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Shinjuku Station in Tokyo is the busiest railway station<\/a> in the world. On a given day, roughly 2.7 million passengers pass through. On March 29, they were joined by a stream of ravers,<\/a> who danced while holding signs opposing the genocide in Palestine, xenophobia, queerphobia, fascism and war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the slogan \u201cDrop Bass Not Bombs,\u201d thousands danced and waved glow sticks while demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi<\/a>, due to the government\u2019s escalating push towards rearmament and close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The action was organized by Protest Rave<\/a>, a group of progressive DJs and participants in Japan\u2019s club culture. It\u2019s one of several ways that artists in the country are using their creativity to make people pay more attention to politics. The public demonstration stands out in the country where societal norms and deference toward the government make mass protests and open political debate rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll send you a weekly email with the latest articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mars89<\/a>, a DJ and founding member of Protest Rave, explained the idea behind the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe majority of the Japanese people, they\u2019re not interested in politics,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want people to know what\u2019s happening.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The choice to hold the protest in the middle of a big city was deliberate, he said. \u201cI hope some people passing on the street when we have the protest start to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While cultural aversion to public protest remains a challenge for activists in Japan, the government\u2019s recent efforts to remilitarize have provoked an uptick in political demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right-wing Prime Minister Takaichi, who espouses Japanese nationalism and opposes same-sex marriage, is pushing to revise the country\u2019s pacifist constitution, which was written after World War II to restrict Japan\u2019s participation in war and military alliances. Already she has succeeded<\/a> at scrapping a longstanding ban on the export of lethal weapons. Much of Japan\u2019s rearmament flows from its relationship<\/a> with the United States, in which Japan is used as an economic and military foothold for U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region. Takaichi has worked to maintain this relationship and build a bond with Trump<\/a>, even as Trump has insulted<\/a> Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to Takaichi\u2019s militaristic positions and her close relationship with U.S. imperialism, tens of thousands<\/a> of Japanese people have participated in antiwar protests in recent months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Protest Rave has been publishing interviews from the March 29 action on its Instagram page. Many ravers discuss how the public and inviting character of the rave makes it easier for people to feel they can engage in political discussions and voice their opposition to the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One regular participant of Protest Rave is alternative musician Haru Nemuri<\/a>. \u201cArtistic work exists within the freedom and diversity of expression, which is inherently political,\u201d Nemuri said. \u201cIf you ignore politics while being an artist, you\u2019re basically a free rider of that freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April, Nemuri began holding \u201cGuerilla Afternoon Tea<\/a>,\u201d a pop-up action in the form of a public tea party where people are encouraged to connect in community and talk about politics. She did not mince words about Japan\u2019s drive towards rearmament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s infuriating that the Japanese government has never properly reckoned with its past wrongdoings, and is now reverting to becoming the Japanese Empire all over again,\u201d she said. \u201cThe relationship between America and Japan since World War II has always been like that of master and a slave \u2014 Trump, the naked king, and Takaichi, the naked slave, are the perfect mirror of that relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takaichi is one of the most popular political leaders in the world, reflecting a phenomenon of rising nationalism in Japan. Despite this popularity, her desire to formally revise the country\u2019s constitution has sparked controversy. Many Japanese people hold a strong attachment to the 1947 constitution<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prior to the war, Japan was a fast-growing empire<\/a>. The Japanese military, in its quest for expansion, committed atrocities against neighboring countries, including the abduction of thousands of Korean women into sexual slavery and the massacre of Chinese civilians. One of the most horrific aspects of Imperial Japan was Unit 731<\/a>, an initiative by the empire to conduct biological and chemical experiments on thousands of prisoners of war from many nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nation\u2019s military defeat and the aftermath of the war led Japanese society to rethink the country\u2019s imperial ambitions. The horrific nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. left Japanese people with a unique understanding of the violence and cruelty that war produces, and many people adopted pacifist attitudes. Antiwar and anti-nuclear sentiments can be found in some of Japan\u2019s most internationally recognized cultural exports, including the original Godzilla franchise<\/a> and the works of esteemed animator Hayao Miyazaki<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Japanese constitution, written a year after the bombings, reflects the cultural shift that followed the war. Article 9 states: \u201cAspiring sincerely to an international peace based on order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takaichi has targeted Article 9, arguing that it should be formally revised. While amending the constitution has proved difficult due to public outrage, the Japanese government already reinterpreted the constitution decades ago to establish and maintain a modern military, under the guise that these forces exist solely for defensive purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advocates for rearmament also point to the fact that the constitution was shaped by the U.S. at a time when allied forces were militarily occupying<\/a> Japan. It\u2019s true that following the war the United States used its own military power to shape the new institutions of Japanese society to align with U.S. interests. However, those in Japan who raise the U.S. occupation to justify revising the constitution<\/a> and rearmament are aligned with the country\u2019s conservative ruling party, which has historically denied or even justified the atrocities carried out by the Japanese Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Waging Nonviolence depends on reader support. Make a donation today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nationalists on social media have also tried to discredit the country\u2019s antiwar protests as not authentically Japanese, pointing to the presence of expats and signs written in English. But as Mars89 sees it, connecting with movements and activists beyond those in Japan is something to embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were inspired by the many protests in other countries: the United States, the United Kingdom and Korea as well,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we should unite worldwide. We need to find some way to unite with the protests in other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nemuri has also been inspired by movements in other countries and is thinking about how to use her art to foster a stronger culture of political discussion in her country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLast year, I saw [Zohran] Mamdani win an election, and their team took to the streets with signs saying, \u2018Let\u2019s talk politics,\u2019\u201d Nemuri said. \u201cI\u2019m not a politician, but a musician, and I think I can expand this towards more artistic activities. Drawing from [German philosopher J\u00fcrgen] Habermas, I\u2019d love to bring the public sphere, the coffee house, out onto the streets where literally anyone can join.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Japan deepens its allegiance to US military interests, Japanese artists are finding creative ways to foster a stronger culture of political dissent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"crp_sub_category":"","crp_read_time":"","crp_featured":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,53],"tags":[42,100],"coauthors":[99],"class_list":["post-654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia","category-japan","tag-asia-pacific","tag-youth"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSign Up for our Newsletter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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