2017: What is the Aim of Nippon Kaigi

Nationalism in the Abe Era
The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 15 | Issue 21 | Number 1 | Nov 01, 2017
Mit freundlicher Erlaubnis von Japan Focus

What is the Aim of Nippon Kaigi, the Ultra-Right Organization that Supports Japan’s Abe Administration?¹
Tawara Yoshifumi
Translation by Asia Policy Point, Senior Fellow William Brooks and Senior Research Assistant Lu Pengqiao Introduction by Tomomi Yamaguchi (http://apjjf.org/#_edn1)


Introduction

Nippon Kaigi (http://www.nipponkaigi.org/) [The Japan Conference], established in 1997, is the largest right-wing organization in Japan. The organization is a major supporter of the current Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, and both Japanese and foreign media report that Abe, and many of his cabinet, are prominent member of its Diet Members League. Despite Nippon Kaigi’s influence on governmental policies of Japan, the organization was little known to the general public until 2015. In 2016, however, numerous books and magazine articles focusing on Nippon Kaigi were published, some becoming best sellers. This created a “Nippon Kaigi boom” in the publishing world.2


These 2016 works on Nippon Kaigi, however, were not the first. A number of journalists, scholars and activists have long paid attention to the history and activism of Nippon Kaigi. Tawara Yoshifumi, a leading specialist on education and textbook adoption issues, and the secretary general of Children and T e x t b o o k s J a p a n N e t w o r k 2 1 (http://www.ne.jp/asahi/kyokasho/net21/), has published articles and books that on Nippon Kaigi over the years.

The article translated here appeared in the December 2016 volume of the magazine, Heiwa Undō (Peace Movement), and summarizes his most recent book Nippon Kaigi no Zenbō: Shirarezaru Kyodai Soshiki no Jittai (https://goo.gl/Z2pPCD)[The Complete Picture of Nippon Kaigi: The Unknown Reality of an Mammoth Organization.] (Kadensha 2016.) In the book, Tawara utilized data on Nippon Kaigi accumulated over a long period of time to describe Nippon Kaigi’s history, organizational structure, “grassroots” movement style, and goals. ….

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