As right-wing dialogue dominates Japan's cabinet and nationalism on the rise, liberals in Japan are facing greater pressure and isolation. Films about the Nanking Massacre and anti-war filmmakers and actors are suffering from boycotts and backlashes and pro-China scholars are finding it more difficult to publish their opinions. Experts say Tokyo is waging a culture war to rehabilitate its history of aggression, which is harming the nation and undermining its relations with neighbors.

Japanese lawmakers follow a Shinto priest (R) during a visit to the controversial Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo on August 15, 2014, to honour the country's war dead on the 69th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Photo: CFP

With hawkish conservatives ascendant both the Japanese political scene and local headlines, their opponents are finding their room to maneuver has become limited.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently reshuffled the cabinet, considered by some analysts to be the most conservative post-war Japanese cabinet thus far.

Out of a total of 19 cabinet officials, 15 including Abe are members of the Japan Conference, a group of right-wing nationalists who support visits to the Yasukuni Shrine and historical revisionism, according to Korea's Joongang Daily.

"This is not a team that favors rapprochement with China and South Korea," Jeff Kingston, a Professor of Asian Studies with Temple University, Japan Campus, in Tokyo, told the Global Times. "Abe is waging a culture war to reposition the national identity in line with his right-wing ideology."

Abe has also been assertive in terms of revising Japan's formerly pacifist constitution, to remove constraints on the Japanese military and be able to exercise the right to collective self defense.

As the influence of the nationalists has grown, growing numbers of senior Japanese officials and media managers have made statements rejecting fault for wartime atrocities, and have denied events such as the Nanking Massacre took place. Efforts are also underway to revise history textbooks and either deny or justify the use of "comfort women" as sexual slaves for soldiers during the war.

Opponents of the right-wing forces have been mute amid these changes, and experts say this situation will not only worsen already strained Sino-Japanese relations, but also endanger Japan's national interests.

But some are pointing out that mainstream public opinion in Japan is not as conservative as the views being espoused by the government.

"The majority are centrists. They love peace and stability and they don't want war, although they stay low-profile and away from political arguments," Geng Xin, deputy director of the Tokyo-based JCC New Japan Research Institute, told the Global Times. "The rise of conservatism is still far from a rise in militarism."

Under siege

There are plenty of people in Japan who oppose militarism and are against the recent moves toward historical revisionism. Among their ranks are scholars, entrepreneurs, veterans and officials. However, as the influence of the nationalistic groups has risen, they have been forced to the margins.

Mitsuyuki Kagami, a professor at the International Center for Chinese Studies, Aichi University, is one of them. "It's getting more difficult to release media statements admitting [Japan was involved in] wartime crimes and agreeing with apologies," Kagami, who defines himself as a Marxist, told the Global Times over the phone. "Most media would either reject it or ask for revisions. But it's true that some media are still free to publish our opinions," he added.

Expressions of these views often meet with repercussions. A female Japanese student studying for a master's degree in Tongji University in Shanghai, who was born in a left-wing family, shared her experiences with online critic Hong Deyi.

"Because of their sympathy and support for leftists, many of my family members have suffered from difficulties in life. My elder sister and I both encountered harassment from right-wingers and isolation from classmates while at school," Hong quoted the anonymous student as saying in one of his articles in 2008.

Films about the war have often been boycotted in Japan. Japanese actors in these war films are always put under pressure. Koji Yano, who has achieved stardom for roles in the Resistance War Against Japanese Aggression films and TV shows in China, was reportedly labeled a "traitor" in Japan.

Demonstrations against Korea are now routine, as small groups of marchers threaten or intimidate students at Korean schools and also shoppers in Shin-Okubo, a well-known Korean enclave in the capital, professor Kingston said in an opinion piece in the Japan Times.

"It is true that groups like Zaitokukai [an ultra right-wing organization in Japan] have murky relations with the underworld and with mainstream politics, but there have been no physical attacks aimed at censoring critics," Kingston said to the Global Times.

He noted except for a few nasty comments, there have been no other repercussions for his criticisms of right-wingers. Instead, he said he received very positive responses to his comments criticizing Abe for his reinterpretation of Article 9 of the constitution on Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Kagami also said his relatives support his position and his stance has not been a severe problem.

Nationalist media?

With such a tense political situation prevailing, media outlets have also come under fire. On Sunday Abe lashed out at The Asahi Shimbun, demanding it make further explanations for "misleading" the world, Kyodo News reported. Early last month, following wide criticisms, the newspaper admitted serious errors in many reports on the "comfort women" issue and retracted all related stories.

Critics say Japanese public broadcaster NHK, which strives to be "fair and neutral," has allegedly been "kidnapped" by Abe. At least three NHK managers, including its new head Katsuto Momii and board member Naoki Hyakuta, have all made remarks which aim to exonerate Japanese soldiers in World War II.

While seeking to rehabilitate Japan's history of aggression and colonial rule in Asia in defiance of mainstream domestic opinion, the right-wing groups are also attacking Japan's open society by muzzling the media, rolling back freedom of information, gutting transparency and boosting patriotic education, Kingston commented in an opinion piece in the Japan Times.

"It is true that the tabloid press has become very jingoistic and critical towards China and South Korea. But other voices are seen in the mainstream press that criticize the government," said Kingston. "There is no shortage of criticism about Abe's mishandling of policy towards China, this often comes from business executives."

Mainstream public opinion is not necessarily drifting to the right, some voices have confirmed.

"There were often various protests and marches on holidays on streets. Most of them were against Abe's policies, such as opposing the development of military weapons and nuclear power," 24-year-old Jiao Hailong, from China's Shaanxi Province who has studied in Tokyo for 18 months, told the Global Times.

Hayao Miyazaki, a well-known Japanese animation director, has drawn fierce criticisms from nationalists for his statement that Japan should give a "proper apology" over the "comfort women" issue. His 2013 film The Wind Rises was even attacked for being "pacifist" and overly "left-wing." However, the film became a hit at the box office in Japan.

In addition, young people in Japan often seem uninterested in politics. "They [my classmates] rarely talk about politics or history. Even it they approach the topics, they understate them," said Jiang Yishen, 25, from Anhui Province, after he came back from three years of study in Kyushu University in Japan.

Professor Kingston agreed. "I think they are uninterested in politics and tune it out because Japan's politicians are uninspiring and are seen to be a bunch of clueless old guys who are making useless patriotic gestures while presiding over changes in the employment system that are systematically worsening working conditions for the young and women," he explained.

Historical legacy

Nobuhiko Murata, former employee of the Mainichi Shimbun (Daily News) Berlin, Germany, said he is not surprised Japanese politics is drifting to the right.

"The education in Japan is biased. The educators underline atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Tokyo air raid, rather than the Nanking Massacre, the Singapore Chinese Massacre or Unit 731 [a secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in China during World War II]," Murata told the Global Times. "Most Japanese mistakenly believe or create the illusion that they are the victims."

Meanwhile, political campaigns for left-wing causes have declined in Japan, said 70-year-old Kagami. He said that in the past there were many activities organized by communists and Maoists, such as labor strikes, in the 1960s and 70s.

In that era, left-wing attitudes prevailed at the grass-roots level in Japan. Some even took "Safeguard Maoist Theory and Protect Red China" as their creed to organize protests and campaigns to fight against International anti-China forces, according to an article by Hong Deyi.

This kind of intimacy towards China started to vanish in the 1980s, and these voices were drowned out, Kagami said.

Some ultra-leftists in Japan have even reportedly gone to extremes and been accused of involvement in terrorist activities.

Many analysts ascribe the strained Sino-Japanese relations to Tokyo's rising hawkish policies. Kagami said misunderstandings can provoke hostility and fear.

"The hype of the 'China Threat' triggered Japanese fear towards China and stoked nationalism. And the politicians then made use of the anti-China sentiment for their own purposes," he noted.

The relations between China and Japan have been strained since Tokyo unilaterally "purchased" and "nationalized" the Diaoyu Islands in September 2012. Tensions worsened following Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in December last year.

In a poll carried out by Japanese think tank Genron this year, over 90 percent of Japanese people said they had an "unfavorable impression of China."

To break the current impasse, Kingston suggested both sides increase media coverage of the lives and dreams of grass-roots people, organize more non-governmental exchanges between students, artists, writers, journalists and museums, and tone down rhetoric about disputed territories and patriotic education.

However, travelers to Japan said that they didn't feel "hostility." "The residents we met there were all kind and polite to us. I sensed nothing unfriendly or stressful, except TV political programs in hotels were always overstating either Chinese corruption or the 'China threat,'" said Jin Li, who traveled to Hokkaido at the end of July.

The Japanese government  declared it has witnessed significant growth in travelers from China. "It's closer and cheaper to get to Japan than most other destinations. Moreover, the landscape there is magnificent. And some products they produce like electrical appliances and cosmetics are truly attractive in price and quality," Jin said.

Jiao Hailong said he hoped to stay and work in Japan after graduation. "Many seniors have found good jobs in big enterprises. The payments are good," he said. "I hope for better China-Japan ties."

Liu Junguo in Tokyo contributed to this story
Newspaper headline: Shadow of Japan's past