Aki Okuda

Aki Okuda

Aki Okuda ( Japanese 奥 田 愛 基 , Okuda Aki ; * 1992 in Kitakyūshū , Fukuoka Prefecture , Japan ) is a student, citizen activist ( shimin katsudōka ) and co-founder of the “Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy” (SEALDs) and “ReDemos” initiatives.

Life

schooldays

Okuda is the oldest of three siblings. His father Okuda Tomoshi ( 奥 田 知 志 ) is a pastor of the Japanese Baptist Union and is involved in the care and support of the poor and homeless, who have found refuge in the family home at times. Okuda lived with his family in Kitakyushu in southern Japan until he was 14 years old. The unusual circumstances in the home and bullying experiences in school made him of their own accord to leave his birthplace to first a school in Hatomajima ( Okinawa ) and continuing a high school in Gotsu ( Shimane Prefecture to visit).

Study and commitment

When the triple disaster in Fukushima occurred, Okuda was about to graduate from school. In 2011 he enrolled in the International Faculty of Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo. At the beginning of his studies, he volunteered in the areas affected by the disaster in the northeastern Japanese Tōhoku region. It was against this background that his documentary short film “Ikiru 312” was created, which received awards at the 2013 International Peace Film Festival. During his studies, Okuda also showed interest in the anti-nuclear protests and was present at some demonstrations.

After the events of Fukushima he initiated a group called "the Temporary Autonomous Zone" (TAZ), which dealt with political movement. In 2012 he paused his studies for a backpack trip through Canada, Germany, Ireland, England and other countries.

SASPL, SEALDs and Okuda's speech in Parliament

From December 2013 to December 2014, Okuda continued his political activities in the SASPL group, and then in May 2015 launched the much larger SEALDs association, which spans 20 universities and connects 100 participants.

The group contributed to the protest rallies in front of the Japanese parliament against the circumvention of the pacifist Japanese post-war constitution , which Prime Minister Shinzō Abe had initiated with the so-called security bill , the group contributed with rap-like chants: "Protect the constitution!" ( 憲法 を 守 れ , kenpō o mamore ), “Against war!” ( 戦 争 反 対 , sensō hantai! ) And “Abe, get away!” ( 安 倍 は 辞 め ろ! , Abe wa yamero! ). These actions were noticed by the media. On August 30, 2015, a large crowd of around 120,000 protesters gathered in front of Parliament.

In the parliamentary debate against the security law, which enables combat missions by Japanese soldiers abroad, Okuda Aki appeared on September 15, 2015 as a student representative of the votes (among them lawyers) against the security law. However, Abe prevailed in the vote with the majority of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and a small coalition partner in the lower house.

On August 15, 2016, the group announced that after fifteen months they would dissolve SEALDs and cease their activities. In a press conference the following day, Okuda stressed the difficulty of promoting political opinion among young people in Japan, which the group had made a great effort. However, he also mentioned that there was evidence of growing political interest among those under thirty in Japan. As one of their achievements, the SEALDs represented the merging of the opposition parties, which were often contradictory in terms of content, in the upper house election on July 10th. At the conference, a resumption of SEALDs activities was presented as possibly possible.

Death threat against Okuda

In response to his activities with SEALDs, Meiji Gakuin University received a letter containing death threats against Okuda and his family. The university assured its students protection and criticized the letter as an attack on freedom of expression.

On December 1, 2015, Okuda founded ReDEMOS - Shimin no tame no think tank (ReDEMOS - 市民 の た め の シ ン ク タ ン ク - , "ReDEMOS - think tank for citizens").

Support and criticism

Okuda is supported by the world-famous musician Ryūichi Sakamoto and the author and university lecturer Gen'ichirō Takahashi . His way of expressing protest obviously motivates young people to turn back to politics - hip-hop chants, funny flyers, Facebook posts, videos and Twitter messages that the rallies announce. However, it is also the targeted performance that Okuda's moderate critics criticize; one interprets his activities as a lifestyle attitude and assumes a lack of seriousness. On the other hand, Okuda, as an exposed activist, takes risks - think of the threat of death - which one would presumably not take on out of a pure desire for recognition.

On the new Japanese protest culture since 3/11

Okuda Aki's commitment can also be seen in the context of contemporary history in a new Japanese protest culture, as shown in the Japanese documentary “Radioactivists” (2011) by Clarissa Seidel and Julia Leser. A protest culture from the Heisei era began with the first large anti-nuclear rallies, including the so-called hydrangea revolution in June 2012, after Fukushima, which ended a four-decade long Japanese abstinence from public protest.

Among the protesters in Tokyo were “ordinary people”, artists and intellectuals, well-known writers like Kenzaburō Ōe , academics like the historian Oguma Eiji ( 小熊 英 二 ; * 1962), activists like Amamiya Karin ( 雨 宮 処 凛 ; * 1975) or Matsumoto Hajime ( 松本 哉 ; * 1974) from "Shirōto no ran" ("uprising of the lay people") and a number of young actors who, after Fukushima, aroused the hope that the "Japanese system" could now be changed by repoliticizing the people .

The politically active celebrities include u. a. the actor Tarō Yamamoto , who was joined by the musician and representative of the Japanese Greens, Yōhei Miyake ( 三 宅 洋 平 ).

plant

Movie

• (2012) Ikiru 312 ( 生 き る 312 , To live in time of 312 )

Publications

• (2015) Minshushugi tte kore da! (“This is what democracy looks like”) Ōtsuki Shoten publishing house, Tokyo ISBN 978-4-272-33086-7
• (2015) (with Takahashi Gen'ichirō) Minshushugi tte nan da? ("Tell me what democracy looks like") Publisher Kawade Shobō Shinsha, Tokyo ISBN 978-4-309-24732-8

Web links

• Okuda Aki as a political opponent of the Japanese "system" Compilation by Seiji Hattori for the text initiative Fukushima (TIF)
• official website of SEALD
• Aki Okuda, Nobukazu Honma and Mana Shibata: Members of Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs) Youtube channel of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ)
• Review of the SEALDs book "Tell Me What Democracy Looks Like?"
• Exhibition and discussion on SEALDs and student demonstrations in Japan at the Japanologie Leipzig
• Comment by Sonja Blaschke on SEALDs

Further analysis of the new Japanese protest culture

• (2016) Manabe Noriko: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised . Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0-199-33469-8
• (2015) Obinger, Julia: Alternative Lifestyles and Activism in Japan . Wiesbaden: Springer VS ISBN 978-3-658-07862-1
• (2014) Poeticized Experience of Risk Technology. Christian Chappelow reads Wakamatsu Jōtarō and Hara Tamiki contribution to the poster session as part of the conference “Technology and Protest” at the Institute for Protest and Movement Research
• (2013) Mundt, Lisa: “Disobedience as the first obligation for artists: 'Fukushima' as a turning point in the contemporary Japanese theater and performance scene”. In: Steffi Richter and Lisette Gebhardt (eds.): Reading book 'Fukushima'. Translations, commentaries, essays. Berlin: EB-Verlag (= series on Japanese literature and culture, Vol. 6), pp. 101–125. ISBN 978-3-86893-103-7

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Aki Okuda: The student who roused young Japanese from their political slumber ( Memento from February 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Asahi Shimbun from January 1, 2016
2. ↑ SEALDs to disband but founder says political activism just beginning The Japan Times, August 14, 2016, accessed November 3, 2016
3. ↑ Will a Lower Voting Age Give Japan Its Own Bernie Sanders? The Wire on July 1, 2016, accessed November 24, 2016
4. ↑ SEALDs leaves door open for future activities The Japan Times, August 16, 2016, accessed November 3, 2016
5. ↑ Members of former SEALDs vow to carry on as individuals Asahi Shimbun from August 16, 2016, accessed on November 3, 2016
6. ^ Peace Activist Gets Death Threat ( Memento from February 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) NHK World News from October 1, 2015
7. ↑ Japanese students protest this stylishly bento , October 5, 2015, accessed on February 11, 2016
8. ↑ Radioactivists - Trailer , accessed February 11, 2016.
9. ^ "Radioactivists". Protest in Japan since Fukushima 3sat , accessed February 11, 2016
10. ↑ Link collection Citizen Protests Text Initiative Fukushima (TIF), accessed on February 11, 2016
11. ↑ Interview with Matsumoto Hajime Textinitiative Fukushima (TIF), accessed on February 11, 2016
12. ↑ Documented in the publication Fukushima Reading Book. Translations, comments, essays EB-Verlag Berlin, 2013
13. ↑ The Japanese actor and activist Yamamoto Taro speaks up on Wort Textinitiative Fukushima (TIF), accessed on February 11, 2016
14. ↑ Miyake Yōhei: Musician and Activist - A Summer Fairy Tale Text Initiative Fukushima (TIF), accessed on February 11, 2016

Remarks

1. ↑ A historical line of events of the Japanese protest should be drawn up as follows: Precarisation of society (protests with Amamiya Karin); 3/11; Secrecy Protection Act ( Tokutei himitsu hogo hō ), directed against betrayal of secrets and Japanese whistleblowers; Constitutional modification by the Abe government.