A recent article in the Japanese tabloid newspaper Nikkan Gendai garnered considerable attention from Japanese netizens through asking one provocative question: Has it become trendy for young Japanese people to be right wing?
At a time when tensions in East Asia are high, the newspaper asks whether increased numbers of visitors to the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates all Japanese who died in service to the Emperor between 1867 and 1951, are indicative of right wing tendencies. The Yasukuni Shrine remains at the centre of controversies with Korea and China, since the souls enshrined therein include those of class A war criminals. In recent years, members of the Diet who visit the shrine have found themselves facing criticism from several corners, with many perceiving these actions as unnecessarily antagonistic.
This new wave of youthful pilgrims brings new questions about political tendencies among younger Japanese. Netizen responses to the claims made in the article are also translated below.
From Nikkan Gendai
Increase in Japanese Youths Visiting Yasukuni Shrine; Nikkan Gendai Fears Nationalism Being Treated Like a Fashion Trend Could Be Dangerous
★ Not Only Members of the Diet; Japanese Youths Increasingly Paying Their Respects at Yasukuni Shrine.
Last week, members of the National Diet, including the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Abe Shinzo, visited the Yasukuni Shrine. The foreign media has repeatedly criticized this act as being a reason for deteriorating ties amongst Japan and its neighboring countries. One Diet member said: ‘I was surprised to see so many Japanese youths in their 20s and 30s visiting the shrine.’
About 6 million people visit the Yasukuni Shrine each year, and recently the number of young visitors has increased. Actually visiting the shrine, we saw several youths (mostly in pairs or groups of three). We assumed that they were just there as tourists. However, when asked the purpose of their visit, their responses were quite serious. They said ‘being Japanese we must visit once’. It is not a matter of concern what motivates a person to visit Yasukuni shrine, since it is within one’s right and freedom to do so. Yet it does raise a concern, when you hear news of Japanese youths becoming more rightist in their views.
We can surely not ignore the influence of the Internet. It is the extreme rightist comments by ‘Internet right-wingers’ that attract the most attention online. Nowadays it is no longer the newspaper, television and other sources of media that influence the way the youth think. Many rely on Yahoo News. The access count for the site is 10 times that of most newspaper sites. With Yahoo News presenting many articles from the Sankei Shimbun [a newspaper known for being right-wing and conservative] you can not ignore its influence.
Not only Yahoo News, but also the information on the Internet is generally one-sided. IT journalist Inoue Toshiyuki states: ‘It is not a matter of the quality of what you say, but the number of people who say it. It gives the youth a false sense of feeling that everybody is thinking that way. On the Internet you will find many youths, especially young women who clearly support rightist views. There is a strong wave amongst the youths towards nationalism. It does not surprise me to hear that there are greater numbers of youths visiting Yasukuni Shrine. If they are visiting Yasukuni with the mentality of it being like a fashion trend, this is something very dangerous.
Comments from 2chbiyori
名無しさん:
The idiots are growing in number
名無しさん:
It’s all thanks to the Democratic Party of Japan
名無しさん:
It really is as if visiting the Yasukuni shrine is a bad thing
名無しさん:
It’s more abnormal to consider visiting the Yasukuni shrine as strange.
名無しさん:
Does wanting to protect our own country mean we’re becoming more right wing? Then is betraying one’s country an act of liberalism? Both right and left-wing are too extreme. Wanting to protect your own country should be a natural emotion for all nationals. The media say stuff like it’s still a crime even if ‘patriotism is innocent’ which is the same kind of thing.
名無しさん:
I teach my children that we exist now upon the sacrifices of many lives. Japanese politicians should visit the Yasukuni shrine. Given the opportunity, go pay your respects.
名無しさん:
If it’s fashion, what’s the problem?
名無しさん:
What is so dangerous, and how?
名無しさん:
Are all the foreign tourists that come to the Yasukuni Shrine fascists?
名無しさん:
My grandfather’s brothers died in the war, so as kids we always went there to pay our respects. In the 80’s many politicians went because they too had family members there. What are they fussing about?
名無しさん:
So it’s wrong for Japanese people go to a Japanese sacred place within Japan to pay respects for people who died fighting for the benefit of Japan. This is the opinion of self-professed ‘decent’ Japanese.
名無しさん:
The result of young Japanese who followed the trend of Liberalism is our politics now w
名無しさん:
If you think about it, at the Yasukuni shrine you will not meet Chinese, North Korean or anti-Japanese foreigners. It is so peaceful. It is a holy sanctuary.
名無しさん:
It is just a matter of people who want to go should go..
名無しさん:
Paying a visit to your family grave is a rightist act.
名無しさん:
Japanese youths are ignorant of their history, and that’s why they can do things to anger the Koreans and Chinese, like visiting the Yasukuni shrine.
名無しさん:
Becoming more right wing? We are just becoming more normal.
Dual Identity（通名）は日本の誇る文化、１億全市民に通名許可を：
Youth are supposed to be this way. Old ones think back to when you were young. 90% of you guys rebelled like it was the fashionable thing to do, like it was a party. Compared to that, now it’s a lot better. People watch the news and each individual has a political stand and is able to voice this. Makes me feel the maturity of Japanese democracy.
名無しさん:
Right wing tendencies becoming fashionable…If we resume mandatory military service, I bet those youths would love that. How about for 3 years from the age of 24?
（ ｀ハ´ ）：2012/10/25(木):
@79 Well, as long as their actions don’t correspond to it, who cares if it’s nationalism and belief that’s not just for fashion w. No wonder it’s talked about as being a fashionable trend. For the most part, their actions don’t accompany [their beliefs], so I guess that’s why it’s being ridiculed as fashion.
