German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits the Asahi Shimbun

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived Japan on Monday morning and visited the Asahi Shimbun`s Tokyo office to tour its newsroom, spoke at a lecture and joined a Q&A session with Japanese prominent intellectuals. Her moves were taken as unusual. Before coming to the Asahi Shimbun, Merkel visited the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo to understand the current state of Japan`s robot industry.

The Asahi Shimbun busily prepared for Merkel`s visit. Thirty minutes ahead of the chancellor`s arrival, an announcement was made to employees, "Please come down to the first floor and welcome Chancellor Merkel." Some 200 employees gathered at the front door before her arrival. A red carpet was also prepared that extended to the building`s main entrance.

At 11:20 a.m., when a black Mercedes Benz stopped at the main entrance and the chancellor wearing a bright sky-blue jacket got out of the car, reporters and citizens applauded with welcoming remarks. About 40 students at Ginza Junior High School also greeted her by waving the national Japanese and German flags.

Merkel was greeted at the main entrance by Asahi President Masataka Watanabe and went up via elevator to the newsroom on the fifth floor. At the managing editor`s office, Merkel received the special supplement about Germany that was published in the March 9 edition. She responded at the article with a smile, and then went to the adjacent Hamarikyu Asahi Hall to deliver a lecture to the general public.

The German chancellor`s visit to the Asahi Shimbun was decided from the German part. Japanese weekly magazine Hyundai Business said Saturday, "When its chancellor visits another country, Germany traditionally partners with the country`s key media and delivers a lecture there or responds to interviews. All media in Japan requested this to Germany and it chose the Asahi Shimbun. This was a decision made from a tacit agreement to the media`s conscientious report on history awareness."

The Asahi Shimbun has consistently criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe`s denial of the country`s past history. The Japanese daily continuously raised the issue that Asian women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military, even facing terrorism threats by right-leaning forces. Abe highly criticized the Asahi Shimbun in November last year, saying, "I heard that the former editor-in-chief keeps overthrowing the Abe administration as the media firm`s basic policy."

lovesong@donga.com