Voices from another time

Greecejapan_Relics
© Grigoris A. Miliaresis

They are usually found parked in front of Shinjuku station’s western exit, across the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kasumigaseki or around the Yasukuni Shrine, the controversial memorial for Japan’s fallen and red flag for the rest of the Eastern Asian countries since it awakens the memories of the Japanese imperialism of the period 1894-1945. And in some special days, like the Constitution Commemoration Day on May 3rd, they multiply to spread the word of their strong and continuing resistance to the “national humiliation” and the “disgrace” that followed the end of World War II and the seven-year occupation by the Allies. In Japanese they are called “gaisensha” (街宣車) or “propaganda vehicles” because either parked or on the move they loudly transmit their messages from their enormous speakers or the platforms rigged on their roofs and they belong to the groups that are collectively called “uyoku dantai” (右翼団体) or “right wing organizations”.

With more than 1000 (not necessarily related) groups, the rhetoric is rather broad; still the target is common: foreigners, usually in the form of the Americans, the Chinese or the Koreans, particularly because of their international politics and more particularly as it is expressed in the territorial disputes over the islands Senkaku and Takeshima. As for their phraseology it will sound very familiar to anyone having read Japanese history from the end of the 19th century afterwards: national identity, loyalty to the Emperor and his identification to the nation’s essence and the ideals of the samurai summarized in the “bushido”, the “warrior’s code” as expressed by Yamamoto Tsunetomo’s “Hagakure” and Yamaga Soko’s “Chucho Jijitsu”.

As is usually the case with followers of extreme ideologies, these groups conveniently overlook whole chapters of the same history they champion and misinterpret (usually on purpose) many details so they can support their views; if they didn’t they would see that present-day Japan is much stronger than that of the Taisho and Showa eras and more than that, it managed to gain this power without having to shed blood. And maybe because this knowledge is quite clear to the majority of the Japanese, the sight of the gaisensha is generally met with indifference and very few stop to listen to the fiery speeches their crews deliver from their roofs, surrounded by imperial crests and war flags. And why should they? Like everyone else, the uyoku are simply exercising their constitutional right to free speech…

Grigoris A. Miliaresis is a journalist and translator. He has worked for many newspapers, magazines and publishing houses and specializes in the Internet, the martial arts and Japan where he has been living for the last few years. 

GREEK 

Γρηγόρης Μηλιαρέσης
Γρηγόρης Μηλιαρέσης
Δημοσιογράφος και μεταφραστής. Έχει συνεργαστεί με πλειάδα εφημερίδων, περιοδικών (τόσο του γενικού όσο και του ειδικού τύπου) και εκδοτικών οίκων και με ειδίκευση στο Ίντερνετ, τις πολεμικές τέχνες και την Ιαπωνία όπου και ζει τα τελευταία χρόνια. Από το 2012 μέχρι το 2016 έγραφε την εβδομαδιαία στήλη στο GreeceJapan.com "Γράμματα από έναν αιωρούμενο κόσμο" και το 2020 κυκλοφόρησε το ομότιτλο βιβλίο του. Περισσότερα στη συνέντευξη που είχε δώσει στο GreeceJapan.com.

Η αναδημοσίευση περιεχομένου του GreeceJapan.com (φωτογραφιών, κειμένου, γραφικών) δεν επιτρέπεται χωρίς την εκ των προτέρων έγγραφη άδεια του GreeceJapan.com

ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ ΕΠΙΣΗΣ

Two years

I gave considerable thought to whether I should write something about today’s anniversary. First, I find what most international media have been doing for...

Fish are jumping

Deep in the forest surrounding the Kashima Jingu, one of the most important (for various reasons, religious as well as very practical) Shinto shrines...

Serving two masters

Despite the insistence of the Church of Greece and its various official or unofficial representatives, I never thought of Greeks as truly religious; I’ve...

The queens of Akihabara

They have been called something more than a group: a social phenomenon. And I will probably agree since even casual visitors of Tokyo can...

Daikon-ya

In the little time I’ve known her, there is one thing I’ve found out about Yoko-san: when she says “Let’s go to such and...

Kamakura: The old world

I have two loves, my country and Paris sang Edith Piaf in my grandmother’s old 78 rpm records. And although it is very difficult...

On the street

The –usually self-procalimed- experts say that if you want to see them in their full glory you need to go to Fukuoka's Nakasu or...

Invisible

If you talk with those standing and selling “The Big Issue” in the western entrance of Shinjuku Station they will tell you with certainty...

Πρόσφατα