Nippon Kaigi

Japan Conference
日本会議
ChairmanVacant
General SecretaryYuzo Kabashima
AdvisersKoichiro Ishii
Michihisa Kitashirakawa
Naotake Takatsukasa
Key peopleIwao Ando
FounderKoichi Tsukamoto
Founded30 May 1997; 27 years ago (1997-05-30)
Merger ofNihon wo mamoru Kokumin Kaigi and Nihon wo mamoru Kai
HeadquartersVort Aobadai II, Aobadai, Meguro, Tokyo
Membershipc. 38,000 – 40,000 (2020 est.)[1]
Ideology
Political positionFar-right[22]
ReligionShinto
AffiliationsNippon Kaigi National Lawmakers Friendship Association
Colours  Black
  Carmine
Website
www.nipponkaigi.org Edit this at Wikidata

Nippon Kaigi (日本会議, lit.'Japan Conference')[23] is Japan's largest ultraconservative[24] and ultranationalist far-right[25] non-governmental organisation and lobbying group.[26] It was established in 1997 and has approximately 38,000 to 40,000 members as of 2020.[31]

The group has significant influence in Japanese politics. In October 2014, 289 of the 480 Japanese National Diet members were part of the group. Many ministers and a few prime ministers, including; Shigeru Ishiba,[32] Tarō Asō, Shinzō Abe, Yoshihide Suga,[33] and Fumio Kishida.[34][verification needed]

The organisation describes its aims as to "change the postwar national consciousness based on the Tokyo Tribunal's view of history as a fundamental problem" and to revise Japan's current Constitution,[35] especially Article 9 which forbids the maintenance of a standing army.[36] The group also aims to promote patriotic education, support official visits to Yasukuni Shrine and promote a nationalist interpretation of State Shinto.[37][38][39][40] It also denies that comfort women, recruited by Japan during World War II, were forced to work.

In the words of Hideaki Kase, an influential member of Nippon Kaigi, "We are dedicated to our conservative cause. We are monarchists. We are for revising the constitution. We are for the glory of the nation."[41]

  1. ^ a b Wingfield-Hayes, Rupert (15 August 2020). "VJ Day: A WW2 hero and a reckoning with Japan's past". BBC News. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  2. ^ "In rare move, court suspends publication of best-seller on Abe-linked conservative lobby group". The Japan Times. Kyodo. 7 January 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2020. 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.
  3. ^ Newsham, Grant (19 July 2016). "Japan's conservative Nippon Kaigi lobby: Worth worrying about?". Asia Times. Tokyo. Retrieved 5 June 2020. 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.
  4. ^ White, Stanley; Kajimoto, Tetsushi (12 March 2018). "Japan PM, finance minister under fire over suspected cover-up of cronyism". Reuters. Tokyo. Retrieved 5 June 2020. Also removed was a reference to ties by Abe and Aso to a conservative lobby group, Nippon Kaigi.
  5. ^ [2][3][4]
  6. ^ Fitzpatrick, Michael; Segawa, Makiko. "Shinzo Abe's killing brings to light Japan's unseen world of shadowy cults, healers and religious lobbyists". i news. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  7. ^ Mark, Craig (6 September 2021). "Who will replace Yoshihide Suga as Japan's prime minister? Here's a rundown of the candidates". The Conversation. Retrieved 12 August 2022. 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.
  8. ^ Steinbock, Dan (15 January 2019). "Japan's "Comfort Women": Asian Protests and Imperial Japan's Sexual Slavery". Foreign Policy Journal. Retrieved 12 August 2022. 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.
  9. ^ "The Conversation: Assassination of Shinzo Abe leaves Japan reeling". New Zealand Herald. 10 July 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  10. ^ Arudou, Debito (31 July 2016). "For Abe, it will always be about the Constitution". The Japan Times. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  11. ^ [7][8][9][10]
  12. ^ Yamaguchi, Tomomi (2018). "Revisionism, Ultranationalism, Sexism: Relations Between the Far Right and the Establishment Over the 'Comfort Women' Issue". Social Science Japan Journal. 21 (2): 193–212. doi:10.1093/ssjj/jyy014. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  13. ^ Larsson, Ernils (3 December 2014). "Abe's cabinet reshuffle reflects growing influence of the religious right". East Asia Forum. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  14. ^ [12][13]
  15. ^ Myles Carroll, ed. (2021). The Making of Modern Japan: Power, Crisis, and the Promise of Transformation. Brill Publishers. p. 205. ISBN 9789004466531. ... high degree of grassroots support from a number of nationalist and militaristic social groups such as the War Bereaved Association and Nippon Kaigi, ...
  16. ^ Sohn, Yul; Pempel, T. J., eds. (2018). Japan and Asia's Contested Order: The Interplay of Security, Economics and Identity. Springer Science+Business Media. p. 148. ISBN 9789811302565 – via Google Books. 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).
  17. ^ "Could Japan soon have a female leader? Sanae Takaichi emerges as a contender". The Japan Times. 5 September 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2021. Both have served as members of a nonpartisan group of lawmakers supporting far-right organisation Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi).
  18. ^ Steinbock, Dan (8 June 2021). "Fruity Indo-Pacific Politics: Or How Kishi Met Lorenzana – Analysis". Eurasia Review. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  19. ^ Yoshio Sugimoto, ed. (2020). An Introduction to Japanese Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 242. ISBN 9781108724746. ... 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 ...
  20. ^ Michael W. Apple, ed. (2009). Global Crises, Social Justice, and Education. Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 9781135172787. 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 ...
  21. ^ The Passenger, ed. (2020). The Passenger: Japan. Europa Editions. ISBN 9781609456429. 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.
  22. ^ [17][18][19][20][21]
  23. ^ a b c "Right side up". The Economist. 4 June 2015.
  24. ^
  25. ^ a b Yoshio Sugimoto, ed. (2020). An Introduction to Japanese Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 242. ISBN 9781108724746. 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...
  26. ^ Nippon Kaigi: Empire, Contradiction and Japan's Future Archived 12 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Asia-Pacific Journal. Author – Sachie Mizohata. Published 1 November 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  27. ^ a b Norihiro Kato (12 September 2014). "Tea Party Politics in Japan". New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019.
  28. ^ "国民運動の歩み « 日本会議". www.nipponkaigi.org.
  29. ^ Matthew Penney, Abe Cabinet – An Ideological Breakdown, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 28 January 2013
  30. ^ Salmon, Andrew (22 July 2021). "Japan's deep-right has more tongue than teeth". Asia Times. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  31. ^ [1][23][27][28] The group influences the legislative and executive branches of the Japanese government through its affiliates.[27][29] Former prime minister Shinzo Abe, an LDP politician, served as a special advisor to the group's parliamentary league.[23] The group's membership includes grassroots activists as well as national and local politicians; with most of its active members being retired men over 60 years of age as the organisation has faced difficulty attracting young people.[25][30]
  32. ^ Mark, Craig (29 September 2021). "Who is Fumio Kishida, Japan's new prime minister?". The Conversation. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2014 reshuffle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ "Ishiba cannot rival Abe for Japan leadership yet". Oxford Analytica Daily Brief Service. Emerald Expert Briefings. oxan–db (oxan–db). 4 August 2017. doi:10.1108/OXAN-DB223607. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  35. ^ Cite error: The named reference winkler2008p75 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  36. ^ "Politics and pitfalls of Japan Ethnography" – page 66 – Routledge (18 June 2009) – Edited by Jennifer Robertson
  37. ^ Mullins, Mark R. (2012). The Neo-Nationalist Response to the Aum Crisis, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 39 (1), 110–112
  38. ^ about Nippon Kaigi (Japanese)
  39. ^ Rightist ministers make up 80% of Abe Cabinet, Japan Press Weekly – 5 January 2012
  40. ^ Daiki Shibuichi (2008). Japan's History Textbook Controversy, Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies, Discussion Paper 4
  41. ^ "By Linda Sieg". www.oneindia.com. 15 June 2006.[permanent dead link]