The Nippon Kaigi is Japan’s largest ultra-conservative, right-wing to far-right organization. It was established in 1997 and has approximately 38,000 members. The group is influential in the legislative and executive branches of the Japanese government through its affiliates. Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, LDP politician, serves as a special advisor to the group's parliamentary league. The group describes its aims as to "change the postwar national consciousness based on the Tokyo Tribunal's view of history as a fundamental problem" and to "revise the current Constitution"; sees its mission to promote patriotic education, the revision of the Constitution of Japan, and support for official visits to Yasukuni Shrine and a nationalist interpretation of State Shinto. In the words of Hideaki Kase, an influential member of Nippon Kaigi, "We are dedicated to our conservative cause. We are monarchists. We are for revising the constitution. We are for the glory of the nation." Nippon Kaigi supports revising the Japanese Constitution, especially Article 9 which forbids a standing army.
Objectives
Nippon Kaigi has described six official goals of the organization as:
"A beautiful traditional sovereignty for Japan's future" : Fostering a sense of Japanese unity and social stability, based around the Imperial Household and shared history, culture and traditions of the Japanese people.
"A new constitution appropriate for the new era" : Restoring national defense rights, rectifying the unbalance of rights and obligations, strengthening the emphasis on the family system, and loosening the separation of religion and state.
"Politics that protect the state's reputation and the people's lives" : Addressing the loss of public interest in politics and government by taking a more aggressive stance in historical debates and crisis management.
"Creating education that fosters a sense of Japanese identity" : Addressing various problems arising in the Japanese educational system and instituting respect for the national flag and anthem, and for national history, culture and traditions.
"Contributing to world peace by strengthening national security" : Strengthening Japanese defense power in order to counterbalance China, North Korea and other hostile powers, and remembering Japan's war dead.
"Friendship with the world tied together by a spirit of co-existence and mutual prosperity" : Building friendly relations with foreign countries through social and cultural exchange programs.
Some have claimed that Nippon Kaigi believes that "Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia from Western colonial powers; that the 1946–1948 Tokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate; and that killings by Imperial Japanese troops during the 1937 Nanjing massacre were exaggerated or fabricated". The group vigorously defends Japan's claim in its territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands with China, and denies that Japan forced the "comfort women" during World War II. Nippon Kaigi fights against feminism, LGBT rights, and the 1999 Gender Equality Law.
History
Nippon Kaigi was founded in 1997 through the merger of two groups whose agendas included constitutional revision:
Nihon wo mamoru Kokumin Kaigi included many veterans of Japan's Imperial Army and Navy, and published its own Constitutional reform draft in 1994. Its predecessor was Gengo Houseika Jitsugen Kokumin Kaigi.
Nihon wo mamoru Kai, that comprised several Shinto and religious cults.
The founding President was Koichi Tsukamoto, the founder of Japanese clothier Wacoal. Yuzo Kabashima, the secretary general of Nippon Kaigi, established a sister organization Nihon Seinen Kyogikai in 1977, which is headquartered in the same building as Nippon Kaigi and acts as the organization's secretariat.
Organisation and membership
Nippon Kaigi claims 35,000 individual members, 47 prefectural chapters, and about 230 local chapters. The organization's website lists the members depending on their seniority in the organization headed by a President seconded by Vice Presidents and a pool of "advisors", including Shinto priests leading key shrines, some of them belonging to the Imperial family. Following the 2014 reshuffle, 15 of the 18 of Third Abe Cabinet members, including the Prime Minister himself, were members of Nippon Kaigi. As of October 2014, the group claimed 289 of the 480 Japanese National Diet members. Among the members, former members, and affiliated are countless lawmakers, many ministers and a few prime ministers including Tarō Asō and Shinzō Abe. Abe's brother Nobuo Kishi is also a member of the Nippon Kaigi group in the Diet. Its former chairman, Toru Miyoshi, was the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan. After campaigning actively for LDP candidates in July 2016, Nippon Kaigi campaigned for constitutional revisionism in September 2016.
Presidency
Criticism
says that the organization promotes a revival of the fundamentals of the Empire of Japan; Tamotsu Sugano, the author of the bestselling exposé on the group, "Research on Nippon Kaigi" describes them as a democratic movement in method but intent on turning back sexual equality, restoring patriarchal values, and returning Japan to a pre-war constitution—neither democratic nor modern, and they are consolidated in anti-leftism and in misogyny. On January 6, 2017, sale of the book was banned by a district court for defamation pending removal of the offending portion; a revised digital edition continued to be sold. Sales resumed that March when the court allowed a revised edition with 36 characters deleted to appear. Muneo Narusawa, the editor of :ja:週刊金曜日|Shūkan Kin'yōbi says that, in parallel with historical revisionism, the organization often highlights historical facts that convey Japan as a victim such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. Education minister Hakubun Shimomura, the secretary general of the Discussion Group of Nippon Kaigi Diet Members, argues for patriotic education and opposes a "masochistic view of history".
