The Journalist (2022) summary and ending explained

In Netflix’s ‘The Journalist’, Anna Matsuda is a seasoned investigative journalist who is probing a controversy involving public land being sold at a subsidized rates. It is quickly revealed that the country’s Prime Minister and his wife are involved.

Summary

Anna Matsuda, a Totou newspaper reporter, discovers an error in a set of paperwork relating to the formation of an illegal project, the Eishin Academy. The corporation has been discovered to have direct ties to the Japanese government’s Prime Minister’s office.

Shinichi Murakami, the First Lady’s secretary goes to the Finance General’s office and shows him a great bargain on property where she wishes to establish the Eishin Academy. He claims that it is the Prime Minister’s preference for the office to authorise the deduction.

Meanwhile, Ryo Kinoshita, a young guy who admits to his co-workers that he doesn’t read the newspaper, delivers it.

Matsuda gets switched from the dead-end corruption investigation she was following to the land deal story after knowledge of the land sale and winning building bid leaks out. She pursues Murakami, asking whether he knows anything about it, but he refuses to speak to her.

The Prime Minister informs the parliament that he had no role in the agreement. Murakami’s supervisor advises him that everyone implicated should be muzzled.

The Finance Bureau is in a conundrum because the Prime Minister and his wife are involved in land subsidiaries with a private enterprise. They are told to fake the paperwork in order to conceal the Prime Minister’s and his wife’s involvement in the project.

Kazuya Suzuki begins employment at the local finance office in Nagoya. His move is noteworthy in that it occurs earlier in the year than is generally permitted. His employer summons him to a top-secret meeting with the Finance General, who is under orders to complete the paperwork on the Eishin Academy deal in accordance with the PM’s request that neither he nor his family be involved.

While the media is pursuing the facts, the government tasks a few selected persons at the Foreign Affairs Bureau with covering up the Prime Minister’s tracks and dealings with the scandal.

Kazuya, who has kept meticulous records of all the fabrications they’ve done, has a mental breakdown. While he tries to talk to Matusda about it, he is afraid of the implications.

Before committing suicide, he gives the information to Kurosaki, his superior. He commits suicide as a result of the stress of the circumstance, as everyone else is forced to bear the brunt of the blame. His wife, who is seeking justice, hands over the data he gathered to Matsuda.

Meanwhile, Matsuda is determined to expose the truth about this case, knowing that her brother has been a victim of bureaucracy after attempting to be a whistle-blower not long before. She discovers while investigating his case that the people involved not only knew her brother, but were also aware of the scandal he was attempting to expose such as Mr. Murakami.

She is eventually successful in bringing the Eishin Academy scandal to light, which leads to a court case.

The Journalist ending explained in detail:

Persuading bureaucrats

Anna Matsuda meets Shinichi Murakami of CIRO in the hospital. He tells her, he knew her brother from when Kohei was assigned to work in the Cabinet Secretariat as they worked together.

He tells her that Mr. Toyoda is trying to bury everything including the complaint filed by her brother. She tells him that Mr. Suzuki’s wife, Mayumi is preparing to file a suit against the government and tries to convince him for a testimony. He denies saying that he is a bureaucrat.

Mouri Yoshikazu, the Director General of the Finance Bureau, takes the fall for the controversy despite the fact that it is not his fault. Mrs. Mayumi and Matsuda goes outside of Mr. Mouri’s house. Mrs. Mayumi tries to pursue him to testify the truth but fails.

A close discussion

The series concludes with a discussion of Japan’s young people’s experiences with Covid-19. While Kazuya Suzuki’s nephew, Ryo Kinoshita, inspired by Matsuda’s quest for justice, goes on to become a journalist and hopes to tell stories of struggle.

Ryo’s friend Mayu Yokokawa’s job offer has been cancelled due to the Pandemic. Ryo covers her story where she conveys the importance of the role of the youth in today’s world including politics and make Japan- a good country.

The trial begins

Murakami, the former secretary of the Prime Minister’s wife and a key witness in the scandal, agrees to testify after realising that he became a bureaucrat to serve people.

The series concludes with these key characters preparing to fight the good fight, while realizing that it will be a long and tough battle as the trial begins.


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