Netto-uyoku


Netto-uyoku or Net uyoku, often shortened as Netouyo, is the term used to refer to Japanese neo-nationalists who interact almost entirely within their own cyber community, shut off from the rest of Japanese society. Netto-uyoku frequently post nationalistic and Japan-supremacist articles on the Internet.

Origins

Netto-uyoku first appeared on the Internet during the Lost Decade, which was an economic crisis in Japan from the 1990s to 2010s.

Characteristics

Netto-uyoku generally express support for historically revisionist views, portraying Imperial Japan in a positive light, juxtaposed with a negative portrayal of China, North and South Korea and Russia, who oppose to Japan's actions prior to and during World War II. Netto-uyoku tend to express hostility towards immigrants from other countries, particularly Zainichi Koreans, and encourage visits by conservative politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine. The netto-uyoku also express heavy criticism against the domestic left and centrist parties, such as the Democratic Party of Japan, and the liberal mass media.
Furuya Tsunehira, who writes about the netto-uyoku, makes the observation that although active on the web, they lack institutional political representation offline, leading to a sense of frustration and a tendency to be more active online and to back the more right-wing elements of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, especially the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration as a substitute for having a party of their own.