Photo/Illutration "Outside Director Kosaku Shima" manga series is facing criticism for its newest installment in the weekly magazine Morning published on Oct. 17. (Takahiro Kawamura)

Netizens are decrying a scene in the Oct. 17 installment of the manga "Outside Director Kosaku Shima," about people being paid to protest the construction of a U.S. military base in the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture. 

Many social media posts characterized it as disinformation.

Kodansha Ltd., publisher of the weekly manga magazine Morning that runs the series, issued a joint apology with author Kenshi Hirokane on Oct. 21. It clarified that the scene was based on "hearsay and not concrete evidence."

The apology also indicated the scene will be revised for the next full volume of the manga.

The relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, is a longstanding sore spot among locals and others.

Protesters continue expressing concerns about the base's harmful impact on the community and destruction of nature, among other qualms.

The scene in question involves Shima during a visit to the prefecture. While having a meal after playing golf, he looks out over Henoko. 

A woman tells him, "Lots of people take part in protests as a part-time job" and, "I was also once hired and paid to do this." 

According to the joint statement, when Hirokane and editors visited Okinawa to conduct research for the manga, they included it following a resident telling them, "There are part-time jobs that pay participants in the protests against constructing a new base in Henoko." 

"I meant it to be just a regular moment in the story, not a factual report. It is disappointing that it ended up like this," Hirokane said during an interview with The Asahi Shimbun on Oct. 21. 

In 2017, a report aired by Tokyo Metropolitan Television Broadcasting Corp. came under fire for the same reason when it asserted that protesters in Henoko were receiving daily payments. 

The Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization's Broadcasting Ethics Committee flagged the ethicalness of the claim. 

Takashi Kishimoto, 61, a senior administrator of the antiwar organization Okinawa Heiwa Undo Center, which continues holding protests, admonished the author for not addressing the larger issue. 

“Hirokane should have focused on the essence of the matter—the reasons why we need to protest the relocation,” he said.

(This article was written by Satoshi Yamazaki and Satsuki Tanahashi.)

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