Japan was rocked last week when the current Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro
Ishihara, suddenly announced that was resigning his post and launching a new
political party. He intends to run against the DPJ and LDP in the next general
election.
This move has shocked the public because of its unexpected nature, and
also because Ishihara has suddenly dropped the cause he was so passionate about
- promoting Tokyo as a venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Ishihara is a
confirmed nationalist, and it is largely his interference in the Senkaku
Islands land dispute that angered China and Korea and raised the possibility of
armed conflict breaking out in South East Asia.
This development is one more sign of Japanese politics edging towards
the right wing. In his career, the 80-year-old Ishihara has consistently made
racist and sexist comments that have angered just about every sector of
society, and is a self-confessed believer in the Imperial, disciplinary
ideology that led to Japan's 1930s military government.
Some observers have speculated that Ishihara's sudden move was a reaction
to the growing popularity of a much younger politician - the Mayor of Osaka,
Toru Hashimoto, and the political party he has created (Nippon Ishin no Kai).
Hashimoto certainly cuts a dashing figure in the media, but observers have
pointed out his worrying off-the-cuff comments that bordered on social elitism
and racism. His autocratic nature was further revealed this month when an
article attacking Hashimoto, written by journalist Shinichi Sano, was published
in the Shukan Asahi magazine on Oct 16th. Hashimoto's reaction was to unleash a
tirade of hate against the Asahi in general and Sano in particular, threatening
them with lawsuits, and forcing an apology.
Ishihara? Hashimoto? Saviors
of Japan? No. They are not "The One". Conservative? Yes.
Nationalistic? Yes. Racist? Yes.
Fascist?
Whoa now. That's a strong word to use. If you want to start throwing the
word "Fascist" around, you'd better understand what the word means.
If we take the textbook definition, as stated here -
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to unify their
nation based on commitment to an
organic national community where its individuals are united together as one
people through national
identity.
Then yes, let's use it.
Why now, you might think? Why Japan? Why does Ishihara suddenly feel the
need to go into national politics?
Because it is becoming increasingly clear that Japan's economic woes are
not a "recession", but a permanent
decline. As Japan keeps aging, it
will lose 1% of its GDP every year from now on. Some politicians have given up
trying to compete internationally and are circling the wagons. Relaxed
immigration would give society a shot in the arm and create a multi-racial,
multi-cultural transport hub like Hong Kong or Singapore; but of course the
fascists don't want that. They want "Japan for the Japanese", and
they will be prepared to shut the doors and kick the foreigners out, just so
they can hold on to their own power.
The government has failed. The promised political and economic overhaul
after 3/11 did not happen. The public is getting angrier and angrier, and the
politicians are getting scared - after all, look what happened in Iceland after
the credit crunch. Forcing their own government to resign and nationalizing the
banks? Throwing out their constitution and rewriting a new governing document
for the nation by asking for suggestions from Facebook and Twitter?
Why have we not heard of this? Because there's a media blackout, that's
why. The fascists of Japan realize that if millions of Japanese people catch on
to the truth and decide they've had enough, then - that's it. Game over.
The day after Ishihara's announcement, more disturbing news emerged,
this time concerning the Government funds pledged for the reconstruction of the
devastated Tohoku area. Yoshimitsu
Shiozaki, a professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto who is an expert on
reconstruction of disaster areas, was put in charge of examining the third supplementary
budget for the fiscal year, which included ¥9.2 trillion for 488
"reconstruction" projects. He found that at least 25% of that money
is going to projects that are the "brainchildren" of individual
politicians, and have nothing to do with the disaster-hit zones in northern
Japan.
These projects include ¥500 million for road
construction work in Okinawa, ¥330 million for repairs to the National Stadium
in Tokyo's Yoyogi district and ¥10.7 billion in subsidies for a
government-linked nuclear power research organization, much of which will be
used to study nuclear fusion.
The Justice Ministry meanwhile secured about ¥30 million to purchase
power shovels for prisons in Hokkaido and Saitama prefectures, and the
fisheries ministry was given ¥2.3 billion for countermeasures against the Sea
Shepherd antiwhaling group (i.e. protecting whaling ships against those pesky
foreigners who would prefer whales to stay alive).
Of the ¥19 trillion earmarked for reconstruction, the government will
come up with ¥10.5 trillion by keeping higher rates for income, corporate and
residential taxes by up to 25 years.
"Taxpayers accepted the tax hikes because (they thought) the money
would be used for helping disaster victims. And disaster victims were thanking
them," Upper House member Kuniko Tanioka of the parliamentary group Midori
no Kaze said during a recent Audit Committee session to scrutinize
reconstruction spending.
"But it has turned out that (the funds) have been used for
(projects) they never imagined. . . . It has dampened the disaster victims'
will to rebuild their lives," she said.
Patrick
Fox, in the forthcoming book "3/11:The Fallout", says that the
seismic event that changed Japan forever would spawn a whole new school of
literature, film and drama. The first results are now being seen - such as the
new movie on general release, entitled "Kibo no Kuni (The Land of
Hope)", from director Sion Sono. The 37-year-old Sono is best known for
his underground hit "Jisatsu Sakaru (The Suicide Club)" - and this
new film may repeat his knack for capturing the spirit of the time and courting
controversy while doing it.
The
setting is a near-future rural Japan that has suffered another Fukushima-style
nuclear accident, and the story focuses on two families, the Ono and the
Suzukis, whose property lies on the periphery of the evacuation zone.
Although the film uses the same disturbing images from last year's
crisis, such as white-suited and gas-masked technicians marching through eerie,
deserted town streets, the film doesn't go for sensation-seeking. It aims for
challenges a lot of the popular myths that surround 3/11 - such as the popular
conception of the "stoic, selfless" Japanese. Sano's cast behaves not
like stereotypes, but real people, reacting to the danger with fear, anger and
frustration. The film also is a merciless attack on Japan's corrupt and
incompetent bureaucracy, setting the blame for the film's events - and by
extension the real 3/11 - firmly at their feet.
Needless to say, Sono found it hard
to raise funds to make the film. "The theme of nuclear power is still
taboo in Japan," he explained in an interview with the Japan Times on Oct
26th. "I finally ended up getting the money from England and Taiwan."
Though hundreds of news programs and documentaries have been made about
the triple disaster by the mass media, Sono claims they often do not tell the
truth about the victims' real feelings, preferring instead to show their public
face.
"The people I had connections with spoke frankly to me, but when
NHK interviewed them, they went like this," he says, making a faux-polite
face, "and talked about how hard it was. When the camera was on, they said
something different from what they had told me. I realized that they would be
more honest if I didn't film them and just listened sincerely."
Sono spoke with dozens of victims and, when he finally wrote the script,
put in what much of the news media had left out, including not-always-noble
words and emotions.
The film is currently showing in Tokyo cinemas.
