Yasukuni Shrine on August 15th – Uyoku vs. Police

As noted in a previous post, yesterday was the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the Pacific War, a day on which many individuals go to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo to pray for those who died. It’s also the day when most of Tokyo’s extreme right wingers (uyoku) come by with their sound trucks and militaristic uniforms and show off for the international media.

This man did not like the Chinese government

Never having visited Yasukuni on the war anniversary and hoping to catch a glimpse of the clash between right wingers and leftist protesters, I went down to Tokyo yesterday with a few friends. Arriving in the early afternoon, we found the road to from Kudanshita station to the shrine full of individuals passing out political fliers and giving little speeches. The most noticeable were groups asking people to sign petitions against granting voting rights to non-citizens, who were passing out lots of color fliers of the kind mentioned in a post I wrote about the subject. There was also a man giving a very spirited talk against China’s government, ranting about the unfair “rental” fees China charges Japan for each Panda kept at Japanese zoos.

Protests and petitioning were not permitted on the grounds of the shrine, and there were quite a lot of police loitering about the area, probably to make sure there was no trouble. There were a few uyoku or yakuza types bowing and posing for pictures at the shrine, but the vast majority of people appeared to be veterans and their family members. These individuals did not carry around banners or wear uniforms advertising their identity.

An entrance on one side of the shrine was packed with media and camera-holding onlookers. It looked like the area that Diet members and other important people used to enter and exit the shrine when coming to offer prayers. Had I been there hours earlier, I might have been able to snap a photo of former Prime Minister Koizumi visiting the shrine, but I doubt it would have been any better than this photo that appeared in today’s Mainichi Shinbun:

The real action took place outside the shrine grounds, where uyoku attempted to crash a leftist protest:

Photo of Uyoku vs. Police. Taken by Jon, who was on a pedestrian bridge

Uyoku tried to drive their sound trucks to the location of an anti-emperor protest, but riot police anticipated their move and blocked off the road seconds before the first uyoku arrived. A barrier was rolled into the street and police buses were positioned as a second line of defense.

Below is some video I took of the confrontation:

The uyoku reacted to the barricade by shouting insults at the police through their loudspeakers. A few of them got out of the trucks and acted like they were trying to push their way through the police, but it was clearly just a show for the cameras. A few uyoku cameraman were actually allowed to slip behind the police barrier so they could take photographs of their comrades from a better angle. The uyoku knew their limits and the police remained calm. After some shouting and pouting, the uyoku turned their trucks away and drove off, possibly to cause “trouble” at a police barricade in another area.

We later went in search of the leftist protesters, but only found a group of less than a dozen people marching around with a huge police escort. It was hardly the big event that it had been made out to be.

One interesting thing that is usually left out of media coverage about Yasukuni and uyoku is the large number of foreigners that follow around the protests. Everywhere the uyoku went that day, a crowd of foreigners with cameras followed them. The number of foreigners with cameras almost outnumber the uyoku, and it was almost impossible to take any photos of the uyoku and police confrontation without getting a few foreigners in the shot. A few bold foreign cameramen would run alongside the uyoku and take close-up photos of every scuffle with the cops. Not surprisingly, a large number of photos from yesterday that can be found on Flickr.

For more on yesterday’s events, check out these articles:

http://theanphibian.livejournal.com Theanphibian

Awesome post!
http://www.tofugu.com Koichi

This is a great and descriptive article. It must have been really interesting being there. Protesters are always really interesting, especially when there’s two sides to it (basically). Thanks for sharing!

leitmotiv

There may have been two sides, but it still seems very asymmetrical….

Not a perfect analogy – but it kinda reminds me of the state of protest culture in the US in the early 1960s….the early anti-vietnam protesters were small and barely noticed, and when they did try to hold public demonstrations the cops had to protect them from masses of counter-protesters and general public who were trying to seriously do them harm. Later that decade the balance changes, of course. I hope for Japan that a more robust dissent culture will develop – and to see them speak out about WW2 events, immigration, healthcare, and so forth. It would help Japan’s image around asia and the rest of the world – and their political class seems far too tone deaf to have any effect on these matters. It must be grass roots.

The Overthinker

The top photo of the protesters with colourful signs is actually about Taiwanese independence. And Tibet et al.
edwardhasnewgoggles

Great post…I’ve always heard about these protests, but to see some of the images and the video were fantastic.
Mister M

I personally dont see any problem with Yasukuni, espcially because it does not honor war criminals, but it honors soldiers who gave their life for Japan. Lets pray for peace and love around the world, and at the same time pray for a better good enviroment amng asian people!!
Marc

I would have expected that some of the Japanese right-wingers might have unleashed their anger on some of the gaijin photographers – however, the few accounts I have read online seem to indicate they had no problems whatsoever.

Was this really the case?
http://ikusuki.blogspot.com koki142

Nice post!

I see those non-brain people shouting their shit in Shibuya almost every day, I guess with actions like the one you described they are gaining the fame they deserve.

At least they don’t go directly against foreigners…

Nice nice, really
FlimFlam

Sorry to get all Hollywood on these people, but I love do love those signs that say “Taiwan is not China” and all those other countries that supposedly should not be under Chinese rule – they should all say:

“THIS LAND IS NOT FOR SALE” (from the film “Thunderheart”)

but everybody should always add “neither are our people, their spirits nor culture.”
http://www.ededition.com Ed Lau

Wow, I found your site and video here after Googling the day’s events…and found that I’m actually IN your video! I’m one of the “bold foreigners” running around snapping pictures last year.

I’m the dude that walks into the shot from the right at 6:33.

Yasukuni Shrine on August 15th – Uyoku vs. Police

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