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WhileJapan's political mainstream has theCDP and theLDP as dominant forces, there ispolitical extremism to the left and the right.
Neitherleft- norright-wing extremists managed to wrest power from the LDP in post-war history, but they managed to influence public opinion on certain topics. These includeforeign relations of Japan, the role of the military, territorial disputes, and national symbolism. On some topics, like theYasukuni Shrine, all three elements play a role.
The public and the government appear to tolerate certain forms of public disorder as inherent to a properly functioningdemocracy.Demonstrations usually follow established forms. Groups receive legal permits and keep to assigned routes and areas. Placards andbullhorns are used to express positions. Traffic is sometimes disrupted, and occasional shoving battles between police and protesters results. Butarrests are rare and are generally made only in cases involving violence.
Although members of extremist groups represent only a minute portion of the population and present no serious threat to the government, authorities are concerned about the example set by the groups' violence, as well as by particular violent events. Violent protests by radicals also occur in the name of fringe causes without meaningful public support. Occasional clashes between leftist factions and rightist factions have injured participants.
According to the 1989Asahi Nenkan, there were 14,400 activist members of the "extreme left wing" organized into five major "currents" (ryū) and twenty-seven or twenty-eight different factions. Total membership was about 35,000. New-left activity focused on theNew Tokyo International Airport at Narita-Sanrizuka (Sanrizuka Struggle). In the early 1970s, radical groups and normallyconservative farmers formed a highly unusual alliance to oppose expropriation of the latter's land for the airport's construction. Confrontations at the construction site, which pitted thousands of farmers and radicals against riot police, were violent and killed dozens people. Although the airport was completed and began operations during the 1980s, the resistance continued, on a reduced scale. Radicals attempted to halt planned expansion of the airport by stagingguerrilla attacks on those directly or indirectly involved in promoting the plan. By 1990 this activity had resulted in some deaths. There were also attacks against places associated with theemperor. In January 1990, leftists fired homemade rockets at imperial residences inTokyo andKyoto.
In terms ofterrorist activities, the most important new-left group was theJapanese Red Army (Nihon Sekigun). Formed in 1969, it was responsible for, among other acts, thehijacking of a domesticJapan Airlines jet toPyongyang in 1970[citation needed] and the 1972Lod Airport massacre. It also participated in theLaju incident, an attack on aShell oil refinery inSingapore in 1974, and seized theFrenchembassy inThe Hague that same year and theUnited States andSwedish embassies inKuala Lumpur in 1975.In 1977 the Japanese Red Army hijacked a Japan Airlines jet overIndia in a successful demand for a US$6 millionransom and the release of six inmates in Japanese prisons.
Its activists developed close connections with international terrorist groups, includingPalestinian movements like thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Japanese Red Army also had close ties with theKim Il-Sung regime inNorth Korea. The group was tightly organized, and one scholar has suggested that its "managerial style" resembled that of major Japanese corporations[citation needed].
Following heavy criticism at home and abroad for the government's "caving in" to terrorists' demands[citation needed], the authorities announced their intention to recall and reissue approximately 5.6 million valid Japanesepassports to make hijacking more difficult. A special police unit was formed to keep track of the terrorist group, and tightairport security measures were instigated. Despite issuing regular threats, the Japanese Red Army was relatively inactive in the 1980s. In 1990 its members were reported to be in North Korea andLebanon undergoing further training and were available as mercenaries to promote various political causes.[citation needed]
Fusako Shigenobu, the founder and leader, was arrested inOsaka, Japan in November 2000.
Right-wing extremists were extremely diverse. In 1989 there were 800 such groups with about 120,000 members altogether. By police count, however, only about fifty groups and 23,000 individuals were considered active. Right-wing extremists indulged in a heady romanticism with strong links to the prewar period. They tended to be fascinated with the macho charisma of blood, sweat, and steel, and they promoted (like many nonradical groups) traditionalsamurai values as the antidote to the spiritual ills of postwar Japan. Their preference for violent direct action rather than words reflected the example of themilitarist extremists of the 1930s and the heroic "men of strong will" of the lateTokugawa period of the 1850s and 1860s. The modern right-wing extremists demanded an end to the postwar "system of dependence" on theUnited States, restoration of the emperor to his prewar, divine status, and repudiation ofArticle 9. Many, if not most, right-wingers had intimate connections with Japan's gangster underground, theyakuza. Japanese right-wing extremists (Uyoku dantai) are notable for their use of blackbuses, which often carryloudspeakers broadcasting nationalistic slogans.
The ritualsuicide of one of Japan's most prominent novelists,Yukio Mishima, following a failed attempt to initiate a rebellion amongSelf-Defense Forces units in November 1970, shocked and fascinated the public. Mishima and his small private army, the Shield Society (Tatenokai), hoped that a rising of the Self-Defense Forces would inspire a nationwide affirmation of the old values and put an end to the postwar "age of languid peace."
Although right-wing extremists were also responsible for theassassination of socialist leaderInejiro Asanuma in 1960 and an attempt on the life of former prime ministerMasayoshi Ōhira in 1978, most of them, unlike their prewar counterparts, largely kept to noisy streetdemonstrations, especially harassment campaigns aimed at conventions of the leftistJapan Teachers Union. In the early 1990s, however, there was evidence that a "new right" was becoming more violent. In May 1987, a reporter working for the liberalAsahi Shimbun was killed by a gunman belonging to theSekihotai (Blood Revenge Corps). The Sekihotai also threatened to assassinate former Prime MinisterYasuhiro Nakasone for giving in to foreign pressure on such issues as the revision of textbook accounts of Japan's war record. In January 1990, a member of theSeikijuku (translatable as the (Sane Thinkers) School) shot and seriously woundedNagasaki mayorHitoshi Motoshima. The attack may have been provoked by the mayor's critical remarks concerning EmperorHirohito.
That attack came two days after the left-wingChukakuha (Middle Core Faction), opposed to the imperial system, claimed responsibility for firing a rocket onto the grounds of the residence of the late emperor's brother and a day before the government announced the events leading to the enthronement of EmperorAkihito in November 1990. The enthronement ceremonies were considered likely targets for extremist groups on the left and the right who saw the mysticism surrounding the emperor as being overemphasized or excessively reduced respectively, but no serious incidents took place.
More recently, theZaitokukai have been focusing their attention onanti-Korean demonstrations.
Although violence between political parties is not as apparent as it was during the 1900s, there is still lasting turmoil between the opposing positions.[1] The current Prime Minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba, is a part of the LDP. TheNational Diet is Japan's national legislature that makes governmental decisions. There are two sectors that make up the National Diet: the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors.[2] Since the LDP is a minority in National Diet's lower house, there are political issues that the opposing extremist political parties are in debate over. For example, thefiscal 2025 budget will be determined by the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives.[3] This will lead to a challenging operation for Shigeru Ishiba because the party he is affiliated with is at a numeric disadvantage.
The absence of LDP members in the National Diet could lead to issues that affect the structural dynamic of the cabinets. For example, if the LDP loses the fiscal 2025 budget, the party might be forced to cease its operations.[3] This is due to lack of support and representation within the National Diet because the other political parties outnumber LDP. In addition, this could result in individuals who affiliate with the LDP facing no representation within the National Diet.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Country Studies.Federal Research Division. -Japanhttps://countrystudies.us/japan/129.htm
