[Sangetsu]

There have been a great deal of nationalist demonstrations lately, even more than what used to occur. Daily you can see the black speaker vans painted with the Emperor's chrysanthemum seal crawling down the main roads blaring out old wartime and patriotic music.

Last month the demonstrations were more active because of the anniversary of the end of the war. Long convoys of these speaker trucks traveled to the major train stations around the city, and the nationalists climbed up on top and gave long, ranting speeches. These men wore home-made military uniforms with the flag of Japan on one shoulder and the Nazi swastika on the other.

For the most part these demonstrations are completely ignored by the people. No one (and I mean no one) stops to stand and listen. Occasionally an older man or two (old enough to remember similar kinds of demonstrations before the war) will stop and hurl insults at the demonstrators and then stand there as if daring them to do something. But the demonstrators ignore all detractors in the same way that everyone seems to ignore them.

The issues the demonstrators hate are the US military forces stationed in Japan, the dropping of the atomic bombs, the increasing number of foreign workers who work in Japan (these demonstrations are frequently held in front of the immigration office in Shinagawa), the "corrupting influence of Western culture" and Japan's lack of it's own military to defend it's people. They also protest the corruption in the government, etc. etc.

Most of the demonstrators are poorly educated working-class men; truck drivers and menial laborers, but there is a healthy mix of gangsters mixed in to make things interesting. Some of the new vans which they drive around for are paid for by the gangsters. The gangsters in Japan are labeled as "anti-social forces", and share a common bone to pick with the nationalists.

It's a nutty situation, but much less disruptive than the riots which used to occur frequently in front of the capitol in past decades.