Very interesting - when I first arrived in Japan as a child, late 1972, my parents were both university lecturers and the student protests were almost over and as you say, a more radical, terrorist activism had taken over. It made mainstream Japanese very shy of overt political expression in the decades after - one reason for the LDP's dominance I suppose. Some of the now very respectable leaders of the Japanese permanent resident community in the UK were student radicals back then, and came to the UK in the early 1970s in full hippy mode and set up businesses here. I doubt if young Japanese will do the same thing now - they seem very reluctant to move abroad and the UK and US are having their own anti-immigrant protests too.
Nice analysis. A possibly relevant anecdote: When I was writing Canon ad copy for Hakuhodo back in the 80s, I was told that then Canon Chairman and CEO Mitarai-san was a leader of Zengakuren.
"The angry young Americans of today seem to be going right (or, at least, the young men seem to be.) "
I don't think that's correct. Antifa and friends, including the trans crowd that appears to have radicalised Kirk's murderer, are very definitely on the left. As of course was the school shooter in Minnesota a couple of weeks ago and at least one other. Mind you given their involvement in the trans movement their actual gender may or may not be male...
I am curious what Kirk told the Sanseito, but not enough to want to pay for access. Given Kirk's famous willingness to debate with anyone I'm not sure that he would necessarily agree with much of their platform.
I can see from your choice of words here that you seem to have made up your mind on this matter, but the even bigger takeaway here is that the way politicians & the mass media frame the political thinking and behavior of young folks -- left, right, "radical" whatever -- is almost always simplistic and outdated.
BTW I was reading elsewhere (lost the link) that young Americans, and the youth in other countries too, are very difficult to get polling results from. Most of them simply don't reply and those that do may well not tell the truth and just be trying to punk the pollsters.
It is probably more useful to look at the revealed preference of what they actually do, as opposed to what they tell the pollster. We won't get a hint of that until November though.
Very interesting - when I first arrived in Japan as a child, late 1972, my parents were both university lecturers and the student protests were almost over and as you say, a more radical, terrorist activism had taken over. It made mainstream Japanese very shy of overt political expression in the decades after - one reason for the LDP's dominance I suppose. Some of the now very respectable leaders of the Japanese permanent resident community in the UK were student radicals back then, and came to the UK in the early 1970s in full hippy mode and set up businesses here. I doubt if young Japanese will do the same thing now - they seem very reluctant to move abroad and the UK and US are having their own anti-immigrant protests too.
Nice analysis. A possibly relevant anecdote: When I was writing Canon ad copy for Hakuhodo back in the 80s, I was told that then Canon Chairman and CEO Mitarai-san was a leader of Zengakuren.
He had, I suspect, demonstrated a lot of what the US Navy calls “Command Presence.”
Interesting! By that point it had become a badge of pride, I suppose.
Terrific post Matt!
This insight is really wonderful and touching on the urgent relevancy of a deep and critical outlook that is indeed hopeful.
Thanks for the perspective, especially pulling those quotes from the '60s that definitely seem like they are from current day.
https://medium.com/@AsianNight/the-hostage-incident-that-made-cup-noodles-famous-2de8ae0c682a?source=friends_link&sk=78eec4062260188ed710a77072586f74
This is a Medium friend link.
I previously wrote about Cup Noodles and the Asama Mountain Lodge Incident, so feel free to check it out if you're interested.
I did -- well done! (And recommended to anyone reading this!)
Thank you!
"The angry young Americans of today seem to be going right (or, at least, the young men seem to be.) "
I don't think that's correct. Antifa and friends, including the trans crowd that appears to have radicalised Kirk's murderer, are very definitely on the left. As of course was the school shooter in Minnesota a couple of weeks ago and at least one other. Mind you given their involvement in the trans movement their actual gender may or may not be male...
I am curious what Kirk told the Sanseito, but not enough to want to pay for access. Given Kirk's famous willingness to debate with anyone I'm not sure that he would necessarily agree with much of their platform.
I can see from your choice of words here that you seem to have made up your mind on this matter, but the even bigger takeaway here is that the way politicians & the mass media frame the political thinking and behavior of young folks -- left, right, "radical" whatever -- is almost always simplistic and outdated.
BTW I was reading elsewhere (lost the link) that young Americans, and the youth in other countries too, are very difficult to get polling results from. Most of them simply don't reply and those that do may well not tell the truth and just be trying to punk the pollsters.
It is probably more useful to look at the revealed preference of what they actually do, as opposed to what they tell the pollster. We won't get a hint of that until November though.
In the UK, which is I admit different to the USA, there are solid signs that the youth is turning Faragewards and Farage's Reform is not very far away from Trump's MAGA in general concepts. See e.g. this recent Torygraph article - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/09/14/why-young-men-are-flocking-to-reform/