Kirk here with some news about local and national politics. The local politician at the heart of this story is not KAMIYA Sohei, the leader of the far-right SANSEITO party that you see pictured. Rather it’s about TSUKUSHI Rumiko, who was elected to serve in the City Assembly and who ran as a SANSEITO candidate.
The news is that Ms. TSUKUSHI has decided to leave the party because the leadership runs it as a dictatorship, not allowing members to “participate” in decision making, even though the very name of the party gives the impression that belief in participatory democracy is a core value.
My reaction is that this is one of those rare instances when reading about Japanese news in English actually gives one better information than reading in Japanese. The problem with the Japanese is that the local media has focused on the nice ladies (TSUKUSHI in the City Assembly and TAKAI Chitose in the Prefectural Assembly) who stood as candidates and subsequently got elected but neglected to say much about this new party – especially why it might be the sort of party to cause voters to think twice.
In English, if you started with Wikipedia (not necessarily a paragon of journalistic quality but a pretty darn good start in this case) you get this:
— start quote — The party promotes COVID-19 misinformation and anti-vaccine propaganda, including the party’s president, Manabu Matsuda, who has called COVID vaccines a “murder weapon”. Sanseitō gained international media attention during the 2022 House of Councillors election due to the party’s Secretary General, Sohei Kamiya’s antisemitic rhetoric during public appearances and campaign rallies. Observers noted that Sanseitō differ from usual far right political parties in Japan, as most of its supporters are affluent, previously political apathetic, who get attracted by the party through topics like organic food culture and spirituality. The party has been described as a cult by experts. — end quote — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanseit%C5%8D
So, readers of the Wikipedia blurb would not be surprised about recent news that leaders of the party don’t run it very democratically because cults are not known for their democratic tendencies.
It’s also been pointed out that SANSEITO seems to be looking to achieve Trump-like success but taking similar positions in Japan:
— start quote — The party has characterized the pandemic as being staged and has heavily criticized the government’s handling of the health crisis. It uses rhetoric that resembles that of former U.S. President Donald Trump and his calls to “make American great again.” In a campaign speech, one of the party’s candidates underscored the need to “restore a true Japan,” calling it “the world’s best” country. Ninety-eight percent of its 50 candidates support protecting domestic industries, according to a joint study by The Asahi Shimbun and the University of Tokyo. The study also found that 94 percent oppose Japan accepting more foreign workers. Asked about parallels with the “America First” policy championed by Trump, Kamiya acknowledged the similarities, saying, “There is no question about it.” — end quote — https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14668905
Now, I don’t mean to say that nothing has been written about this party in Japanese; of course, a lot has been written. People actively searching for background information in Japanese will find plenty of it. In the local news coverage, however, such context has been largely absent.
Let’s take TAKAI Chitose’s support for Japan becoming a nuclear power as an example. As I mentioned above, TAKAI has been elected to the prefectural assembly. In the profile on TAKAI by the Mainichi Shimbun (not exactly “local”), she clearly affirms that she thinks that Japan should be a nuclear power.
https://mainichi.jp/senkyo/26san/meikan/?mid=B43000001001
Well, she’s entitled to her opinion, but I think that voters in Kumamoto who don’t happen to read the Mainichi Shimbun are also entitled to know about her embrace of this position. At my university, I’m able to access the complete database of Kumanichi articles so I was able to confirm the Kumanichi has been completely silent on this issue. Coverage of TAKAI that I’ve seen on TV has been extremely friendly to her. A direct interview I saw on RKK didn’t include any tough question about her anti-foreign or militaristic stances.
I’ve spent a lot of time learning Japanese and find being able to access information written in the language to be very valuable. Usually, the best information about a country is to be found in the language of its people. But, occasionally, one can get a better sense of phenomenon by reading in another language – from the perspective of an outsider. For me, this is one such example.
