exilium

Madmen and Fools, Past and Present

August 9^th marks the anniversary of the 1945 Nagasaki bombing, and accordingly in Japan this day is either observed with solemn decorum (by those with a tendency to have a camera pointed at them) or not really noticed (by the passive majority). There is, however, one small but loud and disproportionately influential group of men (they seem to all be men) for whom this day is an occasion to dig out the loudspeakers, head for the streets and make some noise – the far-right, ultra-nationalist, imperial Patriots.

The Japanese riot police do actually look quite mean, their black shiny helmets inexplicably all numbered “6”, but their weapon of choice on these festive occasions (there are quite a few others in the calendar, including Constitution Day on May 3 and Hiroshima Day on Aug 6) is not the knuckleduster or the baton but the humble Noise Measurement Kit, with which they can digitally determine the decibel level of the offending imperialist chant or march being emitted from the speakers attached to the van. According to Chapter 6 of the Noise Regulation Law, those who emit above a certain level of noise in a designated public space are liable to pay a reasonably heavy fine. The other counter-offensive employed by the police force is to direct traffic away from the Russian Embassy, where the imperial patriots would like to be headed, and block the road so they can’t get through. As a result they go round and round some of the main arterial roads of Central Tokyo, definitely get noticed, and we can enjoy a wonderful circus, a street carnival in uniform (if you’re partial to the heart-rending melodies and rhythms of traditional fascist music), and a lot of unnecessary traffic for the ordinary people who are just trying to get to another part of town and have to pass through here…

The shrewd observer will already be questioning, why are they going for the Russians? America bombed Nagasaki, right? Yes, Hiroshima too, and it is certainly surprising that around the American embassy there is almost no commotion at all. In fact, what grates the patriots is not the fact that Japan was nuclear-bombed, or lost the war – rather their slogans are aimed specifically at Russia and concern the Southern Kuril Islands (often known in Japanese as the Northern Territories): four rocks between Hokkaido and Sakhalin, geostrategically completely insignificant, which since 1945 have been claimed by Japan and since administered (whatever there is to actually administer there…) by the USSR/Russia.

The slogans belted out, interspersed between fits of Imperial military march, are monotonous and uncompromising (“RUSSIA! GIVE BACK OUR ISLANDS!”) and the vans wear banners denouncing Russia and asserting Japanese sovereignty over the isles. One reads “Aug 9^th: Anti-Russia Day”.

Note that this year, August 8 saw hostilities rapidly escalate between Georgia and Russia, yet unlike other heavily anti-Russian groups and nations, the territorial ambitions of the Japanese Patriotic Party do not extend to an expression of solidarity with Georgia. Like a pull-string action toy, these men have one phrase only (though they are also quite apt at swearing at the police…).

On the other side, the state, represented here by the Metropolitan Police and everywhere else by suits and functionaries, seem not to know what they are doing either. “Japan” clearly has no intention of renouncing its claim to the islands, even if there is no democratic imperative as the overwhelming majority simply don’t care or don’t know. Meanwhile, Japan, like everyone else, is bargaining for Russian natural resources, but the state’s involvement in the far-right nationalist movement, which is, by virtue of these parades, so inextricably tied in with an overtly anti-Russian sentiment, is highlighted by repeated visits by Prime Ministers to the Yasukuni shrine where numerous war leaders/criminals are buried. Also, these vans (notice that the people never come out of their vehicles) are declared to be doing their rounds in the name of the Emperor, who sits silently in his palace and allows these demonstrations of loyalty and hatred to be associated with his legacy.