Japans Nationalist Right in the Internet Age
Japans nationalist right have used the internet to organize offline activism in increasingly visible ways.
Hall investigates the role of internet-mediated activism in Japans ongoing historical and territorial disputes. He explores the emergence of two right-wing activist organizations, Nihon Bunka Channel Sakura and Ganbare Nippon, which have played a significant role in pressure campaigns against Japanese media outlets, campaigns to influence historical memorials, and campaigns to assert Japans territorial claim to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, he analyzes how activists maintained cohesion, raised funds, held protests that regularly drew hundreds to thousands of participants, and used fishing boats to land activists on disputed islands. Detailing events that took place between 2004 and 2020, he demonstrates how skilled social actors built cohesive grassroots protest organizations through the creation of shared meaning for their organization and its supporters.
A valuable read both for scholars seeking insight into the dynamics surrounding Japans history disputes and territorial issues and for those seeking to compare Japanese right-wing internet activism with its counterparts elsewhere.
Jeffrey J. Hall is Assistant Professor and Junior Researcher at Waseda Universitys Organization for Regional and Inter-Regional Studies in Tokyo, Japan.
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Japans Nationalist Right in the Internet Age
Online Media and Grassroots Conservative Activism
Jeffrey J. Hall
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Japans Nationalist Right in the Internet Age
Online Media and Grassroots Conservative Activism
Jeffrey J. Hall
First published 2021
by Routledge
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2021 Jeffrey J. Hall
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hall, Jeffrey J. (Jeffrey James), author.
Title: Japans nationalist right in the Internet age: : online media and grassroots conservative activism / Jeffrey J. Hall.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Series: Routledge contemporary Japan series | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2020046641 (print) | LCCN 2020046642 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367558284 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367558437 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003095392 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Right-wing extremists--Japan. | Nationalism--Japan. | Internet and activism--Japan. | Internet--Political aspects--Japan.
Classification: LCC HN730.Z9 R3236 2021 (print) | LCC HN730.Z9 (ebook) | DDC 320.540952--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046641
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046642
ISBN: 978-0-367-55828-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-55843-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-09539-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
Figures
Tables
I have many people to thank for helping make this book a reality.
This book began as research conducted for my masters thesis and doctoral dissertation at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. Therefore, my largest thanks go to the excellent professors who served as my advisors between 2009 and 2015: Shinohara Hatsue, Gracia Liu-Farrer, Stephen R. Nagy, J. Patrick Boyd, and Got Kenichi. With their guidance I was able to clarify my methodology, narrow down my case studies, and discover the academic theory that guided my writing.
It would have been impossible to find the time to finish this book without the stability and the resources provided by Waseda University in the immediate years after completing my doctoral program. I was hired first as a postdoctoral researcher at Waseda Universitys Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies (GSAPS), and then as a Junior Researcher at its Organization for Regional and Inter-Regional Studies (ORIS). I owe a debt of gratitude to all of the professors and faculty of those departments, including Umemori Naoyuki, Nakano Yoshihiro, Koyama Shukuko, Asano Toyomi, Kuroda Kazuo, and Katsuma Yasushi.
There are also many researchers whom I met when presenting my preliminary research at international conferences and whose questions, suggestions, comments, and research helped me gain a broader perspective of my research topic. To name a few: Kevin Doak, Tamara Fuchs, Natalie-Anne Hall, Kim Changho, Chris Kostov, Higuchi Naoto, Ayaka Loeschke, Fabian Schaefer, Vivian Shaw, Nathaniel Smith, and Watanabe Chihiro. Special thanks go to Ernils Larsson, who has helped influence my research (and my taste in beer) in the years since our days together at Waseda.
I am also grateful to private and public organizations in Japan for their financial support. As a masters and doctoral student, I was lucky enough to benefit from two private scholarships from Mitsubishi Corporation and Tonen General Group. My postdoctoral research was funded in part by a generous Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant No: 17K13861).
During the final stages of my research, the Universit libre de Bruxelles (ULB) was kind enough to invite me first as a participant to a research workshop and later as a Visiting Professor. These experiences were incredibly valuable in helping me complete this book. Thank you Franois Foret, Vanessa Frangville, Thierry Kellner, Frederik Ponjaert, and Chenchen Zhang.
Turning an unpolished dissertation into an academic book was no easy task. I benefitted greatly from the help of two GSAPS graduate students, Austin Smith and Romo Marcantuoni, who assisted with background research and manuscript editing.
