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A total of 1,152 xenophobic hate speech rallies have been observed across Japan in the past three and half years, according to a Ministry of Justice survey.
The survey, released Wednesday, is the government’s first ever probe into hate speech. It revealed that anti-foreign ultraconservative and nationalist groups held the rallies in the period between April 2012 until September 2015, Sankei Shimbun reported.
As part of the survey, the Ministry analyzed online videos recorded at the demonstrations, as well as other means, including collecting information on calls for gatherings from xenophobic groups’ websites.
The surveyed 98 hours of videos of the events showed that violent slogans such as “Get the hell out of Japan” and “Kill them all (foreigners)” were repeated a total of 1,803 times.
The survey further shows that the majority of these rallies were protesting against certain political issues, including the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea and territorial disputes with China and Korea, using those countries as the main target for their verbal abuse.
Although xenophobic rallies are becoming less widespread in Japan in comparison to the past, the Justice Ministry says that it doesn’t consider them “subsiding” as they are still occurring frequently in the country, a government representative said.
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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Utrack
Well whatever gets you through the day...... As long as you do not physically injure anyone ...... Everyone has the right to voice their opinion..... It is a true shame that their children will carry those same values through life.... I doubt if they are Buddhist because hate mongers are not in their right minds....Padme means right thinking and hate mongers do not have this........
Papi2013
That works out to roughly at least one hate rally per day in Japan.
Citizen2012
This is not an opinion, it is an incitement to commit murder on minorities, I don't understand why it is allowed, I personally consider those word as verbal violence.
katsu78
You're absolutely right, but for some reason people often get weird blind spots when it comes to hate speech, either because they don't regard hate speech against groups they aren't a part of as being as hurtful as hate speech against their own group, or because they have a silly "anything goes" mentality when it comes to regulation of speech, falsely believing that freedom of speech means that no speech is ever unlawful.
This latter opinion tends to come from westerners though so I'm betting the justification Japanese authorities use to allow this hate speech is more the former. You can bet if a representative of Chongryon got on a street corner and started shouting, "Kill them all (Japanese)", the police would be involved right quick.
Disillusioned
I saw the Neo-nazi hate group screaming abuse at Ochanomizu last Sunday. Hate speech was made illegal, but I didn't see any cops moving them on.
nostromo
I wonder how these people feel about Abe's plan to double the number of international tourists over the next 15 years?? Not too pleased I'd imagine....
savethegaijin
I'm all for free speech but "Kill them all!" is jumping the fence to inciting violence. In fact the fence is about a mile back...
Haaa Nemui
I think they were talking about making hate speech illegal but nothing has been done about it yet. I know Kunitachi has passed a local bylaw banning such gatherings but I don't know whether it is working or not because I never saw one before the bylaw was passed anyway.
I am all for sending participants to do volunteer service abroad... or if they disagree... revoke or deny passports. Wouldn't solve the problem but hey... they might regret ever being involved.
Scrote
The fascists parade down the streets calling for people to be killed and the police stand around watching. Meanwhile, the slightest hint of a threat against a politician or the royal family gets you arrested and slung in jail. Perhaps the police could explain their double standards?
Utrack
I have been exposed to ignorant, uneducated racists of every shade from Caucasian to African American and believe me they are not right thinking people..... But as long as they are not physical in the ignorance they can basically say what they want too... I think it is a lot of hot air but their children will think differently and may take those hate words for truth when it is anything but truth.
AustPaul
Not a good look for a country hoping to attract more foreign tourists as well as hosting the Olympics in 2020.
If this was reported overseas then I'm sure Abe's government would go into damage control...
Mike3113King
What if they speak Japanese? How do you tell them apart? It's like an Irish and an Englishman; an Indian or Pakistani; a Mexican or a El Salvadorian; a Nigerian or a black American; a Saudi Arabian or an Iranian, a Tongan or a Samoan? Funny thing, is that most race hate involves those we look like the most.
crouching$amuraiHiddenNinja
If we live in a democratic society, then respect their freedom of speech and say whatever the hell they want to say. We got KKK, Neo-Nazism, Anti-White movement, Trumpism, and all these other hate groups in the US. If anything, we're experiencing our own form of hate-speech issues domestically too.