Anti-American conservative (Japanese:反米保守,Hepburn:han-Bei hoshu)[1] is a term applied in Japan to politicallyconservative people withanti-American diplomatic or cultural views.
Today, most establishment conservatives maintain diplomaticpro-Americanism. Anti-American conservatives are mentioned individually in Japan because conservatives have fewer anti-American views than thepolitical left; Japan's ruling right-wing conservativeLiberal Democratic Party is highly pro-American.[2]
In theEdo period, there was a "Kokugaku" to preserve traditional philosophy against Western philosophy inflows, including in the United States. In addition, anti-American conservatism emerged through "Nōhon shugi [ja]" (農本主義, lit. Agrarianism) and "Pan-Asianism" (アジア主義, lit. Asianism) during the Meiji period.
During the prewarShōwa period, "Ultra-nationalism" (超国家主義,chō kokka shugi, lit. "extreme state-ism") emerged, and to justify Japan's invasion of the Asian region, the cause of "liberating Asia from the West" was put forward; at this time, there was 鬼畜米英 (kichiku beiei),racist propaganda meaning "American and British demonic beasts".
Inpostwar Japan, "anti-American conservative" are relatively few among institutional conservatives;Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is widely known as "pro-American conservative" (親米保守).[3]
From the 1960s onwards, anethno-nationalist movement called "minzoku-ha" (民族派) emerged, which was critical of major conservatives of the day for prioritizing "anti-communism" over "[ethnic] nationalism".
Today, anti-American conservatives have a wide spectrum; some are negative for the United States for harmingAsian values but are friendly to China (Sinophile), and some are ultranationalists who arehostile to China andKorea (both South and North) and seek a return to theEmpire of Japan, but all anti-American conservatives have a common negative view ofcultural globalization (led by the West) andneoliberal economic policy.
Tanzan Ishibashi, who opposed Japanese imperialism in prewar Japan, was one of the LDP politicians most unfriendly to the United States in postwar Japan. In contrast, Ishibashi had a doveish diplomat in the People's Republic of China[clarification needed].[4]
TheJapanese Society for History Textbook Reform, a Japanese nationalist group, is known for its "anti-American conservatism".[3]
Following the election of Hatoyama as Prime Minister, the two parties merged in 1955 to become the Jiyuminshu To (Liberal Democratic Party or LDP), the highly conservative pro-American party which has almost single-handedly ruled Japan up to the present day.
... Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, founded in 1997, shared "anti-American conservative" convictions, rather than a "pro-American conservative" attitude similar to the LDP's political stance.
