Japan Conference 日本会議 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairman | Tomohiko Taniguchi |
| General Secretary | Yuzo Kabashima |
| Founder | Koichi Tsukamoto |
| Founded | 30 May 1997; 28 years ago (1997-05-30) |
| Merger of | Nihon wo mamoru Kokumin Kaigi and Nihon wo mamoru Kai |
| Headquarters | Vort Aobadai II,Aobadai,Meguro,Tokyo |
| Membership | c. 38,000 – 40,000 (2020est.)[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-right[22] |
| Religion | Shinto |
| Affiliations | Nippon Kaigi National Lawmakers Friendship Association |
| Colours | Black Carmine |
| Website | |
www | |
Nippon Kaigi (日本会議;lit. 'Japan Conference')[23] is Japan's largestultraconservative[24] andultranationalistfar-right[25] non-governmental organisation andlobbying group.[26] It was established in 1997 and hasapproximately 38,000 to 40,000 members as of 2020.[31]
The group has significant influence in Japanese politics. Many ministers and a few prime ministers are included as members, includingSanae Takaichi,[32]Shigeru Ishiba,[33]Tarō Asō,Shinzō Abe andYoshihide Suga.[34][35]
The organisation describes its aims as to "change the postwar national consciousness based on theTokyo Tribunal's view of history as a fundamental problem" and to revise Japan'scurrent Constitution,[36] especiallyArticle 9 which forbids the maintenance of astanding army.[37] The group also aims to promote patriotic education, support official visits toYasukuni Shrine and promote anationalist interpretation ofState Shinto.[38][39][40][41] It also denies thatcomfort women, recruited by Japan during World War II, were forced to work.
In the words ofHideaki Kase, an influential member of Nippon Kaigi, "We are dedicated to our conservative cause. We aremonarchists. We are for revising the constitution. We are for the glory of the nation."[42]
Nippon Kaigi has described six official goals of the organisation as:[43]
Nippon Kaigi believes that "Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia from Western colonial powers; that the 1946–1948Tokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate; and thatkillings by Imperial Japanese troops during the 1937Nanjing Massacre were exaggerated or fabricated".[a][27][44][45] The group vigorously defends Japan's claim in its territorial dispute over theSenkaku Islands with China, and denies that Japan forced thecomfort women intosexual slavery duringWorld War II.[27] Nippon Kaigi is opposed tofeminism,LGBT rights, and the1999 Gender Equality Law.[37] It has specifically worked to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage in Japan.[46] It also wants to restore the divine status of Japan's emperor, make women's place in society be in the home and place public order above civil liberties.[47]
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Nippon Kaigi was founded in 1997 through the merger of two groups whose agendas included constitutional revision:
Toshiro Mayuzumi, leader of theNihon wo mamoru Kokumin Kaigi, was a pivotal figure in the merger, and was slated to become the first president of Nippon Kaigi, but he died of illness on 10 April 1997, shortly before the new organisation's first meeting in May 1997.[50] The position of founding president fell toKoichi Tsukamoto, the founder of Japanese clothierWacoal.[28] Yuzo Kabashima, the secretary general of Nippon Kaigi, established a sister organisation Nihon Seinen Kyogikai in 1977, which is headquartered in the same building as Nippon Kaigi and acts as the organisation's secretariat.[51]
The organisation saw remarkably swift success in establishing strong connections among the establishment and in passing legislation that was congruent with the group's aims. In 1999, the Diet at last formally recognisedKimigayo as Japan's national anthem and theHi no Maru as Japan's national flag. After the legislation passed, ensuing years saw theMinistry of Education and prefectural educational committees such as those ofTokyo governorShintaro Ishihara issue guidelines forcing school teachers to adhere to specific procedures concerning these national symbols in the educational context.[52]
Nippon Kaigi claims 40,000 individual members, 47 prefectural chapters, and about 230 local chapters.[53] The organisation's website lists the members depending on their seniority in the organisation headed by a President seconded by Vice Presidents and a pool of "advisors", includingShinto priests leading key shrines, some of them belonging to theImperial family.
Following the 2014 reshuffle, 15 of the 19Third Abe Cabinet members, including the Prime Minister himself (as 'special adviser'), were members of Nippon Kaigi.[34] Among the members, former members, and affiliated are countless lawmakers, many ministers and a few prime ministers includingTarō Asō,Shinzō Abe, andYoshihide Suga. Abe's brotherNobuo Kishi is also a member of the Nippon Kaigi group in the Diet.[34] Its ex-chairman,Toru Miyoshi, was the former Chief Justice of theSupreme Court of Japan.[27]
After campaigning actively forLiberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidates in July 2016, Nippon Kaigi campaigned for constitutional revision in September 2016.[54]
| List of presidents | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Name | Period | Time in office |
| 1997 | Koichi Tsukamoto | 1997–1998 | 1 year |
| 1998 | Kosaku Inaba | 1998–2001 | 3 years |
| 2001 | Toru Miyoshi | 2001–2015 | 14 years (honorary president) |
| 2015 | Tadae Takubo [ja] | 2015–2024 | 9 years |
| 2025 | Tomohiko Taniguchi [ja] | 2025–present | |
JournalistNorimitsu Onishi says that the organisation promotes a revival of the values of theEmpire of Japan.[55] Tamotsu Sugano, the author of the bestselling exposé on the group,Research on Nippon Kaigi (日本会議の研究), describes it as a movement democratic in method but intent on examininggender equality, restoring patriarchal/family values and returning Japan to a pre-war constitution that is neither democratic nor modern.[56] On 6 January 2017, sale of the book was banned by a district court for defamation,[57][58] pending removal of the offending portion; a revised digital edition continued to be sold.[59] Sales resumed that March when the court allowed a revised edition with 36 characters deleted to appear.[60]
Muneo Narusawa, the editor ofFriday Weekly (週刊金曜日,Shūkan Kin'yōbi), says that, in parallel with historical negationism, the organisation often highlights historical facts that portray Japan as a victim, such as with theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, theSoviet declaration of war andinvasion of Manchuria, and theNorth Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. Former education ministerHakubun Shimomura, the secretary general of the Discussion Group of Nippon Kaigi Diet Members (日本会議国会議員懇談会,Nippon Kaigi Kokkai Giin Kondankai), argues for patriotic education and opposes a "masochistic view of history".[61][62]
The Hankyoreh, aliberal newspaper in South Korea, denounced right-wing nationalism led byShinzo Abe and Nippon Kaigi as "anti-Korean nationalism" in its English column.[63] Gabriel Rodriguez, inJacobin, an Americanleft-wing magazine, wrote the LDP and Nippon Kaigi carry the legacy ofJapanese fascism.[64]
A Tokyo court has ordered a publisher to suspend publication of a best-selling nonfiction book detailing links between the conservative Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi) lobby and a religious group, saying it contains defamatory information.
TOKYO–The recent spate of western media articles on Nippon Kaigi – a conservative Japanese lobbying group (and somewhat akin to a "Political Action Committee" in America) associated with Prime Minister Abe — suggests Japan is heading for a police state, and soon afterwards will be looking overseas for somewhere to invade.
Also removed was a reference to ties by Abe and Aso to a conservative lobby group, Nippon Kaigi.
She is a member of the ultranationalist Nippon Kaigi organisation, which aims to restore the emperor to divine status, keep women at home, prioritise public order over civil liberties and rebuild Japan's armed forces.
He belongs to the ultranationalist Nippon Kaigi, which seeks to re-militarize Japan and to revive Imperial Japan and which, among other things, vehemently denies Japan's "comfort women" history during World War II.
... high degree of grassroots support from a number of nationalist and militaristic social groups such as the War Bereaved Association and Nippon Kaigi, ...
the reactionary group Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference)—has been waging war over its shared past with China and South Korea on battlegrounds ranging from Yasukuni Shrine to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organisation (UNESCO).
Both have served as members of a nonpartisan group of lawmakers supporting far-right organisation Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi).
... Nippon Kaigi Parts of the Japanese establishment have ties with a large far-right voluntary organisation, Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference), whose ranks include grassroots members across the nation as well as national and local ...
In 1997 nationalist intellectuals, politicians and religious leaders formed the largest far-right advocacy group, Japan Conference (Nippon kaigi), formed as a result of the merger between the two ...
Every year far-right nationalist groups – including Nippon Kaigi – private citizens and government officials visit the Yasukuni Shrine. Many wear uniforms or clothing linked to the Imperial Army and display the Japanese imperial flag.
Abe's key ultra-conservative supporter, Nippon Kaigi, or Japan Conference, was among the organizers Saturday.
Abe and Kagoike, who has indicated he will resign as principal, both belong to an ultra-conservative lobby group whose members include more than a dozen cabinet ministers.
In 2008, she made an unsuccessful run at the LDP's chairmanship. Following her defeat, she worked to build an internal party network and became involved in a revisionist group of lawmakers that serves as the mouthpiece of the ultraconservative Nippon Kaigi ("Japan Conference") movement.
Parts of the Japanese establishment have ties with a large far-right voluntary organisation, Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference), whose ranks include grassroots members across the nation as well as national and local politicians...
Carrying the legacy of Japanese fascism, the LDP (particularly Nippon Kaigi) is the knowing driver of both this growing racism and nationalism and Japan's swelling military fervor. The synthesis of remilitarization with reactionary politics is embodied in the party's longtime leader, Shinzō Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, who retired only last year due to his declining health.
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