Uyoku dantai

Uyoku dantai
Uyoku dantai, demonstrating in Kyoto on Constitution Day. The large white characters read from the right (the front of the vehicle) as 敬愛倭塾 kei ai wa juku, literally translated as "respect ancient Japan school".

Uyoku dantai (右翼団体, "right wing group[s]") are Japanese nationalist right-wing groups.

In 1996 and 2013, the National Police Agency estimated that there are over 1,000 right wing groups in Japan with about 100,000 members in total.[1][2][3]

Philosophies and activities

Uyoku dantai are well known for their highly visible propaganda vehicles, known as gaisensha (街宣車) converted vans, trucks and buses fitted with loudspeakers and prominently marked with the name of the group and propaganda slogans. The vehicles are usually black, khaki or olive drab, and are decorated with the Imperial Seal, the flag of Japan and the Japanese military flag. They are primarily used to stage protests outside organizations such as the Chinese, Korean or Russian embassies, Chongryon facilities and media organizations, where propaganda (both taped and live) is broadcast through their loudspeakers. They can sometimes be seen driving around cities or parked in busy shopping areas, broadcasting propaganda, military music or Kimigayo, the national anthem. The Great Japan Patriots, supportive of the US-Japan-South Korea alliance against China and North Korea and against communism as a whole, would always have the US national flag flying side by side with the Japanese flag in the vehicles and US military marches played alongside their Japanese counterparts.

Political beliefs differ between the groups but the three philosophies they are often said to hold in common are the advocation of kokutai-Goji (retaining the fundamental character of the nation), hostility towards communism and marxism and hostility against the Japan Teachers Union (which opposes the display of Japanese national symbols and the performance of the national anthem). Traditionally, they viewed the Soviet Union, China and North Korea with hostility over issues such as communism, the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands and the Kurile Islands.

Most, but not all, seek to justify Japan's role in the Second World War to varying degrees, deny the war crimes committed by the military during the pre-1945 Shōwa period and are critical of what they see as "self-hate" bias in post-war historical education. Thus, they do not recognize the legality of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and other allied tribunals, consider the war-criminals enshrined in the Yasukuni Shrine as "Martyrs of Shōwa" (昭和殉難者 Shōwa junnansha), support the censorship of history textbooks and historical revisionism.[4]

It is difficult to arrest uyoku dantai members because freedom of ideology is protected by the Constitution of Japan. This is one of the reasons why Yakuza groups use uyoku dantai as camouflage.[5][6][7]

Groups

Below is a list of some groups usually considered uyoku dantai.

Historical groups

Traditional groups

Groups affiliated with yakuza syndicates

Other groups

See also

References

  1. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201309230105
  2. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201312120046
  3. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201312130059
  4. "Forgiving the culprits: Japanese historical revisionism in a post-cold war context published in the International Journal of Peace Studies
  5. David E. Kaplan, Alec Dubro, "Yakuza:The Explosive Account of Japan's Criminal Underworld," Collier Books, August 1987
  6. Hori Yukio, "Uyoku power in the Post-World War II" Keisoshobo, October 1993 (Japanese Book)
  7. Manabu Yamazaki, "An affirmative theory of modern yakuza" Chikumashobo, June 2007(Japanese Book)
  8. 1 2 Bacchi, Umberto (September 8, 2014). "Japanese Minister Sanae Takaichi in Neo-Nazi Photo Controversy". International Business Times. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  9. Lee, Elaine. "Japan nationalists return after nearing islands disputed with China". MSN.News. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  10. The Japan Times Conservatives rally against DPJ January 30, 2011 Retrieved on August 20, 2012
  11. Reuters Japan nationalist dreams of new patriotic party July 27, 2012 Retrieved on August 20, 2012
  12. The Daily Yomiuri Tokyo govt applies to land on Senkaku island / Police question Senkaku visitors August 21, 2012 Retrieved on August 21, 2012
  13. Time magazine Activists Up Ante in China, Japan Isle Dispute August 19, 2012 Retrieved on August 20, 2012
  14. Warnock, Eleanor (September 18, 2012). "Small Turnout for Anti-China Protest in Tokyo". The Wall Street Journal.
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