Right Angles

Examining Accounts of Japanese Neo-nationalism

Bibliographic Data

ID2915340
AuthorsMatthew Penney, Bryce Wakefield
Year2008
Volume81
Issue4
Pages537-555
Publication date2008-12-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePacific Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0030-851X • E-ISSN: 1715-3379
PublisherPacific Affairs (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5509/2008814537
OpenAlexW2313455197
LanguageEN
Citations received13

23 July 2007 a video short attached an online article in the New York Times proclaimed is asserting itself militarily. It is embracing right-wing nationalism. It is denying its wartime atrocities. And it is flirting with nuclear weapons.1 While the tone of the short sometimes bordered on the histrionic, its conclusions were consistent with a general trend in recent observations about social and political movements in Japan. Speculation about a popular shift the right in Japanese public opinion is currently rife in many overseas media outlets and academic journals. Japan's leaders are portrayed as mindful of a growing nationalist sentiment2 and keen abolish pacifist provisions in the nation's Constitution in order to make Japan permit war.3 Meanwhile, popular expressions of nationalism are found in comics and movies, in an enthusiasm for World Cup soccer, in an indignation over North Korean missiles and, far from least, in Japan's anxiety over China's emerging influence.4 [Nationalism, according Michael J. Green, a former US National Security Council director for Asian Affairs, characterizes the [Japanese] public mood these days.5 This focus on Japan's resurgent right-wing nationalism left many commentators unprepared explain the crushing defeat suffered by the Liberal Democratic Party in the 29 July 2007 Upper House election. In the space of a few weeks, the press went from describing the now former prime minister as a man leading Japan toward a new nationalism talking about

Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Japanese History and Culture · Law

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