Pop and Populism

Japan’s far right won big in yesterday's elections. What's it mean for pop culture?

“Don’t Mess With Japan,” reads this Sanseito poster.

Sanseito, a.k.a. “the do it yourself party,” is a far-right political group that’s pretty much anti-everything. Semitic. Vaccinations and masking. LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage. Anything critical of Japan in school textbooks. Married couples having separate names. Women taking the throne. But perhaps most of all, Sanseito is anti-immigrant. The party’s motto is “Japanese First.” Not Japan, mind you. Japanese. No dog-whistling here. It’s right there on all the campaign posters.

Japan held national elections for its House of Councillors, the upper house of its parliament, yesterday. Sanseito secured 15 seats, a remarkable surge from the previous one that it had held. It succeeded through canny use of social media, newsletters, and pop-cultural appeals, successfully drawing in voters who felt so disenfranchised by the mainstream parties that they wouldn’t have participated in the elections otherwise. The party also re-tooled its messaging, toning down the conspiracy to boost fears of a “silent invasion” of foreign residents, who they claim are cheating Japanese out of welfare, housing, labor, education, and healthcare. (You may recall a certain anime star parroting similar rhetoric just last month.)

“Now it’s our turn,” reads this campaign poster posing anime-style renditions of candidates alongside kamikaze pilots and Shoguns of old.

Even before the big wins at the polls, the party’s success at injecting itself into the mass media affected the national conversation. The (now formerly) majority Liberal Democratic Party hurriedly proposed tighter controls over foreign residents in a last-ditch effort to win over swing voters. It didn’t work. The LDP lost its majority, which means otaku-in-chief Prime Minister Ishiba will be undoubtedly be hanging up his Majin Buu costume very soon.

Crackdowns on outsiders are nothing new in populist movements. But Japan is a peculiar case. As I wrote about just a few weeks ago, its economy is increasingly dependent on inbound tourism and entertainment exports. This means that Japan’s fate is linked to how it is seen by foreign people. Which raises an interesting question: how will a far-right party like Sanseito gaining more power impact Japan’s pop culture?

Normally, this is the kind of question one might only answer through speculation. But Sanseito has published a policy manifesto on its website, and one of the planks deals specifically with this topic. It reads in part:

Manga, anime, and games are more than just entertainment: they are vital tools of cultural diplomacy and international influence. Japan must strategically leverage these cultural assets to deepen mutual understanding with the world.

This isn’t the first time far-right populists have embraced cartoons in their quests for glory; the “rootless white males” of 4chan, as Steve Bannon called them, blazed that trail way back in 2016, with anime avatars and Pepe the Frog memes. But it may well be the first time a party has incorporated them into its platform.

Sanseito proposes to achieve this goal by improving working conditions, supporting export into foreign markets, leveraging pop culture for tourism, and clamping down on infringement and piracy. So far, so good!

But — cue record scratch — there’s just one catch. And it’s a doozy.

The Ministry of Culture shall be given the authority to ensure that manga, anime, and games are developed in a healthy way as a form of culture, rather than based upon their economic value.

The idea of putting a government agency in charge of what is considered “healthy” entertainment is frightening enough, but it gets even scarier when you consider that this section comes under a broader heading dedicated to improving “The State of the Nation, National Character, and National Identity.” In other words, this isn’t about promoting the production of pop culture. It’s about creating propaganda.

More to the point, it’s a paradox. As I wrote back in January in an essay called “Japan is Not Ready for the Culture Wars,” progressive values are woven deeply into the DNA of Japan’s illustrated entertainment. The very first episode of the very first cartoon to be called an anime, 1963’s Astro Boy, ended with a demonstration for equality in the streets of a futuristic Japan. Over the course of the Sixties manga nourished anti-war protestors of all stripes (including some unfortunate extremists.) Diversity, anti-authoritarianism, queer characters, and non-traditional family structures are signature features of Japan’s illustrated and interactive entertainments. They speak truth to power and let outsiders be seen. This, perhaps even more so than their technical virtuosity, is why they are so beloved by fans around the world.

Far-right thinking is in fundamental opposition to everything Japanese anime, manga, and games stand for. Hostility to science, progressive thought, and societal change is baked into Sanseito’s platform. If you believe that anime and manga are drivers of interest in Japan — which the party does, as per its manifesto — then Sanseito, or any right-wing, anti-progressive party taking real power would be an unmitigated disaster for Japan’s creative industries, its soft power, its tourism, and its economy. This wouldn’t be the first time a populist party convinced its supporters to vote against their own best interests, but it’s particularly egregious in Japan, a nation that reveres manga and anime, and is dependent on foreign affection to keep its economy afloat.

Yet all is not lost. Sanseito may have won big, but only in relative terms. With just 15 out of 248 seats, it doesn’t have anything even remotely approaching a majority in parliament. Their rise is concerning, particularly so if one is a foreign resident, as I am. But for all its bluster, Sanseito still lacks any ability to enact real change. Still, the party’s win amplifies the voices of those who blame foreigners for their nation’s troubles. It’s a siren song all too familiar to post-industrial democracies around the world. Only time will tell if it resonates with more than just the fringes.