Greater Japan Patriotic Party

Greater Japan Patriotic Party
大日本愛国党
FounderBin Akao
Founded1951 (1951)
HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
Ideology
Political positionFar-right
A Greater Japan Patriotic Party sound truck positioned in front of Yasukuni Shrine

The Greater Japan Patriotic Party (大日本愛国党, Dai Nippon Aikokutō), frequently abbreviated to Aikokutō (愛国党, Aikokutō), is a Japanese political party and far-right political group. It was created in 1951 by right-wing ultranationalist Bin Akao, who became the first head of the party.

Otoya Yamaguchi, who assassinated Inejirō Asanuma of the Japan Socialist Party in 1960, was a member of the Aikokutō,[1] as was Kazutaka Komori, who perpetrated the Shimanaka incident in 1961.[2]

Party leader Akao was arrested for conspiracy to murder in the wake of the Shimanaka incident, but was not indicted due to lack of evidence; instead, he was sentenced to eight months in prison for the lesser charges of disturbing the peace and intimidation.[3]

  1. ^ Kapur 2018, p. 252-253.
  2. ^ Kapur 2018, p. 257.
  3. ^ "High Court Upholds Sentence of Akao". The Japan Times. Tokyo. October 24, 1962. p. 4.