The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles.<\/p>\n
Anti-nuclear protest, Tokyo, 2012. Demotix\/Nodoka Ishida. All rights reserved.What do you
\nknow about Japan? Answers to this question vary, but I can guess how familiar someone is with Japan by paying attention to the Japanese loanwords he or
\nshe uses. I am sure you know the following words: sukiyaki, tofu, tempura, sushi (foods), karaoke, bonsai, manga, otaku (cultural
\nterms), kaizen, kanban, karoshi
\n(business terms), and various other words such as tsunami, kamikaze, and
\nhikikomori. Japan\u2019s delicious foods, interesting culture, management, hard
\nwork, and sometimes even its disasters and discord are the main components of
\nits image in other countries.<\/i><\/p>\n
Unfortunately
\ndemocracy and social movements in Japan have rarely been under close
\ninternational scrutiny. Now we have the time and an indispensable chance to do
\nso, because today, Japan is on the brink of changing
\nfrom a pacifist state to one prepared to go to war if necessary.<\/p>\n
Shinzo Abe\u2019s government, the Liberal Democratic Party, and They do not wish to discuss \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 1. Shifts The USA\u2019s power The 2. Security-related The immediate The coalition The 3. A strategy to Japan\u2019s government, the Prior to the issue of In Japan, many Some people In July 2014, the Abe government They may help elite women, 4. Recovery Four years have Even so, the There are of 5. The political process in Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n The origins of The Democratic Party did not have a specific policy, nor Shinzo Abe Protests against the security bills, Tokyo. Author\u2019s own. All rights reserved.A great many groups and Students\u2019 Emergency Action While the women\u2019s However, US military bases remained on the island, and the Japanese Some readers are undoubtedly curious about the role of Therefore one The security-related bills Despite this, nearly 40 Since the Meiji Anti-nuclear protest, Tokyo, 2012. Demotix\/Nodoka Ishida. All rights reserved.We can observe two important If we can solve the problem How to cite:<\/strong> The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles. Anti-nuclear protest, Tokyo, 2012. Demotix\/Nodoka Ishida. All rights reserved.What do you know about Japan? Answers to this question vary, but I can guess how familiar someone is with Japan by paying attention to the Japanese loanwords he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ntheir allies have maintained close and intimate relationships with nationalist right-wing movements and
\norganizations such as the Japan Conference (Nihonkaigi<\/em>)
\nand the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership (Shinto Seiji Renmei<\/em>). They feel that in
\norder to revitalise Japan, it must be perceived as a beautiful country not only
\nin the natural and geographical senses, but also in the social, cultural, and
\nhistorical senses. Japan\u2019s \u2018true, original characteristics\u2019 such as the monarchy
\nare beautiful.<\/p>\n
\npainful issues connected to World War II such as \u2018comfort women\u2019 or the Nanjing
\nmassacre, and they do not want to accept Japan\u2019s defeat in the Pacific War,
\npreferring to think of Japan as having liberated Asia from western imperialism.
\nThey feel that education should not teach imported notions of western human
\nrights, but should instead stress the Japanese people\u2019s duties to the state and
\nto the emperor.<\/p>\nThe five contexts behind social movements in Japan
\ntoday<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n Locals protest against basing MV-22 Osprey helicopters on Okinawa. Demotix\/Chris Willson. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nin national hegemony and power<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nand hegemony are in decline while China\u2019s are rising; therefore the USA needs
\nall kinds of help from its allies. Especially in East Asia, it is essential for
\nthe USA to strengthen its ties with and get assistance from Japan, not only
\npolitically and militarily but also economically and ideologically.<\/p>\n
\ngovernment is now hurrying to relocate the American military base in Futenma to
\nHenoko, in Nago City, against the will of the majority of the Okinawan people.
\nThe will of the people of Okinawa is crystal clear: Okinawan people would like
\nto relocate the Futenma base to somewhere else outside of Okinawa prefecture,
\nhopefully outside Japan. But the Abe government has been accelerating
\npreparations for building a new base in Henoko. Many Okinawans are protesting
\nthese relocation preparation activities by staging sit-ins at the construction
\nsite.<\/p>\n
\nbills<\/strong><\/p>\n
\ngoal of the current government is to create a \u2018normal country\u2019. By that, it means one capable of engaging in war. It has enacted the State Secrets Law that imposes penalties for leaking
\nclassified information that could endanger national security, and
\nmakes it possible to export arms.<\/p>\n
\ngovernment of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party and the centre-right
\nClean Party is trying to enact security-related bills which will allow Japan\u2019s military to fight abroad for
\nthe first time since World War II. This is a drastic shift in security policy.
\nPrime Minister Abe\u2019s cabinet already adopted a resolution last July,
\nreinterpreting the pacifist Constitution to drop the self-imposed ban on
\nexercising the right of collective self-defence and providing military support
\nto a friendly country under attack.<\/p>\n
\ngovernment and National Diet have changed the interpretation of the provisions
\nof the Constitution \u2013 and its meaning and content \u2013 without going through the
\nformal procedure of amending it in order to allow Japan\u2019s Self-Defence Forces to actively participate
\nin military self-defence activities. These security-related bills, however,
\nallow Japan\u2019s Self-Defence Forces to exercise the right of collective
\nself-defence, thus clearly violating the Constitution. Approximately 200
\nconstitutional law scholars have declared that these bills are
\nunconstitutional, and the media surmise that only 10 constitutional law
\nscholars support the assertion that these bills are constitutional.
\nNevertheless, the government is trying to persuade Parliament to pass the
\nbills.<\/p>\n
\nrevitalise Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nruling Liberal Democratic Party, and the leaders of big corporations believe that implementing neo-liberal economic policies and innovations based on the
\nSilicon Valley model is the way to escape from economic
\nstagnation over two decades and revitalize Japan.<\/p>\n
\ncollective self-defence, there were heated debates over and movements
\nprotesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) promoted by the US government.
\nIt is estimated that the TPP
\nwould generate USD$5 billion in economic benefits in the US in 2015, and $14
\nbillion by 2025, but the treaty was negotiated in secret. Organised labour,
\nfarmers, professionals, activists, environmentalists, intellectuals, and
\nelected officials have all criticised and protested the treaty. As Noam Chomsky warned, the TPP is \u201cdesigned to carry forward the neoliberal project to maximise profit and domination\u201d of giant
\ncorporations.<\/p>\n
\npeople fear that giant American corporations will be able to exploit Japan\u2019s new markets. Japanese agriculture in particular would be damaged
\nby giant US agribusinesses. However, the Liberal Democratic Party is trying to
\nreform the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations into a
\nnew organization designed to increase agricultural productivity and enhance the
\ninternational competitiveness of Japan\u2019s agriculture.<\/p>\n
\nmight think that Abe\u2019s policy to revitalise Japan is new and will solve some of
\nJapan\u2019s problems. In reality, however, he does not include a gender perspective
\nin his policy to revitalise Japan \u2013 on the contrary, his policy uses women
\narbitrarily rather than aiming for a gender-equal society. The World Economic Forum\u2019s Global Gender Gap Report (2014) ranked Japan
\n104 out of 142 countries with regard to gender equality. Since the 1980s,
\npersistent women\u2019s liberation movements have emerged in the areas of
\nemployment, family, local community, and politics. Japan\u2019s low ranking is
\nmainly due to the low performances of political empowerment and economic
\nparticipation and opportunity.<\/p>\n
\nannounced its \u2018Japan revitalization strategy\u2019, which included the establishment
\nof a legal framework designed to achieve the goal of women holding 30 percent
\nof leadership positions by 2020. Based on this grand design, the Abe
\nadministration launched a series of promotion policies for women. However,
\nthese policies focus on improving the national economy and taking measures to
\nreverse the decline of birth rate; in practice, it does not concern itself with
\nthe issue of gender inequality.<\/p>\n
\nbut it is uncertain how they could improve the problems of irregular employment. Irregular workers (a three-year contract
\nmaximum) and temporary workers (an under-one-year contract) are increasing
\nrapidly since the 1990s. Many female workers belong to irregular and temporary categories. The revised Dispatch Worker Bill, now at the House of Councillors, will
\nprobably worsen the working conditions for them.<\/p>\n
\nfrom disaster<\/strong><\/p>\n
\npassed since a severe earthquake and tsunami struck the northern coast of
\nHonshu on 11 March 2011. Due to the combination of the natural disaster and the
\nman-made Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, Japan has experienced
\nunprecedented suffering. Despite Abe\u2019s promise to do his best to achieve a
\nquick and full recovery from the disaster, 2,576 people are still missing and
\nmore than 2,100,000 remain displaced. After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
\nplant accident, all nuclear power plants stopped operation and several old
\nnuclear power plants were decommissioned, but the nuclear accident itself was
\nnot brought under control.<\/p>\n
\nLiberal Democratic Party\u2019s attitude to nuclear power plants has shifted from
\nopposition to support, because nuclear energy is inexpensive and no alternative
\nto it has been found to support Japan\u2019s revival. The Abe government has even
\nbeen working to export Japan\u2019s nuclear power plant abroad. Several proposals
\nfor reopening the nuclear power plants have already been presented. The Kushu
\nElectric Company\u2019s proposal to revive the Sendai nuclear power plant was
\nprocessed favourably without regard to the lessons of the disaster, and the
\nplant will restart operations this summer.<\/p>\n
\ncourse many strong and persistent anti-nuclear movements, but the problem is
\nthat the local communities among which nuclear power plants are located receive
\nso much money from the power companies that they now find it difficult to live
\nwithout this money. It is very hard for anti-nuclear environmental movements to
\nbreak this local power structure. The Nuclear Power Safety Commission, the
\nnational government, and relevant local and prefectural governments can all
\napprove a company\u2019s request to reopen a nuclear power plant.<\/p>\n
\nthe present political situation lie in the failure of the Democratic Party\u2019s
\ngovernment from 2009 to 2011. Since the 1990s, people had become increasingly dissatisfied with the traditional politics of the Liberal Democratic Party and
\nits governments, which relied on traditional state bureaucracy ruled by special
\ninterests and intra-party factions. The Japanese people therefore chose the
\nDemocratic Party as the ruling party in the 2009 general election. It was the
\nfirst time the Liberal Democratic Party had been out of power since the end of
\nWorld War II, but people soon realised that the Democratic Party could not
\nprovide new political processes to solve so many problems. The party was
\ncomposed of politicians whose political and ideological backgrounds were so
\ndiverse, ranging from conservatives to social democrats, that it was difficult
\nto get a consensus even on basic policies.<\/p>\n
\nthe means to achieve its campaign promises. They did not deal with
\ninternational questions, particularly the conflicts with China and the East
\nJapan Great Earthquake and Tsunami disaster. The Liberal Democratic Party
\ntherefore won a landslide victory in the next election in 2011. The pendulum swung
\ntoo far in the opposite direction. As a result, the House of Representatives is
\nnow dominated by big ruling party members; opposition parties\u2019 members make up about
\none-third. This political structure has allowed the ruling party and its allies
\nto initiate an amendment to the Constitution\uff0eMany
\nnewly elected members of the Lower House in the Liberal Democratic Party are
\nvery conservative, even right-wing.<\/p>\n
\nbecame prime minister on the strength of his promise to revitalise Japan
\nthrough strong leadership and taking swift political decisions. His policies
\nhave created a false economic boom that is far from the real
\neconomic situation, creating big
\nprofits for global corporations based on a weaker yen and the monetary policy
\nof the Central Bank of Japan. \u2018Abenomics\u2019 relies on the trickle-down theory that
\n\u201cfinancial
\nbenefit given to big business will in turn pass down to smaller businesses and
\nconsumers\u201d (following the Merriam-Webster
\ndefinition). Even the World Bank is
\nreluctant to endorse
\nit. Abe\u2019s economic policy is sticking
\nto this theory, while cutting social, welfare, cultural, and educational
\nspending.<\/p>\nThe present situation of social movements in Japan<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\norganizations have been formed since the security-related bills were presented
\nto the House of Representatives. Almost every day, demonstrations or meetings
\nto protest the security-related bills take place in Japan. The Committee of
\nAnti-War 1000 has been organizing meetings and demonstrations. It has gained
\nthe signatures of more than 1,650,000 people to oppose the security legislation.
\nThe Association of Scholars Opposed to the Security-Related Bills set up a
\nwebsite and collected over 10,000 signatures within a short period. Various
\nwomen\u2019s liberation groups and organizations have held meetings and demonstrated
\nagainst the bills.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nfor Liberal Democracy (SEALD) organises meetings and demonstrations every
\nFriday and Saturday just outside the Parliament building, attracting an
\nincreasing number of participants every week. This is a very important move.
\nThe student movement had been a leading part of the democracy movement until
\nthe late 1960s, but since then it has become unpopular in Japan. Many people
\nappreciate the current movement as open, fresh, lacking an ideological bent,
\nand featuring a sophisticated youth culture. The movement\u2019s purpose is to show
\nthat \u2018this is what democracy looks like\u2019. What democracy means for
\nthem is political participation, and creating their own future by inputting
\nstudent\u2019s voices into the political process. It always calls for the
\nparticipation of the students\u2019 families, friends, and lovers.<\/p>\n
\nliberation movement organises demonstrations and meetings for women\u2019s issues,
\nthey are demonstrating and meeting to protest against the security-related
\nbills at the same time, as does the movement against the US military base in
\nOkinawa. At the end of World War II, Okinawa became the only battlefield in
\nJapan. Many Okinawan people died, and the social infrastructure was completely
\ndestroyed. After World War II, Okinawa was placed under US military rule, whose
\ninterests were prioritised over the freedom of the Okinawan people. The
\nmovement to return Okinawa to Japanese rule intensified, and in 1972 this goal
\nwas achieved.<\/p>\n
\ngovernment continues to prioritise the US military over the Okinawan people. In
\nthe case of relocating the Futenma base, the Japanese government continues to
\ngive priority to US military policy over the will of the Okinawan people, and
\nthe number of people calling for Okinawa\u2019s independence from Japan is growing.
\nTherefore, it is essential to understand the link between the movements in
\nOkinawa and the movements against the security-related bills.<\/p>\n
\nthe labour movement in Japan. Unfortunately, the power of the unions and the
\nlabour movement is declining steadily. The Japanese Trade Union Confederation
\n(Rengo, an organizational supporter of the Democratic Party) and the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren, an
\norganizational supporter of the Communist Party) can still mobilise their
\nmembers, but they have lost the power to act as umbrella organizations
\ncoordinating the movements in response to important political issues.<\/p>\n
\nof the most important problems to solve now is how to foster a confluence of
\nprotest movements. The victory of the movement against the security bills seems
\nto depend on a sharp decline in support for the Abe administration, which now
\nstands around 38 percent.<\/p>\n
\nare unconstitutional, and the process of presenting and legislating them has
\nproved undemocratic and a violation of the Constitution. Various democratic movements are criticizing the Abe government\u2019s
\nmove. Public opinion is rapidly turning against the bills. If the bills are passed by the parliament, Japan will take a big step
\ntowards becoming a totalitarian state.<\/p>\n
\npercent of the Japanese people still support the Abe government, although about
\n60 percent oppose the security-related bills. The threats from foreign
\ncountries and the artificial economic boom are two factors explaining the
\nrelatively high support for Abe. It is also said that the Japanese people are
\nindifferent to politics \u2013 people do not like to talk about politics or religion
\nat social gatherings. But more than that, the government and the ruling party
\nare using advertisements to create a good image of the system. Furthermore,
\nthey put pressure on the media (TV, newspapers, magazines, and websites) not to
\nsay or write unfavourable things about the government. It is very difficult to
\nfind critical investigations of the Abe government in the Japanese media. It is
\nleft to local newspapers, tabloids, weekly journals and
\nsocial media to carry critical news and commentary against the Abe government. Japan\u2019s NHK, similar to the UK\u2019s BBC, has rarely offered critical
\nscrutiny of the government since one of Abe\u2019s friends was appointed its
\npresident.<\/p>\n
\nrestoration, the Japanese government has been strengthening the country\u2019s
\nnational identity through education. From the end of World War II to the end of
\nthe 1970s, the democratization movement was strong. The government\u2019s
\nintroduction of the concept of national identity was somewhat counter-balanced
\nby the democratization movement; however, the impact of the movement on
\neducation began to decline in the 1980s, and the government\u2019s efforts to
\nstrengthen national identity prevailed. Following strong economic growth, the ideology
\nof Japan as a great power, favourable only to the Japanese people, has emerged.
\nNumerous cultural phenomena which strengthen and support Japanese nationalisms have
\nbeen produced in the consumer market, cultural industries, and tourism. All of
\nthese trends have stressed Japan\u2019s uniqueness and national identity.<\/p>\nAn open democracy in Japan<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\npoints in order to develop an open democracy in Japan. Firstly, democratization
\nmovements in Japan must understand and present democracy based on Japanese
\nhistory, passions, emotions, and sentiments to solve the cleavage between
\nnationalism and democracy. Democracy is a universal spirit of world society. Secondly,
\nwe Japanese must discard the \u2018leave Asia and join Europe\u2019 attitude prevalent
\nsince the Meiji restoration, and re-position Japan once again as a part of
\nAsia. We must also thoroughly change our colonial thinking.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nof the fundamental cleavage or contradiction between nationalism and democracy,
\neast and west, Japan will no longer be a mysterious country, and people will be
\nable to understand the relationship between manga<\/em>,
\nomotenashi<\/em>, kawaii<\/em>, and the democratic social movement. Omotenashi<\/em>, manga<\/em> and Japanese
\nculture have been deeply rooted in the lives and minds of Japanese people. But
\nJapanese people\u2019s lives and minds have to be developed socially and politically
\nby cooperating with others. Subjects and democratic selves can be constructed
\nfrom this laborious process. Now it is clear that the role of social movements has become much more important than ever
\nbefore in this age of globalization and individualization.<\/p>\n
Yazawa S. (2015) \u00abThe crisis of democracy in Japan\u00bb, Open Democracy \/ ISA RC-47: Open Movements, 16 July. https:\/\/opendemocracy.net\/shujiro-yazawa\/crisis-of-democracy-in-japan<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"