Of Sound Trucks, Lunatics and the Use of Said Lunatics to Sell a Lie

Of Sound Trucks, Lunatics and the Use of Said Lunatics to Sell a Lie

It is that time of year ago. You know. That time. I used to think that the height of that time of year occurred in the heart of election season. But, as is often the case, I was wrong. It’s Uyoku time. Uyoku are the far right loony bin staffed, almost all black trucks which roam around certain key neighborhoods blaring far-right propaganda to all to pretend to not hear. Uyoku Time, apparently, reaches it’s zenith during key WWII related dates. Memorials for Hiroshima and Nagasaki were recently held, so the anniversary of the war’s end (or Japan’s surrender - back in my high school teacher days, I had a student ask me why “the world celebrates Japan’s defeat.” I politely responded that the world was celebrating the end of the war, and not Japan’s defeat, per se) is now at hand. This year is of particular import, as, much like a certain breed of cicada, we have the addition of the semi-annual apology to Korea (or China, or the Philippines, or America, or Australia, or Asia in general) to contend with. The Uyoku guys do not like these apologies. They feel that they are a sign of Japan’s weakness in the world. But, then again, who exactly are these Uyokyu guys? Are they all far-right nut jobs, or are they low-level Yakuza shaking down shop-owners by scaring away customers? Why don’t they get prosecuted? Every time I see a truck, I see lots and lots of police surrounding said trucks, but, really, no action is taken against them. Are there no sound ordinances in the municipality of Tokyo?

OK. Now for some more info. I work near the Prime Ministers residence, and I live near Japan’s governmental center. As such the Uyoku guys are more or less a cemented part of my Japan experience. The curious thing is, that NOBODY seems to like them. They are horribly loud and rude, in a country which embraces quiet and polite. On top of that, that which they espouse is so often at odds with the thoughts and feelings of the overwhelming majority of the Japanese population, yet, these nutsos’ (possibly, nutso like a fox?) words and deeds are often held forward as being representative of the will of the Japanese people. This couldn’t e further from the truth.

Japan is one of the least nationalistic countries I have ever encountered. To this day, teachers will protest if the principal attempts to fly the Japanese flag at a school graduation. Over Sixty years since America imposed the “peace-nik” article 9 of the Japanese constitution onto the Japanese people, the article still remains. America itself is now encouraging rescinding of said article, but, thus far, Japanese anti-nationalism and the peace curriculum taught at Japanese schools have prevented said changes. Furthermore, whereas it is still illegal to fly North Korean flags in Seoul, there is a North Korean University in Tokyo, and North Korean schools of various levels through out Japan, where not only is the North Korean flag displayed, but pictures of the Dear Leader and the Great Leader are posted side by side in each classroom, to match the style of fashionable Pyongyang. When (very few) Japanese protest these schools, the entire country is portrayed as an anti-Korean hell-hole filled with hateful racism. This clearly explains the plane loads of young Koreans matriculating at Japanese universities, and spending years working (and playing)in Japan. They are clearly coming to Japan to experience said hateful Japanese spirit first hand. Additionally, up until recently, millions of dollars earned in the quasi-legal Pachinko business, by people born and bred in Japan (often educated under above stated domestic Japanese North Korean school system) who insist on identifying themselves as North Korean, would flow, unobstructed from Japan to Korea. It was only recent outrage, created as a result of North Koreas admission that their spies were kidnapping teenaged girls from Japan and bringing them to Pyongyang, that led to the banning of such remittances.

Anyways, back to the Uyuko guys. I saw a bunch of them protesting in front of Shinjuku station about 3 months ago, and interestingly, they were going on and on about how Japan’s alliance with America must be strengthened, to fight the dual threats of China and North Korea. This intrigued me. I always thought the Uyoku guys were more or less anti-foreign of any type. So, I did some digging. Just a little. It seems that the Uyoku guys (and many other Yakuza connected groups as well) used to get lots and lots of $$$ from the CIA, back in the days. The Uyuku guys were kind of like a “grass-roots” protesting group, who would harass anybody to the left. Its kind of hard to imagine today, but in the 1950s and 1960s Japan had many a leftist protest, and many a leftist movement.

And, finally, to the main point of this post. Yes, the sound truck guys, and the far right crew in Japan exists, BUT, nobody takes them seriously. They are allowed to exist, because Japan is as serious about Freedom of Speech, as America is, partly due to the fact that America wrote the Japanese Constitution. Their money, while previously linked to the CIA, now mostly comes from the Yakuza, and is often used as a means to extort cash from those that owe money to the Yakuza. Pointing to the Uyoku as a sign of Japan’s growing racist and xenophobic attitude is sloppy journalism at best, agenda filled at worst