A few weeks ago, I wrote a little about Shinzo Abe, his bulletproof premiership, and what it could mean for Japan's pacifist Constitution. Today, I encountered this eerie analysis of a group called Nippon Kaigi, a religious right-wing group that has ascended to high levels of the LDP administration. With roots in the backlash to Japan's 1968 student movement, it is especially chilling that they've bided their time for so long, building power and influence all the while.
An important note: while US Americans might not find anything exceptional in the phrase "religious right-wing," in Japan the context is rather different. For one thing, Japan's history of fascism means that conservative movements tend toward revisionist history, as the above interview lays out. But even less obviously: in Japan, one of the world's least religious countries, an explicitly religious ideology carries an antagonism toward dominant society not present elsewhere. So while the authors are rightfully careful not to mis-label Nippon Kaigi a "cult," it is nevertheless unusual to see such an alliance between the right wing and Japan's marginal number of believers. Their political success is highly ominous, and something to watch closely as Abe embarks on his third term.
(While I found the early parts of that conversation to be a woolly thicket of names, citations, and contexts, the core issues and stakes are much clearer.)
An introduction to Walter Rodney, written by Angela Davis.
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