Uyoku

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Uyoku ( Japanese : 右翼 , dt. Right wing ) is a generic term for the political extreme right in Japan , whose almost one hundred thousand activists and several hundred groups are also referred to with this term (or 右翼 団 体 Uyoku-Dantai , right -wing organizations ). About 800 of these groups are organized in the umbrella organization All-Japanese Conference of Patriotic Associations ( 全 日本 愛国者 団 体 会議 Zen-nihon aikokushadantai kaigi , or Zen'ai Kaigi for short ), which has worked closely with the Yakuza throughout its history .

The term “ultra-nationalism” ( 超 国家 主義 , chō kokka shugi ) is also used synonymously to characterize the ideology of this movement.

Gaisensha on Constitutional Remembrance Day (May 3) 2006

history

Before the First World War

The first major political groups in Japan that can be counted among the extreme right were the paramilitary Gen'yōsha (founded in 1881) and its offshoot Kokuryūkai (founded in 1901). Members were opponents of the Meiji government, who nevertheless saw themselves as loyal to the Tennō . Many of them were former samurai who stood against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877 . These groups campaigned for an expansionist foreign policy of Japan in the sense of Panasianism and carried out sabotage , espionage and assassinations in Japan, China , Russia and Korea . Domestically, her positions consisted of Tennoism , a strengthening of kokutai , and traditionalist and extreme nationalism ( 国 粋 主義 , kokusuishugi ).

Before World War II

From 1919, the year Japan was recognized as an international political power in the Versailles Peace Treaty , the number of right-wing extremist groups who now increasingly turned against the flourishing Taishō democracy exploded . New programmatic and not necessarily mutually compatible standpoints were state socialism and commitment to agriculture as well as against westernized urbanization and the "treasonous" new capitalists and big industry (e.g. the Zaibatsu ), with whom, however, common cause was often enough. Important theorists since that time were u. a. Kita Ikki (1883–1937) and Ōkawa Shūmei (1886–1957). On the other hand, the yakuza was also actively involved in these groups and organized violent actions against unions and strikes.

These new groups (including the secret society Cherry Blossom Society , 桜 会 - sakura kai ) enjoyed increasing sympathy and tacit support from parts of the Japanese military from the 1930s onwards. Several coup attempts and assassinations against politicians and business leaders came about, including the assassination attempt of November 14, 1930 against Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi , the assassination attempt of May 15, 1932 against Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi and the attempted coup of February 26, 1936 . However, after the political victory of the military, the right-wing extremist groups became irrelevant.

After the Second World War

After the capitulation of Japan and the political cleansing of the administrative apparatus by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) of the Allied occupying power in Japan , the right-wing extremist groups reorganized themselves in the emerging Cold War as a radical and violent, unofficial anti-communist arm of the right wing of the ruling party LDP .

Independently of this, the right-wing extremist groups found their strongest influx through student associations at universities, which were founded mainly as a right-wing reaction to the influential, left-wing student umbrella organization Zengakuren . Although the creation of its own umbrella organization was not successful - the most important approaches were the rival national associations Japanese Student Union ( Nippon Gakusei Dōmei , short: Nichigakudō ) and the national liaison conference of student self-government bodies ( Zenkoku Gakusei Jijitai Renraku Kyōgikai , short: Zenkoku Gakkyō ) - developed from this extreme right-wing student movement (民族 派 学生運動minzokuha gakusei undō ) finally the current Japanese New Right (新 右翼shin uyoku ). Some groups received support from new religious movements such as the Seichō no Ie , which managed networks of student dormitories with its student organization Seigakuren . Important centers of political activity were the Tokyo universities Kokushikan University (国 士 舘 大学Kokushikan daigaku ) in Setagaya and Waseda in Shinjuku ( Nichigakudō ) and the University of Nagasaki ( Zenkoku Gakkyō ).

New political positions from this period were the smashing of the Zengakuren, the regaining of the "Northern Territories" (see Kuril conflict ), anti- constitutionalism with regard to a demanded militarism (in a particularly extreme form in connection with the smashing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the demand for a nuclear armament of Japan) , the development of a völkisch movement and a stronger national sovereignty for Japan, above all through the dissolution of the Japanese-American security treaty and the smashing of the so-called "Yalta-Potsdam-System" (YP 体制YP-taisei ), one of the supposed suppression of Japan by the Decisions of the Potsdam Conference and the Yalta Conference based concept, combined with pronounced anti-Americanism and a limited anti-imperialism , directed against the supposedly "white" or "Western" variant of imperialism.

The writer Mishima Yukio became an icon of the right-wing extremist movement . Together with Morita Masakatsu, a former ringleader in the Nichigakudō , he had started training his own paramilitary organization in the early summer of 1967: the Tatenokai (楯 の 会, shield society, from Mishima itself also abbreviated as SS after the English translation of the Shield Society ) committed to the violent struggle against communism, which was understood as a threat to the Tennō system. For the Tatenokai, the Tennō was the " only symbol [of Japanese] historical and cultural society and racial identity ". During Mishima's lifetime, however, the Tatenokai was practically insignificant and only had 80 members. The group around Mishima only became legendary with the unsuccessful attempted coup in the Ichigaya barracks of the Self-Defense Forces in 1970, during which Mishima and Morita ritually committed suicide ( seppuku ) because of the failure . This last act of the two ultimately made them martyrs for the far-right nationalists. The important Uyoku group Wednesday Meeting (一 水 会Issuikai ) has been holding an annual heroic commemoration called Autumn Storm Festival (野 分 祭Nowaki Matsuri ) with a final visit to Mishima's grave, in which a large number of other groups also participate.

present

ideology

The political ideas and goals of the contemporary Uyoku are shaped by reactionary historical revisionism and extreme Japanese nationalism and anti- pluralism . Since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War, as well as the decline of the left movements in Japan, anti-communist ideas and actions (since the end of the war, several assassinations had been carried out against representatives of the socialist and communist parties of Japan) have hardly played a role. Instead, even - increasingly anti-capitalist and - as with far-right parties in Europe and anti-globalization operated rhetoric (especially against "anti-people and corrupt speculators") and the closing of ranks with Japan's New Left (新左翼shin sayoku ) wanted.

The lowest common denominator of current Uyoku ideology generally consists of:

  • Militarism , explicitly in the demand for an enlargement of the Japanese military as well as the expansion of its powers (these are currently severely restricted by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution ), in connection with this Japanese war crimes are also denied and the deletion of corresponding passages from Japanese school books is demanded. The main opponent here is the Japanese Teachers 'Union (日 教 組Nikkyōso ) and, since 1989, their left wing, the All-Japanese Teachers' Union Conference (全 日本 教職員 組合 協議 会Zen-nihon kyōshokuin kumiai kyōgikai ), with victims of the attacks .
  • a return of the Japanese state to the ideal of the Japanese Empire , often together with a demand for the re-establishment of the Tennō in his political supremacy (accompanied by demands for the abolition of the separation of religion and state introduced after the end of the war ) and the unconditional loyalty of the Japanese people to his person
  • an anti-American anti-imperialism, expressed e.g. B. in solidarity expressions and actions during the United States-led Gulf Wars
  • regaining the territories lost in World War II ( Kuril Islands , South Sakhalin , Takeshima and Senkaku Islands )
  • as well as an economic and domestic policy that is generally very strongly oriented towards conservative values ​​and is supposed to be oriented against the corruption described as corrosive to Japanese society , which leads to calls for the abolition of the party system.

practice

Gaisensha in front of Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender (August 15, 2006)

Uyoku propagates their political ideology along with marching music and the national anthem using extremely loud loudspeaker trucks (街 宣 車gaisensha ) in densely populated districts. These wagons are often painted black, have windows tinted black and are hung with banners and the imperial seal , the flag of Japan or the war flag of Japan .

These gaisensha are also often used for the targeted harassment and intimidation of political opponents, the majority of whom are people and organizations who criticize Japan publicly or who do not speak respectfully and with sufficient reserve about certain topics (e.g. because of Japanese war crimes in World War II such as the massacre of Nanking , unit 731 , " comfort women "), controversies about the Yasukuni shrine , the institution or persons of the Japanese imperial family , Japanese claims in the Kuril conflict and southern Sakhalin, etc., as well as their sponsors and supporters.

In addition, Uyoku systematically disrupt peace demonstrations. During this and in almost all other actions, they are usually accompanied and guarded or protected by the Japanese police (whose uniforms the Uyoku often wear). Among other things, this has led to many suspicions that the Uyoku still have connections with the yakuza , the police, with companies (from which 80% of their income is supposed to come) and even with conservative government circles that the Uyoku are supposed to use for their political or economic reasons Intimidating opponents. Many well-known members of the LDP are former Uyoku members, according to Sheldon Garon , professor of history and East Asian studies at Princeton University .

See also

literature

  • Andreas Hippin: Japan's New Right: Ideology, Organization, Actions . Diploma thesis submitted in the 1998/1999 winter semester at the Institute for East Asian Studies at the Gerhard Mercator University in Duisburg . More detailed references can be found there.
  • Eric Prideaux: Riding with the rightists . Article in The Japan Times on October 22, 2006, accessed March 11, 2012.

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Andreas Hippin 1998/1999.
  2. ^ A b c David McNeill: " Media Intimidation in Japan. A Close Encounter with Hard Japanese Nationalism ", in: electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies. Discussion Paper 1 in 2001. (English)
  3. ↑ David McNeill: " Using a Sledgehammer to Crack a Nut: Japanese Police Crush Peace Protestors ", in: Japan Focus , September 6, 2005 (English)
  4. ↑ a b Howard W. French: " Behind Blaring Tokyo Vans, a Whisper of Conspiracy ", in: The New York Times of July 21, 2002 (English)