With their love of noise pollution and military-style fatigues, the Japanese far-right aren’t exactly shy about their affiliations. Yet despite their reputation, each and every time I’ve seen them in action — whether planned or otherwise — there’s only ever been the pretence of violence. Long-practiced piercing looks are invariably aimed at the police. As are similarly well-honed and suitably guttural sounding insults. But that’s really been about it. Or at least it was until this incident fairly recently.
Initially there was the usual parade of vehicles blasting out music and those aforementioned tough guy tirades.
Then briefly, and quite comically, it all kicked off. Well, kind of.
When things settled down again, and nudged hats or ruffled hair had been properly readjusted, the clear winner for me was team number 3. The inventive choreography and wonderful expressions were impressive enough, but the added flourish of shadow puppetry made the whole performance an almost perfect 10.
Should you wish to see more, my favourite (and mostly non-comedic) shots of the Japanese far-right can be seen here.
Denton says
Very nicely done. I really like the framing of the opening shot but the last is just hilarious! 🙂
Lee says
Cheers! The last one is by far my favourite too. Perfectly summed up the rather farcical nature of the whole thing.
MrSatyre says
Top caption could be:
“Please help! My van is making left turns! I’m so humiliated! Plus, the dashboard is very hot and burning my bottom.”
Lee says
Haha, that’d make a lot more sense than what he was actually spouting!
kikuhouse (Joanna) says
It looks more like performance art in that last one! You have captured it perfectly…
Lee says
Thanks! The reality really wasn’t that different. Lots of pushing and shoving, plus some comedy chases, but all very much for show.
mih says
As a gaijin photographer, have you ever been the subject of any sour looks or verbal abuse from the far-right wingers?
Lee says
To be fair, I’ve had very little negativity from them. Took a photo of a nationalist fella giving a speech once and commented that he hoped the gaijin’s photo would be good. Quite funny really. And at events at Yasukuni that I’ve covered, the worst I’ve got is the odd slightly sour look. I think they simply don’t care. A bit like with the yakuza in a way I suppose. So long as you don’t actively go out of your way to bother them, they barely see you.
cdilla says
The final photograph in the set really is the best. Put traditional dress and kabuki masks on them and they would look right at home on stage.
Over the years I’ve seen a few demonstrations decay into impromptu hair-pulling and face slapping playground scuffles where the police try to pull apart without too much force – and they are more amusing than frightening. But I’ve also taken part in demos seeded with psycho thugs when I’ve been thankful of a line or two of suitably attired combat ready police.
Lee says
Totally agree. The others were really just to set the scene for that last one.
Thankfully real violence (or at least the threat of it) is very rare here. Something that I’m always hugely grateful for. A bit of handbags, for want of a better description, is the worst I have seen, and hopefully that’ll continue to be the case.