“Kamikaze” Syndrome

Yoshikazu Mikami is an author, journalist, and a Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Mejiro University, Japan. He started his career as a reporter at Agence France-Presse (AFP) and later as a foreign correspondent at Reuters and Time magazine, covering Tokyo as well as different parts of Asia. His first book was “Aung San Suu Kyi Fighting Peacock Under Arrest” (1991), one of the first studies of the Nobel Peace Prize winner in the world. Since then, he has written articles and books, including the chapter “Press Freedom Under the Government of Aung San Suu Kyi: The First 5 Years” (in “Social Transformations in India, Myanmar, and Thailand: Volume I,” Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). 

Professor Mikami was awarded a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship, at the School of Journalism, Columbia University, and an International Fellowship at the School of International and Public Affairs, also at Columbia University. He was also Awarded a Rotary Foundation Scholarship and a Dean’s Honorary Fellowship in the same year. As a media expert, he has written numerous articles and chapters, including “Kamikaze” Syndrome from Russia to China to Myanmar: Fake History in a Post-truth Era Crushes Democracy and Ignites a War” (in “ASEAN and Regional Actors in the Indo-Pacific,” Springer, 2023), a shorter version of this book, on the selective misuse or abuse of history for political gain by autocratic governments, otherwise known as “Kamikaze” Syndrome.