Action Conservative Movement[a] (ACM;Japanese:行動する保守,romanized: Kōdō-suru hoshu) is an umbrella term for a number ofconservative activist groups that emerged in Japan beginning in the second half of the 2000s.
The groups are considered to beultranationalist and far right (uyoku dantai), associated with the use ofhate speech,[1] and associated with the far right internet movement in Japan (netto-uyoku).[2][3]
The movement emerged beginning around 2006.[2] They primarily protest on topics relating toforeigners, particularlyKoreans in Japan.[4] They have also protested Buddhist groups, the mainstream Japanese media, and sometimes the local and national governments.[4] They are widely considered to usehate speech.[1] Groups likeZaitokukai andShuken Kaifuku o Mezasu Kai [ja] are famously part of the movement.[4]
The movement has been described as more confrontational and aggressive than far right Japanese groups of the past.[5] One Zainichi Korean said of them in 2008:
They seem worse than old, traditional uyoku (rightists). At least old uyoku had a system of thought—worshipping the emperor, pride in ancient Japanese culture. When I was a girl, going to Korean school, their sound trucks would often come, but they never seemed to be attacking us personally. They didn't abuse the children—they just criticized the government of North Korea. I was not frightened of them—they were just this weird thing that you kind of got used to. But the Zaitokukai come closer and scare the children.
They have been challenged by and met with counterprotests from local Japanese groups, such as theCounter-Racist Action Collective [ja]. This has led to physical clashes among various groups over time.[6]
According to scholar Tom Gill, the Japanese far-right has been on the decline since the 1960s.[2] One significant period for the decline was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with thedecline and eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the decline of anti-communist activism, thedeath of Emperor Hirohito, and the beginning ofJapan's economic stagnation.[7] Statistics on violent incidents and arrests of the far right also correspondingly decreased.[2]
| Year | # groups | # members |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | 550 | 120,000 |
| 1993 | 1,450 | 22,000 |
| 2003 | 1,530 | 15,600 |
| 2010 | 4,860 | 13,400 |
Despite the overall decline of the far right in Japan, a number of factors also beginning in the 1990s contributed to the rise of Kōdō-suru Hoshu by the mid-2000s.[8]
Koreans began arriving in Japan in significant quantities during theJapanese colonial period. This population and their descendents have now been in Japan for several generations, and are known as "Zainichi Koreans".[9]Korea was liberated in 1945, but Koreans who chose to remain in Japan had their Japanese citizenships stripped by the 1947Alien Registration Ordinance [ja], rendering them stateless,[10] without the right to vote, and without food aid or civil protections during a period of significant poverty and instability.[11] Some began acquiring Korean citizenship, but the matter was complicated by thedivision of Korea, with some of the population acquiring North Korean citizenship (calledChōsenjin; 朝鮮人), some South Korean (calledKankokujin; 韓国人), and some remaining stateless.[9][11]
Kōdō-suru Hoshu groups oftenconsider Koreans to have "special privileges" [ja] (tokken; 特権). They argue that Koreans are able to go through airport security with fewer barriers than regular foreigners, benefit from the ability to take theuniversity exams in the Korean language, not deported if they commit serious crimes, and only have their legal Japanese names reported if they commit a crime (without their Korean names mentioned).[9] Scholar Tom Gill describes these as "modest privileges" with "at least some factual basis", but identifies other accusations that he describes as having "no basis in reality".[12] Koreans are accused of having tax privileges, which they argue has led to many wealthy Korean people in Japan, such asMasayoshi Son andHan Chang-woo.[12] They have even accused some Japanese businesspeople of secretly being ethnic Korean.[12] They also accuse Zainichi Koreans of abusing and being disproportionate receivers of socialwelfare, while not acknowledging the generations of systemic poverty and discrimination that created the need for their receipt of welfare.[13] They have called for violence against Koreans on a number of occasions.[13]
Gill also notes thatanti-Japanese sentiment in Korea is also a potentially even more severe and openly-displayed issue. He describes a feeling of Japan receiving abuse and not being able to respond as a potential motivator for anti-foreign and anti-Korean sentiment in Japan.[14]
The 1990s saw the beginnings of significant controversy over the "comfort women" issue between South Korea and Japan. Furthermore, the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform was founded in 1996, and advocated fornationalist narratives in Japanese history textbooks.[7] Fingerprinting requirements were lifted for Zainichi Koreans in 1999.[7] That same year, the website2channel was founded, which is now widely associated with extremist and racist rhetoric.[8] The rise of theKorean Wave in Japan created backlash with media likeMangaKenkanryu ("Hating the Korean Wave Manga").[8] TheLiancourt Rocks ("Dokdo"/"Takeshima") issue escalated in both Japan and Korea.[8]
Amidst this context, the first Kōdō-suru Hoshu group, Shuken Kaifuku o Mezasu Kai, was founded in July 2006, andZaitokukai was founded in December.[8]
