Nippon Kaigi
Nippon Kaigi (日本会議, lit. 'Japan Conference')[21] is Japan's largest ultraconservative[22] and ultranationalist far-right[23] non-governmental organization and lobbying group.[24] It was established in 1997 and has approximately 38,000 to 40,000 members as of 2020.[29]
Japan Conference 日本会議
(vacant)
Yuzo Kabashima
Koichiro Ishii
Michihisa Kitashirakawa
Naotake Takatsukasa
Iwao Ando
30 May 1997
Nihon wo mamoru Kokumin Kaigi
Nihon wo mamoru Kai
c. 38,000 – 40,000 (2020 est.)[1]
Nippon Kaigi National Lawmakers Friendship Association
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 current prime minister Fumio Kishida,[30] Tarō Asō, Shinzō Abe, and Yoshihide Suga, were members.[31]
The organization 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,[32] especially Article 9 which forbids the maintenance of a standing army.[33] The group also aims to promote patriotic education, support official visits to Yasukuni Shrine, and promote a nationalist interpretation of State Shinto.[34][35][36][37] It also rejects that comfort women, sex workers 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."[38]
Nippon Kaigi was founded in 1997 through the merger of two groups whose agendas included constitutional revision:
Toshiro Mayuzumi, leader of the Nihon 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 April 10, 1997, shortly before the new organization's first meeting in May 1997.[44] The position of founding president fell to Koichi Tsukamoto, the founder of Japanese clothier Wacoal.[26] Yuzo Kabashima, the secretary general of Nippon Kaigi, established a sister organization Nihon Seinen Kyogikai in 1977, which is headquartered in the same building as Nippon Kaigi and acts as the organization's secretariat.[45]
The organization 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 recognised Kimigayo as Japan's national anthem and the Hi no Maru as Japan's national flag. After the legislation passed, ensuing years saw the Ministry of Education and prefectural educational committees such as those of Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara issue guidelines forcing school teachers to adhere to specific procedures concerning these national symbols in the educational context.[46]
Criticism[edit]
Journalist Norimitsu Onishi says that the organization promotes a revival of the values of the Empire of Japan.[49] 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 turning back gender equality, restoring patriarchal values, and returning Japan to a pre-war constitution that is neither democratic nor modern.[50] On 6 January 2017, sale of the book was banned by a district court for defamation,[51][52] pending removal of the offending portion; a revised digital edition continued to be sold.[53] Sales resumed that March when the court allowed a revised edition with 36 characters deleted to appear.[54]
Muneo Narusawa, the editor of Friday Weekly (週刊金曜日, Shūkan Kin'yōbi), says that, in parallel with historical negationism, the organization often highlights historical facts that portray Japan as a victim, such as with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war and invasion of Manchuria, and the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. Former education minister Hakubun 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".[55][56]
The Hankyoreh, a liberal newspaper in South Korea, denounced right-wing nationalism led by Shinzo Abe and Nippon Kaigi as "anti-Korean nationalism" in its English column.[57] Gabriel Rodriguez, in Jacobin, an American left-wing magazine, wrote the LDP and Nippon Kaigi carry the legacy of Japanese fascism.[58]