Fumitomo Fujita was excited when major newspapers protested the April 1972 arrest of a reporter who stood accused of soliciting a Foreign Ministry secretary for classified documents on Japan-U.S. talks over the reversion of Okinawa.
"I thought it was amazing that the media was challenging the government," Fujita, a political reporter in his early 30s at TV Asahi at the time, said of Takichi Nishiyama's arrest for allegedly violating the National Public Services Law.
"I became aware at that time that we are working to contribute to the people's right to know."