Nippon Kaigi

The Nippon Kaigi (日本会議, "Japan Conference")[1] is a Japanese nationalist and historical revisionist non-party political organisation that was established in 1997 and has approximately 38,000 members.[1][2][3] The group is influential in the legislative and executive branches of the Japanese government through its affiliates.[2][4] Shinzō Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, serves as a special advisor to the group's parliamentary league.[1]

Ideals statements

The group describes its aims as to "change the postwar national consciousness based on the Tokyo Tribunal's view of history as a fundamental problem" and to "revise the current Constitution."[5] Norimitsu Onishi considers that the organization promotes a revival of the fundamentals of the Empire of Japan.[6] The nationalist movement sees its mission to promote patriotic education, the revision of the Constitution of Japan, and support for prime ministers' official visits to Yasukuni Shrine.[7][8][9][10] In the words of Hideaki Kase, an influential member of Nippon Kaigi, "We are dedicated to our conservative cause. We are monarchists. We are for revising the constitution. We are for the glory of the nation."[11] Nippon Kaigi supports revising the Japanese Constitution, especially Article 9 which forbids a standing army.[12]

Muneo Narusawa considers that, in parallel with historical revisionism, the organization often highlights historical facts that convey Japan as a victim such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. Education minister Hakubun Shimomura, the secretary general of the Discussion Group of Nippon Kaigi Diet Members (Nippon Kaigi kokkai giin kondankai - 日本会議国会議員懇談会), argues for patriotic education and opposes a "masochistic view of history".[13][14] According to a February 2014 report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service, Nippon Kaigi Kyokai believes that "Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia from Western colonial powers", that "the 1946-1948 Tokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate", and that "the killings by Imperial Japanese troops during the 1937 Nanjing massacre were exaggerated or fabricated".[2][15] The group vigorously defends Japan's claim in its territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands with China, and denies that Japan forced the "comfort women" into sexual slavery during World War II.[2] Nippon Kaigi fights against feminism, LGBT rights, and the 1999 Gender Equality Law.[12]

Nippon Kaigi actions

History

Nippon Kaigi was founded in 1997 through the merger of two groups whose agendas included constitutional revision:

The founding President was Koichi Tsukamoto, the founder of Japanese clothier Wacoal.[3]

In 2013, the Tokyo branch of the lobby threw a party to celebrate the Shinzō Abe cabinet, where the Imperial Rising Sun Flag was flown, the "Kimigayo" sung, and the pledge to "break away from the post-war regime" renewed.[23]

Following the 2014 reshuffle of Abe's cabinet, 15 of the 18 cabinet members, including the Prime Minister himself, were members of Nippon Kaigi.[24] Most of them (63% of the extended 97-member Abe administration and nearly 90% of its 18 cabinet ministers) also belong to the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership Diet Members' Caucus advocating State Shinto.[25]

As of October 2014, the group claims 289 of the 480 Japanese National Diet members, and 15 of the 19 government members. Among the members, former members, and affiliated are countless lawmakers, many ministers and a few prime ministers including Taro Aso and Shinzo Abe. Abe's brother Nobuo Kishi is also a member of the Nippon Kaigi group in the Diet.[24] Its chairman, Toru Miyoshi, is the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan.[2]

Organization

Nippon Kaigi claims 35,000 individual members, 47 prefectural chapters, and about 230 local chapters[26] The organization's website lists the members depending on their seniority in an organization headed by a President seconded by Vice Presidents and a pool of "advisors", actually eminent Shinto priests leading key shrines, some of them belonging to the Imperial family.

Among the regional branches, "Nippon Kaigi Hiroshima (Japan Congress Hiroshima), consists of about 750 Hiroshima residents". Its executive director, Masanari Tade, is the son of an A-bomb victim.[27]

The Nippon Kaigi Local Assembly Union (Nippon kaigi chihou giin renmei - 日本会議地方議員連盟) focuses on key topics: comfort women, Nanking, abductions, Japanese national anthem and flag, and education.[28]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Right side up, Jun 6th 2015, The Economist.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Norihiro Kato (September 12, 2014). "Tea Party Politics in Japan". New York Times.
  3. 1 2 国民運動の歩み « 日本会議(Japanese)
  4. ↑ Matthew Penney, Abe Cabinet - An Ideological Breakdown, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Jan. 28, 2013
  5. 1 2 "The Quest for Japan's New Constitution: An Analysis of Visions and Constitutional Reform Proposals 1980-2009" p.75 (Christian G. Winkler, Routledge Contemporary Japan Series, 2011)
  6. ↑ N. Onishi - New York Times, December 17, 2006 , Japan Rightists Fan Fury Over North Korea Abductions
  7. ↑ Mullins, Mark R. (2012). The Neo-Nationalist Response to the Aum Crisis, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 39 (1), 110-112
  8. ↑ about Nippon Kaigi (Japanese)
  9. ↑ Rightist ministers make up 80% of Abe Cabinet, Japan Press Weekly - January 5, 2012
  10. ↑ Daiki Shibuichi (2008). Japan's History Textbook Controversy, Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies, Discussion Paper 4
  11. ↑ Linda Sieg, Reuters, June 15, 2006
  12. 1 2 "Politics and pitfalls of Japan Ethnography" - page 66 - Routledge (June 18, 2009) - Edited by Jennifer Robertson
  13. ↑ Muneo Narusawa, "Abe Shinzo: Japan’s New Prime Minister a Far-Right Denier of History", The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 11, Issue 1, No. 1, January 14, 2013
  14. ↑ The Economist of Britain on Jan. 5, 2013. Cited in: William L. Brooks (2013), Will history again trip up Prime Minister Shinzo Abe? The Asahi Shimbun, May 07, 2013
  15. ↑ Chanlett-Avery, Emma; Cooper, William H.; Manyin, Mark E.; Rinehart, Ian E. (February 23, 2014). "Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress" (PDF). Congressional Research Service.
  16. ↑ http://www.voanews.com/content/south-korea-comfort-women-rally-against-japan-settlement/3124149.html
  17. ↑ http://www.voanews.com/content/south-korea-comfort-women-rally-against-japan-settlement/3124149.html
  18. ↑ http://atimes.com/2016/01/celebrating-the-closure-of-the-comfort-women-issue-is-premature/
  19. ↑ http://thediplomat.com/2015/10/dont-expect-too-much-of-japans-defense-reforms/
  20. ↑ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/60729d68-20bb-11e5-aa5a-398b2169cf79.html#axzz3yc7BRstn
  21. ↑ Nippon Kaigi website - About(Japanese)
  22. ↑ "Japan's History Textbook Controversy - Social Movements and Governments in East Asia, 1982-2006" - Daiki Shibuichi - March 4, 2008 - ejcjs
  23. ↑ Nippon Kaigi website - 2013: 「安倍晋三内閣を応援する夕べ」のご案内 Nippon Kaigi TOKYO-NAKANO Branch(Japanese)
  24. 1 2 "Abe’s reshuffle promotes right-wingers" (Korea Joongang Daily - 2014/09/05)
  25. ↑ "News Analysis: Abe unifies far-right ideology in upper echelons of Japanese politics" (John Day, Xinhua, Sept. 8, 2014)
  26. ↑ .Pushed by conservatives, 19 assemblies pass statements urging constitutional revision Asahi Shimbun Aug 1, 2014
  27. ↑ Asahi Shimbun Aug 6, 2009 - quoted in Cable 09TOKYO1813, DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/09
  28. ↑ "Web Resources for Understanding - Japan's Conservative Nationalists" - Asia Policy Point - July 2007

Bibliography

External links

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