Japan’s current regime may be against her. The same also goes for the likely winner of Sunday’s Tokyo gubernatorial election. Plus, with the country’s supposedly impartial public broadcaster, NHK, now unapologetically backing the government, there’s scant hope of her getting any coverage, too.
But still she fights for what she believes in: battling away against the powers that be. And with Japan shifting ever more worryingly to the right, this woman, and thankfully many more like her — whether they be anti-nuclear or pro-democracy protestors — will become increasingly important.
Or at least that’s what one hopes.
John says
Good on her. Great mask too!!
Japanese citizens have been passive for way too long. A sign of change?
Lee says
I’d certainly like to thinks so. Over the last few years there have been huge demonstrations against nuclear power, and more recently the government’s new secrecy bill.
Sadly they have changed nothing, but it’s encouraging to know people care. Enough to get up and out on the streets too. I just hope it lasts, and ideally grows in numbers.
Bjarn says
I used to think the reason there are very little demonstrations in Japan for left-wing (or rather, non-nationalistic) causes is cultural, i.e. due to passiveness and politeness. But after two years of living in Japan, I tend to think more that under the democratic surface, Japan is still a country dangerously close to fascism. There have been cases of left-wing protestors being murdered, even set on fire in public by right-wing (uyoku/yakuza/etc.) thugs who seem to be operating with no fear of consequences from the government. There are even voices who say the Yakuza is a sort of “Gestapo” in Japan used by the government as a “bad bank” to counter leftwing tendencies.
Since I’ve seen beyond the surface, I understand why the Japanese have such a hard time speaking their mind. It can put their life at risk.
Lee says
Hmm, intimidation or worse is something I’ve never thought of, but it certainly doesn’t surprise me. Bullying is seemingly endemic in Japan – from school to the workplace – so there’s no reason to think it isn’t an issue in regards politics. A sorry state of affairs though, isn’t it?
One cause for optimism for me at least is that the numbers now protesting about the likes of nuclear power and the recent secrecy bill are so huge that such acts of intimidation simply won’t work. Well, at least not for the majority.
Hans ter Horst says
Great shot, and a very good message. I get frustrated by the passiveness of the average Japanese: when probed they do admit to caring, but when it comes to voting or raising their voice to disapprove, other factors take priority and they just go wit the flow again. It didn’t help that the opposition party was either indistinguishable from the LDP when in power or even more powerless. Call me crazy, but it would be a relief to see somebody stand up and stay ‘enough is enough; it is our country and not just a playing field for bigots!’ 🙂
Lee says
Cheers!
Yes, particularly since the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami I’ve noticed an increase in interest. Not to mention frustration. The likes of the lady above and the huge numbers of demonstrators support that too. Trouble is it hasn’t changed anything. And like you said, when the opposition did get in power, they were both incompetent and indistinguishable.
Until people have a real choice. With real candidates able and willing to change the horrible and corrupt status quo. Then it’s hard to see any amount of campaigning/discent having an impact. And even then there’s the imbalance of voters. The huge block of older and elderly voters who through force of habit or utter indifference continue to back the same old faces and families, from the same old factions. It sadly doesn’t look good for an awfully long time…
Masuyo Urami says
What the fuck???
Worrying about “shifting to the right”???
It is actually good to see that the Japanese don’t follow the worrying trend of “shifting to left”, which is what South America has been doing for some time and what the fucking European Union has also started to do. And the results are visible: poverty, crime, desolation, destruction. Wait another 10 years and the EU will have successfully turned into a civil-war zone equally to what Lebanon is right now.
I don’t know why you write such utter bullshit…. Maybe you are an incurable leftist who still idolizes folks like Mao, Stalin, Che Guevara, Pol Pot and the likes of those as ‘utterly beautiful deities’? Maybe you’re just an agent provocateur for countries like China that currently are actually aggressively countries surrounding them (hey – recently they even had the balls to send a small army into India, gathering a spot of land that they believed belonged to them.)?
I really detest utter bullshit when I see it, and as such I send you the same message that Victoria Nuland recently sent to the degenerated European Union:
“FUCK YOU”!!!
And on that accord also fuck that bullshitting useless skeezer depicted in your photo and also fuck every other leftist imbecile bastard swine. And let the fucking be performed with an extra large Saguaro, repeatedly!!
Lee says
I am left-wing. Unapologetically so. But hardly the card-carrying Trotskyist you’d have me painted as.
Also, if you’d have cared to look at other posts, you’d have realised how much affection I have for Japan, and the city I now call home, Tokyo.
But the fact that you didn’t, and your bullying, aggressive attack only reinforces my concerns in regards the direction Japan is headed.