JAPANESE RIGHT WING

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August 23, 2009
China outraged as Japan’s sabre rattler calls for nuclear arms
Michael Sheridan in Tokyo

The article itself is of interest.

However, I think it is important to note the obvious–though typical–disinformation here.

“Mishima and his followers took a general hostage and tried to incite a coup in 1971, resorting to self-sacrifice when the soldiers mocked them.”

This is intentionally dismissive and biased.

Anyone who has read Mishima should know that he had no viable plan for revolution, and the implication that he committed hara-kiri because he couldn’t handle being “mocked” is slanderous. He filmed his own hara-kiri years in advance and he went to the site prepared for suicide. (It is my understanding that they worked out the suicide out in advance, determining who would die, and shoving cotton in their asses to prevent the dishonor of shitting themselves in the process.) This is typically dismissive half-assed lefty bullshit journalism. It’s a snarky cliche, like calling Hitler a “failed artist,” dismissing the fact that he became the architect of a whole damn nation whose aesthetic is still so captivating that it is referenced in creative works around the world on a daily basis.

If you want to denounce someone’s politics, do so.

Don’t present half-assed gossip like a stupid, bitchy housewife.

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An interesting article from Japan Echo , specfically dealing with Mishima’s “Eirei no koe.”

Mishima insisted that nucleus of the integrated, organic culture that embraced the chrysanthemum and the sword was none other than “the emperor as culture.” He explains the concept as follows, using the archaic term miyabi (courtly elegance).

Miyabi was the cultural essence of the imperial court and the people’s longing for it, but during troubled times, miyabi could even take the form of terrorism. That is to say, the emperor as a cultural concept held out his hand not only to the forces of state power and order but also to the forces of chaos.

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From what I can gather these are photos of the uyoku trucks that travel around Japan broadcasting right-wing nationalist propaganda (or, “inspirational thoughts,” depending on what side of the dialectic you are on).

Some could also be bus ads for books, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

If you can read Japanese, please confirm, correct or expand on my assumptions.

2008年4月4日 昼 ミナミ

2008年4月4日 昼 ミナミ

2008年4月4日 夜 ミナミ

112 Mishima Yukio (Yukio Mishima)

portrait at tagonoura

(Those characters beside Mishima are fairly clear. I would love to know what they say.)

This Flickr user posted a set of the right-wing trucks (some with Mishima, some without) and gave a first-hand account of the experience.

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This is an especially interesting article on Japan’s enduring uyoku–(right-wing) political activists. Mishima is mentioned prominently.

Riding with the rightists.
Japan Times (Tokyo, Japan) Date: 22-OCT-06
Eric Prideaux
Accessed for free via http://www.accessmylibrary.com/

They are the (generally) black trucks that are the intimidating signature of Japan’s uyoku (rightwing) political activists — an element of society little understood by the average citizen, let alone foreign residents or visitors often moved to recoil in fear from the vehemence of the nationalistic passion they so stridently broadcast.

Today, many uyoku who call themselves minzoku-ha (ethnicity faction) regard themselves as patriots set on “restoring pride” in Japanese culture and history at a time when — as they see it — modern, Western-influenced values are eroding the time-honored fabric of Japanese society.

“Priorities vary from group to group, but overall the uyoku focuses on protecting the Japanese political order, a social order based on the Emperor,” explained Mitsuhiro Kimura, leader of the Tokyo-based shin-uyoku (new right) organization Issuikai.

Observers may wonder why any rightist need resort to coercion, considering former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s annual visits over five years to Yasukuni Shrine to pay his respects to Japan’s war dead (including Class-A war criminals) — a key demand of the right. Add to that an incoming administration, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, that is committed to a staunchly conservative agenda, including a tough stance on North Korea and a commitment to bolstering patriotism in the nationwide school curriculum.

Yet, rather than sensing that their time has finally come, rightists seem to feel more embattled than ever. The reasons abound. In the area of gender relations, left and right have argued over the term “gender free,” implying a society free from sexual discrimination. To rightists of both sexes, these concepts represent a radical denial of natural differences between the sexes, and a rejection of family values at the heart of Japanese society.

Readers familiar with Runaway Horses may find this especially interesting.

Suicide outside Japanese parliament
Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:57:54

Witnesses said the man, believed to be in his 60s and a member of a right-wing anti-China activist group, shot himself shortly after arriving at the south gate of parliament.

The world’s second biggest economy is still Japan, yet for all its apparent modernity and embrace of the latest technologies, when it comes to politics the nation remains entangled in a twilight world of ghosts gone by.

Its most recent example is reminiscent of a former age, centering as it does on the late Emperor Hirohito and his disastrous foreign wars; court intrigue and a faded diary; two old loyalists of the imperial past (one now dead); and instead of a fascist assassin wielding a samurai sword, a suspected right-wing nationalist hurling a petrol bomb.


Hirohito’s Ghost – Japan’s New Militarists