly evident in “Rereading the Bullying Chronicles and Thinking 02 - Was It Allowed in the 90s? It was clear to me in the article “Re-reading the Bullying Chronicles and Thinking 02 - Was It Allowed in the 90’s?” and I felt the aggression as soon as I read it.
The text of the original article itself was not altered, but if you read it while checking with a marker, you can see that they intentionally switched the order of episodes, deleted some of Mr. Oyamada’s remarks, inserted an episode in the annotations in the middle of the article text, and then followed it to connect it to the article text elsewhere. … At best, it is “delicately edited,” but at worst, it is “arbitrarily distorting the context of the original article.
But those cut-ups and splices are so skillful and smooth that if you read it normally, you won’t notice it at all (you’ll have to draw a marker and collate it like I did).
This blogger is no amateur.
--- Shuichi Kitao, “Rereading the Bullying Chronicles and Thinking 02 - Was it Allowed in the 90s?”
The Kitao document was published on the official blog of Hyakumanen Shobo Co. And the representative of Hyakumanen Shobo Inc. is Shuichi Kitao.
With that in mind, let’s summarize the Kitao document.
The representative of the corporation denounces the personal blog as spreading arbitrary cut and paste by professional editors from its official blog.
One more time.
A representative of a corporation denounces a personal blog for spreading arbitrary cut and paste by professional editors from its official blog.
Let’s be clear.
To me, it sounded like, “Here’s a blog where a malicious professional flamed Keigo Oyamada with a hoax. I don’t know what else to make of it.
I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes. Hyakumanen Shobo Inc. is indeed a corporation (corporate number omitted). A representative of a corporation directly attacks a personal blog from the corporation’s official blog? And it involves a poop backdrop (it’s a hoax). Hell.
It’s a hell of a thing.
Why?
Originally, Keigo Oyamada’s office should have lobbied the “personal blog” to correct or delete the article. It would be prudent to make sure that such an appeal was made in an appropriate manner.
The issue of Keigo Oyamada’s bullying has been smoldering for years. It is said that the source of the problem was not the magazine at the time, but “personal blogs” and bulletin boards. It is hard to believe that the people involved at the time, including Shuichi Kitao and Keigo Oyamada, were unaware of the existence of this personal blog. Either they were looking at it with a bitter look on their faces, or they were thumbing their noses at it, or it would have been more convenient to have it, or they really forgot about the article they had written and were completely indifferent to it.
There were so many ways they could have done it.
Why would a representative of a corporation take the violent step of denouncing a personal blog from the corporation’s official blog?
Where the fist is swinging
If you look at the statements referring to the Kitao documents, you will find that not a few of them say, “My view of Keigo Oyamada (who is under fire) has changed. This may mean that they had an unfavorable impression of Oyamada Keigo, but after reading the Kitao documents, that impression changed. At the time of the release of the Kitao documents, there were a lot of bad things about Keigo Oyamada. Naturally, the Kitao documents were read with a strong anger toward Oyamada Keigo. At the same time, the resignation of Oyamada Keigo caused public opinion to cool down slightly for a moment.
At that time in mid-July, “avid netizens” were reading the Kitao documents in search of the “next” place to swing their fists. It could be said that they were raising their fists in the sense of “why did this happen?
At that time, the Olympics and the Corona disaster coincided in a frenzy, and public opinion shook its fist at Keigo Oyamada, but that was probably not enough to stop it. I believe that there were many factors behind the creation of this atmosphere.
If the Kitao document had been written solely for the purpose of defending Keigo Oyamada, there would have been no need to refer to a “personal blog. Just explain the facts in a straightforward manner, no matter how they may be abused. There is no reason why Shuichi Kitao, a shrewd editor, cannot do that. The July 16 statement by Keigo Oyamada, the July 19 statement, the statement by Rockin’ On Japan, and the statement by Ota Publishing coincided. I really think so, without irony. But Shuichi Kitao did not do so. I think it was necessary to tell a story that a falsehood was being spread by arbitrary cutting and pasting in order to avoid criticism that the editorial team at the time was not careful enough.
The “personal blog” that was alleged to have spread the hoax by arbitrary cutting and pasting was rather necessary as a place to swing the fist.
Risk
A representative of a corporation denouncing a personal blog from the corporation’s official blog is likely to be seen as a problem later on. As of October, three months after Keigo Oyamada’s resignation, I actually see this as a problem. It is a disaster that will be repeatedly revisited in the course of examining what the Keigo Oyamada problem was.
Why did he have to take the risk?
Would Shuichi Kitao have taken such a risk, even at the expense of Hyakumanen Shobo Co. He may have been careless, he may not have thought of it, he may not have cared in the first place, he may be the owner of a “personal blog,” the list goes on and on. But all of them have one thing in common: would Shuichi Kitao, who is known for his shrewdness, take such an unnecessary risk inadvertently?
This aggression against “personal blogs” seems to be a calculated one.
…Well, I am already a fan of Shuichi Kitao, after all, so this kind of fantasy is right up my alley.
Controlled distribution of the magazine
In late July, I remember that it was valuable to have the magazine pages of the time to refer to as a source. Articles from major newspapers included photos of the magazine (although I couldn’t read the contents), and I was aware that this was the main source. However, most of what I could actually refer to were fragmentary photos, covers only, partial transcriptions, and incomplete articles. There must have been a great potential demand for the magazine at that time.
What was clever of Shuichi Kitao was that he dared to release the pages of Quick Japan magazine from the publishing side. It was certain that someone would eventually distribute it without regard to copyright. Or maybe it already had been.
If someone somewhere were to publish the magazine with the comment, “There’s a problem with this editing,” and it were to go viral, it would be the beginning of a nightmare for everyone involved.
What Shuichi Kitao wanted to avoid the most was for the magazine to be read in order to hold the publishers accountable.
What could he do to at least avoid that?
It’s easy.
The publishers should release the pages of the magazine as soon as possible.
It would be even better if they could publish it with instructions on how to be read, which is convenient for the publishers. It would be perfect if there were countermeasures against “how to be read,” which is not convenient for the publishers.
I really like this kind of “hospitality” by Shuichi Kitao.
So much technical emotion porn
I hope you now understand that the Kitao documents are not “just” emotional pornography or “just” a good story.
The purpose of this article is to share some doubts about whether the Kitao documents, which were written to foster a “friendship” between Keigo Oyamada and a bullying victim, were really written out of idyllic, naive, pure, sparkling, and innocent thoughts with love in a pure, correct, beautiful, and sincere manner.
It would be a great honor for the author if the readers could deepen their suspicions to the point of thinking that this is a rare monstrous document written by Shuichi Kitao with a grin on his face.
Personally, I highly appreciate the skills of Shuichi Kitao. At the same time, I have a kind of concern about the danger involved in this case.
And what do you think? I hope I was able to share some of the discomfort I felt at the time. To be honest, at the time, upon reading it, I felt a sense of certainty that something was being done.
I would like to follow Kitao’s writings next time as well.
