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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 13h

Why Japan’s right wing won’t get what they want with Takaichi

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/why-ja...

Japan’s new to-be Prime Minister Takaichi just announced that she will NOT be visiting the Yasuikuni Shrine later this month for an important annual religious ritual. This is huge news for Japan because Takaichi has built a prominent reputation as a hardcore conservative who never misses a chance to demonstrate her “patriotism” by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine for important religious and national events.

https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/...

Within Japan, right wing politicians doing “patriotic” performances at the Yasukuni Shrine is highly controversial. (To learn more about this, watch my video “Why Japan Still Can't Face Its War Crimes Today”) While right wing Japanese celebrate it and see it as a great way to show the Chinese and Koreans who’s the real boss (?), many moderate and liberal Japanese are frustrated by the politicization of religion and wartime history. Many Japanese characterize the politicization of the Yasukuni Shrine as being disrespectful to soldiers who died in war. For example, see this new comment by the famous pundit Hashimoto Toru regarding Takaichi’s refusal to visit the Yasukuni Shrine:

https://x.com/hashimoto_lo/status/197...
靖国参拝を強く主張する保守派たちは、総理の参拝を実現しようなんて本気で思っていない。ポーズ、ファッション、英霊への冒涜
“Conservatives who strongly advocate for visiting the Yasukuni Shrine have no serious intention of actually doing it when they are elected as the Prime Minister. They are just doing it for posing, fashion, and the desecration of our fallen heroes."

Refusing to visit the Yasukuni Shrine is a BIG DEAL for right wing politicians. It’s basically like admitting to all your supporters that you are giving up your patriotism to appease China and Korea. While many right wingers are just too in love with Takaichi to criticize her for this, some are speaking out against her. For example, see this Sanseito supporter who says that unlike Takaichi, the Sanseito leader Kamiya would NEVER refuse to visit the Yasukuni Shrine even if he’s the Prime Minister:

https://x.com/tanakaseiji15/status/19...

Why did Takaichi refuse to visit the Yasukuni Shrine at the risk of ruining her reputation among right wing supporters?

During the election season, Takaichi already expressed that she plans to tone down her anti-China hawk image once she’s elected. She explicitly stated that she didn’t want to stir up diplomatic troubles with China. To appease China, she even strongly asserted that Japan doesn’t see Taiwan as a country and Japan does not have the intention to support Taiwan in any substantial way if China invades, which is a drastic deviation from her previous statements about supporting Taiwan against China’s invasion. As recently as in 2024, she said that militarily defending Taiwan can be interpreted as Japan’s self-defense, meaning that it’s justified by Japan’s Constitution:

https://mainichi.jp/articles/20240915...

See my Patreon post for her new stance about NOT defending Taiwan:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/139247225/

Being an anti-China hawk and an avid Yasukuni Shrine visitor is how she paved her path toward the peak of the political hierarchy; now that she’s already at the peak, perhaps she doesn’t need to keep grifting anymore.

Moreover, it’s important to note that the Takaichi administration is NOT a stand-alone administration, and Takaichi doesn’t get to call the shots in many cases. If you’ve read my previous posts, you should know that Takaichi owes her election to former Prime Minister Aso Taro, and her administration is heavily controlled by Aso.

Asahi News calling Takaichi’s administration “Aso’s puppet regime” 麻生傀儡政権
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pzRO...

MBS News calling Takaichi’s administration “the second Aso regime” 第二次麻生政権
https://youtu.be/1AxbrIZweqE?si=A1ZQB...

For all the right wingers who were hoping that Takaichi would be the patriotic hero who proudly worships at the Yasukuni shrine, bans immigration, punishes foreigners, and fights China, they might be disappointed to find that she needs to get approval from Aso to do any of these.

For a more detailed analysis of Takaichi, check out my podcast-style video “Why Japan's Politicians Lie About Immigration and Why It's Hilarious”

P.S. My Patreon has all my writings AND many more videos than my YouTube channel! You can join fore free!
https://www.patreon.com/JapanMediaReview

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, I agree that this is an orientalism problem. I didn’t want to use that word in my post because I don’t target an academic audience, I refrain from using academic words. But yea, seeing the East as a harmonious homogeneous whole where internal conflicts don’t exist is orientalism

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 1d

Bizarre thing about “Japan-lovers” as observed by a Japan content creator

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/140679...

As a content creator who focuses on showcasing how the Japanese media criticizes problems in Japan, I have noticed a bizarre trend among a subset of my viewers. This subset of viewers simply cannot comprehend the idea that it’s possible for Japanese people to criticize Japan. They are so trapped by the “Japan vs foreigner” paradigm that they just cannot accept that criticism of Japan can stem from Japanese sources. They completely dismiss the Japanese sources I cite since they have no way of interacting with Japanese sources that are critical of Japan. In their worldview, all criticism of Japan must stem from foreigner perspectives that misrepresent Japanese culture; you cannot have a meaningful discussion with them about Japanese criticism of Japan since their mind simply cannot bend that way.

While I can just dismiss these viewers as delusional weebs, I see these viewers as representative of some deeper problems in how Japan is perceived in Western circles.

1) “Don’t judge Japan with Western standards”

Some Westerners think Japan cannot be judged by Western standards and assume that all attempts to measure Japan in Western standards are foreigners misunderstanding Japan. While I understand that Westerners want to be open-minded to other cultures and refrain from judging other cultures with Western standards, this mentality itself is a Western bias. If you watch enough Japanese media, you’d notice that the Japanese media uses Western standards to judge Japan all the time. In fact, Japan in general judges itself with Western standards all the time. You can see an example of this in my video “Japanese Women Speak Out About Their Reality”, which is about the Japanese media criticizing Japan for lagging behind in global gender equality metrics. Many viewers were outraged by this video since it uses a Western standard of gender equality to judge Japan. However, what they neglect is that this is literally Japan using a Western standard to judge itself, so it’s actually an authentic Japanese perspective.

If your interpretation of Japan is free of any Western standard, then your interpretation of Japan would just completely differ from Japan’s interpretation of Japan. Your interpretation would only make sense to other Westerners who share your Western mentality of “I must not impose Western standards on other cultures.”

2) “It’s a feature, not a bug”

Since my content discusses many problems in Japan as discussed in the Japanese media, I always get comments from Japan-lovers who try to rationalize the problems as beautiful unique features of Japanese culture. Even as real Japanese people criticize these problems as problems, Japan-lovers insist on seeing them as beautiful unique features that don’t need to be criticized. Some of these Japan-lovers would even accuse those who criticize the problems as “not understanding Japanese culture,” despite the fact that I’m literally citing Japanese sources that criticize the problems. To these Japan-lovers, any criticism of Japan necessarily stems from an imperfect understanding of Japanese culture, even if the criticism is literally made by real Japanese people. This makes you wonder, why can’t real Japanese people just love Japan as much as these Japan-lovers? Why do real Japanese people keep complaining about these beautiful unique features of Japanese culture? Maybe Japan-lovers should open classes to teach real Japanese people about how to achieve an accurate understanding of Japanese culture.

The most notorious examples of this can be found in the comment section of my video “Dark Reality of Life in Rural Japan”. The video is about Japanese people complaining about how suffocating and xenophobic rural communities in Japan can be. Despite seeing real Japanese people complaining about this problem, many Japan-lovers kindly pointed out that these are simply misunderstandings of Japanese culture; if these real Japanese people understood Japanese culture as well as these Japan-lovers, they would not have these problems in rural Japan.

Obviously, seeing real Japanese people complaining about a problem in Japan and immediately rushing to the conclusion that the criticism is due to not understanding Japanese culture doesn't make any sense. What this reflects is that many Japan-loving Westerners genuinely cannot comprehend the idea that criticism of Japan can stem from authentic Japanese perspectives and voices. They just don't know how to interpret the information my channel outputs, so they end up reacting in a way that makes no sense. This obviously reflects many deeper problems in Western representations and understanding of Japan, and I look forward to your explanations =)

P.S. My Patreon has all my writings AND many more videos than my YouTube channel! You can join fore free!
https://www.patreon.com/JapanMediaReview

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 2d

What the Japanese media is saying about Takaichi’s government

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/140581...

Takaichi’s election as the to-be new Prime Minister of Japan is making news around the world. Here are some key things the Japanese media is saying about her that might not be reported in Western media.

A political game that broke everyone’s mind
If you have read my previous posts, you would know that Takaichi’s victory in this election was largely due to former PM Aso Taro’s manipulation of voting in the final round. More media analysis of Aso’s manipulation is coming out, and it’s becoming clear that Aso played a political game that was so unconventional that it broke the minds of even seasoned political analysts.

https://youtu.be/hKtnWkcByZQ?si=d6Hwb...

According to this analysis by ABEMA, although Aso has 43 diet members in his faction, on the day of the election, there were only about 20 diet members in his faction who were still waiting for his instruction on who to vote for. In other words, Aso only had control over about 20 votes, which wasn’t enough to steer the election toward Takaichi’s victory. Instead of giving up, he negotiated with the 2 bottom candidates Motegi and Kobayashi and traded his 20 votes in the first round for 60 votes for Takaichi in the final round. He gave 20 votes to Motegi and Kobayashi in the first round, and Motegi and Kobayashi returned the favor by giving Takachi 60 votes in the final round. This particular strategy of trading votes with bottom candidates is unheard of, and no political analyst was able to predict that to be a possible path to victory for Takaichi. In fact, most political analysts who counted the votes couldn’t really see a path for Takaichi’s victory since Koizumi had such an overwhelming dominance over diet member votes. Aso invented this path that never existed before, and it paid off. He overturned the result of a game that was almost unwinnable for Takaichi with only 20 votes under his control.

The return of old factional politics
After the death of Abe Shinzo and the exposure of his factional corruption, the LDP disbanded basically all factions, with the significant exception of the Aso faction. The LDP was trying to show the public that it’s moving away from factional politics. However, as it became apparent that the Aso faction was behind Takaichi’s victory, analysts are sounding the alarm that factional politics is returning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdaOx...

On Asahi TV News, a prominent analyst warns that this new administration will be controlled by the interest of the Aso faction. The analyst says that the 2 highest positions in the LDP below Takachi (vice president and secretary general) will likely be given to Aso and his brother-in-law Suzuki Shunichi. The analyst points out that Suzuki is a former Minister of Finance, and his economic philosophy actually conflicts with Takaichi, so there might be significant trouble for Takaichi when she tries to implement her policies. Moreover, as Aso and his brother-in-law hold 2 of the highest positions in the party, Takaichi needs to carefully align herself with the interests of the Aso faction instead of just doing what she wants. The analyst says that Aso went all-in for Takaichi because this might be the last chance for him to pass on his political power to his family members. Aso is already 85 years old, and he is desperate to use the last bit of his political capital to establish a hereditary political lineage. The main family member to inherit his power will be his brother-in-law Suzuki. And yes, creating hereditary political lineages is common for the LDP, and people like Abe and Koizumi are from such lineages. Aso steered the election toward Takachi's victory to fight for a chance to pass his power to his brother-in-law.

Japan’s top pundit Hiroyuki (2chan founder and 4chan owner) tweeted the following:
https://x.com/hirox246/status/1974873...
“If the LDP’s vice president and secretary general are chosen from the biggest faction (Aso faction), this means that factional politics is back in power right?”

Who will be Japan’s new ruling party?
The LDP has lost the majority in the National Diet, which means that it needs to ally with other parties to hold a majority. The LDP’s ally has been the Komeito for many years, but it now needs to add a new ruling party to the LDP-Komeito ruling alliance. The new party the LDP chooses will transform from an opposition party to a ruling party overnight, so it’s a big deal; it means that the party will go from only having symbolic significance to actually having power to govern and make policies that affect the nation. Analysts on KTV News discussed how Takaichi’s victory will decide Japan’s new ruling party:

https://youtu.be/ZvWst3eLMvA?si=yJ3HL...

If Koizumi won, Japan’s new ruling party would have been the Innovation Party. The Innovation Party represents the Kansai region, and its main policy is to make Osaka the second capital of Japan. Koizumi is very passionate about making Osaka the second capital. However, now that Takaichi has won, the Osaka second capital thing is not going to happen, since Takaichi is not friendly with the Innovation Party (though she is from Kansai). The party that Takaichi will ally with is widely predicted by the media to be the Democratic Party for the People (DPP). Aso had a meeting with a DPP leader on Oct 6. As a center-right party that focuses on economic policies, the DPP’s main goal is to reduce the tax burden of younger generations; the DPP becoming a ruling party in alliance with Takachi might move things toward that direction. The DPP is the Sanseito’s biggest rival, since it also targets right-leaning youths.

See my older post to learn more about the DPP (you can read for free on Patreon):
https://www.patreon.com/posts/134741958/

Abe-era corruption coming back
One of Takaichi’s biggest political weaknesses is her close connection to Abe’s factional corruption. The Japanese media is reporting that she has expressed the willingness to employ politicians associated with Abe-era corruption. Abe-era corruption is one of the main reasons behind the LDP’s fall in popularity, and many Japanese are alarmed that politicians closely associated with the scandals are coming into power again.

Example reports about this issue
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/65f...
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQO...
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20251004...

P.S. My Patreon has all my writings AND many more videos than my YouTube channel! You can join fore free!
https://www.patreon.com/JapanMediaReview

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 3d

Update on Takaichi's new government: nepotism in full public view

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/update...

If you have read my previous post "Why Takaichi unexpectedly became Japan’s new Prime Minister", you should know that Takachi won the election because of a deal negotiated with LDP's godfather Aso Taro. She owes her election to Aso, and she needs to pay him back.

On Oct 4, the JNN reported that Aso manipulated the voting results in the final round to secure Takaichi's victory. The same report says that Aso likely wants his friend Suzuki Junichi 鈴木俊一 appointed to a high position in the LDP in exchange for helping Takaichi get elected:

https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/...

On Oct 5, the JNN and the FNN reported that Takaichi had a meeting with Aso to decide which members will be appointed to high positions in the party; it's reported that Takaichi is already in the process of appointing Aso's friend Suzuki to a leading position:

https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/...
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a9e...

So yes, the story of this election is that Aso manipulated the voting to help Takaichi get elected in exchange for Takaichi being willing to appoint his friends to high positions. This might not be reported in English media, but it's reported in Japanese media. And no, this is not unique to this election or Takaichi. This type of obvious nepotism is just normal for the LDP and Japanese politics, and it's discussed in Japanese media and political analysis all the time.

P.S. My Patreon has all my writings AND many more videos than my YouTube channel! You can join fore free!
https://www.patreon.com/JapanMediaReview

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 4d

Takaichi now owes him a big favor. I don’t think he gets to control her since she’s too established and intelligent to be controlled, but he can ask her for favors like appointing his friends and family to key positions

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 4d

I doubt he’s motivated by ideology and vision 😬

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 4d

Why Takaichi unexpectedly became Japan’s new Prime Minister: what Western media won't tell you

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/why-ta...

Japan just got its first woman Prime Minister! Takaichi Sanae beat Koizumi Shinjiro in a close election that sent shock waves across the nation. I want to be very clear that Takaichi winning is very unexpected. Before the election, Koizumi was widely predicted to be the winner by established political analysts in Japan. What happened and why did so many political analysts miscalculate? To understand the following analysis better, please watch my recent podcast videos dedicated to political analysis =)

Right after the election result was out, the prominent political analyst Suzuki Kunikazu 鈴木邦和 live broadcasted his analysis.

https://www.youtube.com/live/h4tV97k7...

Suzuki apologized to his audience for having predicted that Koizumi had a 90% chance of winning. He explained that basically all the established political analysts predicted Koizumi’s victory based on known facts before the election, but the final result was determined by unknown facts. He said that even now as he reflected on the known facts before the election, he still thinks there was no way to predict Takaichi’s victory since the forces that led to her victory were completely hidden from the public eye.

Let me explain what he means. Since the Prime Minister is elected through an LDP party-internal election rather than a national election, the result was determined by 2 types of votes: 1) votes from LDP members who are elected to the National Diet and 2) votes from common LDP members. What Suzuki meant by known facts are 1) Diet members who publicly declared who they were voting for, 2) general surveys among common LDP members. It was already known that many more Diet members publicly declared for Koizumi than Takaichi, and general surveys showed that Takaichi was much more popular among common LDP members than Koizumi. Basically, Koizumi led in Diet member votes, and Takaichi led in common LDP member votes. However, since Diet members’ votes matter a lot more in the election than common LDP members’ votes, Takaichi’s popularity among common members was predicted to be unable to overcome Koizumi’s strong support from Diet members. The first round of voting is decided 50/50 between Diet members and common members, but the final round is primarily decided by Diet members with little influence from common members. In other words, you can advance to the final round with popularity among common members, but you need support from Diet members to win the final round.

As the first round of voting results were out, the political analysts' general predictions actually turned out to be pretty accurate. Takaichi led in votes from common members, and Koizumi led in votes from Diet members. However, as the voting entered the final round, that’s when things got crazy and completely deviated from the analysts’ predictions. Whereas analysts predicted that Koizumi would continue to enjoy strong support from Diet members in the final round, a large number of Diet members unexpectedly flocked to voting for Takaichi. The person who single-handedly orchestrated this was the man, the myth, the legend: former Prime Minister Aso Taro, AKA the LDP’s godfather and final boss.

Aso’s role in changing the final round’s voting result is discussed in Suzuki’s analysis as linked above, and it is also reported here:

https://youtu.be/a3w6TJmiULQ?si=fVotC...

Aso’s formal title is the LDP’s “Supreme Advisor” 最高顧問. (Yes, that is the official English translation of the title as shown on the LDP’s website…) He is now the leader of the only active faction in the LDP, which includes 30 to 40 Diet members. LDP politicians who are members of a faction need to obey their faction leader on policy and voting decisions, including who to vote for in Prime Minister elections. Basically all LDP factions disbanded after Abe Shinzo’s factional corruption scandals, but Aso’s faction remains active. As the faction leader, Aso has direct control over the votes of 30 to 40 Diet members and also indirect influence over the votes of many more. This is because many politicians want to vote for the candidate who has a high chance of winning; if Aso declares that he will direct his 30 to 40 factional members to vote for a specific candidate, many Diet members would be like “I will also vote for that candidate since s/he is now the likely winner.”

According to Suzuki, Aso refused to reveal who he was supporting until the day of the election. On the day, he suddenly and unexpectedly declared that his faction should vote for Kobayashi and Motegi in the first round; in exchange for the favor, Diet members who support Kobayashi and Motegi should vote for Takaichi in the final round. This move sealed Takachi’s victory. Suzuki said no political analyst was able to foresee this move by Aso. For more context, Kobayashi and Motegi were 2 candidates with 0 possibility of winning, but they still had support from some Diet members. Basically, Aso “bribed” these Diet members by directing his faction members to vote for Kobayashi and Motegi in the first round; the favor returned for the bribe is that Diet members who support Motegi and Koyabashi would vote for Takaichi in the final round. Of course, Aso would not tell the public why he did this, but it’s speculated that Takaichi made a deal with him to give some important cabinet positions to Aso’s friends once she’s elected.

Aso’s true intention was so well hidden that even people with insider knowledge didn’t know what he was going to do. On Sept 24, Imoto Mototaka 井川意高, who’s a business tycoon turned conservative influencer, published a video saying that he has insider sources saying that Aso was backing Koizumi:

https://youtu.be/pkxqCOE1N1o?si=nyIAq...

Basically, the fact that Aso was going to back Takaichi was completely hidden from the public eye and even those with insider information. So yea, many will tell you that Takaichi won because she represents Japan’s true spirit or what not, but the real reason is that she negotiated a secret deal with Aso, who is so powerful that he can single-handedly change election results. Koizumi is reported to have had private meetings with Aso a few times during the election season, but I guess he wasn’t able to present a deal that Aso found satisfactory.

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 6d

Why “Japanese vs foreigners” is a lie: the far right won't spare Japanese people

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members:
www.patreon.com/posts/140256...

As someone who covers the Japanese far right a lot, I strongly believe that the problem isn’t a “Japanese vs foreigner” one. It’s very important to understand that the Japanese far right also targets Japanese people. Let me show you a real example that’s going viral on the Japanese internet right now.

The context of this story is that Japan is currently electing a new Prime Minister. During one of the election events, Takaichi Sanae, a prominent conservative politician, made a viral speech about foreigners abusing deer in Nara. If you’re unfamiliar with this incident, please watch my recent video titled “Why Japan's Politicians Lie About Immigration and Why It's Hilarious.”

In response to her viral speech, a major TV station aired a news segment where the reporter interviewed local workers in the Nara Park to ask them if they have seen foreigners abusing deer. 2 workers responded that they haven’t seen such incidents and foreigners are generally kind to the deer. These 2 workers are completely innocent civilians; they aren’t influencers or politicians. However, since their faces were shown during the TV interview, they became the target of far right doxxing and attacks. They didn’t say anything offensive. All they said was that they haven’t seen foreigners abusing deer. That’s enough to make them the target of far right attacks. (And yes, that’s why many Japanese people hide their faces when they go on camera and many Japanese content creators hide their identities. That’s also why I don’t reveal identifying information about myself.)

Due to the attacks on these 2 civilians, the TV station had to cut out their interviews and reupload the video without the interviews. You can see in the comments that people are asking why the interviews are cut out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttIbG...

Famous far right influencers, including the leader of the NHK party, accused 1 of the civilians of being a paid actor. See the following tweet by a far right politician who is elected to a small city council:
https://x.com/kawaiyusukeno2

Far right YouTube channels made videos to slander and doxx her:
https://youtu.be/ez-qe1KRZjM?si=M4FzY...
https://www.youtube.com/live/k-HuANI3...
https://youtu.be/rpgfSvpn6mU?si=yzKOI...

The other civilian was doxxed and identified to be a worker in a specific restaurant. Far righters harassed the restaurant so much that the restaurant had to delete its Instagram page.

Examples of far right tweets doxxing the civilian:
https://x.com/BlueSkyBlue67/status/19...
https://x.com/suzu1634/status/1973021...
https://x.com/Moon_tRippler/status/19...

Apparently far righters left so many negative reviews on the restaurant’s Google Map page that its review was lowered to 2.9 stars at some point, but now it’s recovered as Google deleted the harassing comments. Screenshot of when it was 2.9 stars:
https://x.com/Ri__Ri__lily/status/197...

This is not a “Japanese vs foreigner” problem. The far right is going after everyone, including innocent Japanese civilians. I would also like to mention that some of the most prominent far right influencers in Japan are actually foreigners or Japanese with foreign roots. Let me introduce you to them.

The most prominent is Fifi, a far right influencer who is an Egyptian raised in Japan. She is one of the most outspoken anti-immigration influencers in Japan.
https://x.com/fifi_egypt

Hosokawa Valentine, half-Nigerian former pro boxer turned far right influencer. Here is a video of him saying African immigrants will ruin Japan. He is saying that as someone who’s half-Nigerian, he deeply understands that Nigerians are dangerous to Japanese society:
https://youtu.be/JgqtomgS0AA?si=pLhsr...

Also see this white dude influencer discussing Muslim immigrants ruining the UK. This channel has many videos that fuel far right racism.
https://youtu.be/YNc-VntWFYw?si=KotgJ...

As you can see, the Japanese far right actually includes many foreigners. What’s even more ironic is that the far right foreigners also attack "unpatriotic" Japanese with the support of other far right Japanese. For example, Fifi is famous for attacking “unpatriotic” Japanese, and far right Japanese love her for doing it. Imagine being so “patriotic” that you end up supporting foreigners who attack people of your own ethnicity…

So yea, don’t let anyone fool you into thinking in terms of “Japanese vs foreigners”. There are many Japanese who are left-leaning and tolerant toward foreigners, and they are also persecuted by the far right, including far right foreigners. This is an ideological war that spans across ethnicities and races.

For all the Japan lovers who are all about "immigrants will ruin Japan", do you also support far right foreigners attacking unpatriotic Japanese people? Leave a comment to show your support ❤️

P.S. My Patreon has all my writings AND many more videos than my YouTube channel! You can join fore free!
https://www.patreon.com/JapanMediaReview

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 8d

Why my content about Japan is controversial

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/140154...

Today, you might know my channel as a platform for controversial hot takes that attracts a lot of debates and hate. The purpose of this post is NOT to apologize for being controversial. The purpose of this post is to show my supporters an insider view of why my channel is the way it is.

I started this channel because I noticed the huge gap between information in Japanese media and English content about Japan, and I wanted to bridge that gap. I wanted to show the world how the Japanese media discusses problems in Japan. This is important because whenever there’s English content that criticizes problems in Japan, there are always many comments like “Japanese people don’t care about this! Leave them alone!” or “don’t impose Western bias on Japan!” When you consume English content about Japan, you never know if it’s covering an issue that Japanese people actually see as a problem, but you also can't trust the weeb comments that argue Japan has no problems. This is why I always make sure to show the Japanese perspective. If you follow my content, you should know that I almost never cite a Western perspective or source. I always cite Japanese perspectives and sources. Some of my earliest videos were about population decline and aging in Japan. You can still find those videos on my Patreon.

At first, I just naively thought that my content was for all English-speakers who are interested in Japan. As I published more, I realized that since my content is about social problems in Japan, my channel is actually very triggering for certain crowds. The first crowd that got triggered was those who cannot accept portraying Japan as having problems. For the sake of convenience, I will refer to this crowd as “delusional weebs.” Call me naive if you want, but when I first started, I honestly didn’t know that many weebs have this firm expectation that Japan must be portrayed in an idealistic way. Discussing the social problems of a specific country is just a normal genre of media content, and I didn’t think doing it for Japan would be this triggering. I realized that I couldn’t make peace with the delusional weebs, so I stopped caring about their feelings.

The second crowd that got triggered was Western right wingers. When I first started, I didn’t think I was targeting liberals or conservatives; I thought I was making content for all. However, as I published more, I realized that there’s no way to discuss social problems without triggering right wingers. There’s no way I can discuss social problems without criticizing racism and sexism in Japan, and doing that necessarily triggers right wingers. After realizing that, I stopped giving an f about them.

Although I am a Western liberal, I get along with the Japanese center-right perfectly well. Center-right is extremely common in Japan. I have very good impressions and interactions with Japanese center-right folks, and I never feel like they are hostile or unfair toward me even though I am a foreigner. There are obviously many ideological differences between them and my Western liberal self, but I think they are committed to treating me kindly, fairly, and equally, even if their definitions of fairness and equality are different from mine. The conservatives I don’t give an f about refer to Western right wingers, not the moderate Japanese center-right. I personally strongly believe in engaging in mutually respectful dialogues with the Japanese center-right despite ideological differences.

The third triggered crowd is the Japanese far right, who for some reason actually checks my content. I guess they routinely monitor what foreigners are saying about Japan. The vast majority of Japanese who check my channel are the far right with a specific motivation, since normal Japanese people don’t watch English content that has no Japanese translation.

Since it became obvious that my channel was going to be controversial no matter what, I just stopped holding back my controversial takes. I accept that my content is strongly hated by many. On the other hand, I also have many supporters saying that my content is much more meaningful than the usual narratives they find in English content about Japan. So my channel ended up being the current form where it’s strongly hated by many and strongly loved by many. I can’t express how much I appreciate my supporters! Your support is what makes my effort worthwhile against all the hate!

Nowadays, here is how I make content. If a topic has a broad audience, I make it into a documentary style video that shows the big picture. If a topic is niche, I make it into a podcast style video that dives deep into small details. If a topic is so niche that it only interests my core supporters, I make it into a Patreon/community post. For real time updates about hot topics in Japanese news, I analyze them in my Patreon chatroom.

Some recent topics I discussed in my Patreon chatroom:
- Koizumi Shinjiro ruining expensive Japanese grapes
- Takaichi Sanae semi-apologizing for saying foreigners kick deer in Nara
- Reports of spies and betrayals in LDP factional infighting
- Anti-immigration protest in Osaka

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 9d

New Podcast Style Video: Why You Misunderstand Japan's Immigration Policies
youtu.be/Rkum5Qw_jX0

(Postcast) Why You Misunderstand Japan's Immigration Policies: Lies & Political Manipulation

YouTube video by Japan Media Review

youtu.be

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 10d

Why being an English-speaker makes Japan uniquely difficult

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/139931...

As someone fluent in Japanese and assimilated into Japanese culture, I will analyze some core things about Japanese culture that English-speakers have trouble understanding when trying to integrate into Japanese society.

Linguistic diversity

In the English-speaking world, linguistic diversity is the norm and people generally accept others who speak English with different accents and different cultural-linguistic backgrounds. However, this tolerance of linguistic diversity doesn’t exist in Japan, and English-speakers find it hard to adjust to the intolerance. If your Japanese requires Japanese people to pause to process what you just said or ask you to repeat yourself, it will absolutely prevent you from assimilating. Companies will refuse to hire you. People will avoid interacting with you since speaking with you takes extra effort. In the English-speaking world, it’s enough that you speak a version of English. In Japan, you cannot just speak your own version of Japanese; you need to speak the same Japanese as spoken by Japanese people. Many English-speakers don’t understand why they are being rejected and excluded even when they can speak Japanese. They cannot comprehend the fact that they are being rejected because they speak their own versions of Japanese instead of Japanese as spoken by Japanese people. They are looking for a tolerance of linguistic diversity that doesn’t exist in Japan outside very specific niches.

Cross-cultural communication

This is like suffering from success, but English-speakers are too good at cross-cultural communication to understand the difficulties from the Japanese perspective. I have noticed that many English-speakers cannot understand the idea of cross-cultural communication being simply too exhausting and difficult for average Japanese people. It’s like people who grew up using computers not understanding how using PowerPoint is incredibly difficult for those who didn't grow up using computers.

Not only do many Japanese people have a much lower tolerance of linguistic diversity, they also have a much lower tolerance of multicultural ideas and perspectives. I don’t mean that they will hate you for having different ideas and perspectives. What I mean is that since they aren’t regularly exposed to foreign ideas and perspectives, they can’t engage with them in any meaningful way. When Japanese people come into a conversation with someone who presents foreign perspectives and ideas, many of them can’t process the perspectives and ideas into something that’s meaningful in their mind. It’s like if you know nothing about physics, and someone presents to you ideas and perspectives in theoretical physics; you just cannot process the conversation into something meaningful, so you just tune out and don’t engage. It’s not that you hate the person for talking about theoretical physics; it’s just that you cannot engage so you find the person inapproachable and exhausting.

Moreover, if you are raised in a multicultural environment, you have that natural curiosity and motivation to keep engaging in a multicultural conversation even if it's difficult. For example, when you converse with a foreigner, even if you find her language and ideas difficult to understand, you have a natural motivation to keep trying. However, Japanese people aren't raised in an environment where they learn that behavior and mindset, so often times their default reaction is to shut down instead of keep trying. Your way of handling complex multicultural interactions is learned through growing up in a multicultural environment, and you cannot expect that behavior from Japanese people.

Japan’s reluctance to interact with foreigners is not only about racial hatred. It’s also about the fact that many of them just genuinely do not have the ability to process foreigner perspectives even when explained in Japanese or the skills to handle challenging multicultural situations. You need to understand this is what people are like when they are not raised in a multicultural environment. To be accepted in Japan, you need to speak like a real Japanese person about things that Japanese people understand. You also need to discuss things from perspectives that are common in Japan. This requires that you consume enough Japanese media to know what topics and perspectives are common in Japan.

P.S. My Patreon has all my writings AND many more videos than my YouTube channel!

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 11d

IMPORTANT: being East Asian is NOT a requirement to assimilate!! Near-native Japanese level is the requirement. It’s just that the vast majority of foreigners who know near-native Japanese are East Asians. You can also assimilate If you improve your Japanese 😊

Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 11d

Bizarre thing about Westerners in Japan

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/funnie...

A bizarre thing I’ve noticed about English-speaking Westerners in Japan is that they have the audacity to accuse other foreigner (non-Western/non-white) communities of not assimilating into Japanese culture. My videos and posts get so many comments like “as a foreigner living in Japan, I want muslims/Africans/Chinese to leave Japan because they don’t assimilate.” I’m always shocked by the audacity and lack of self-awareness.

English-speaking Westerners are so bad at learning Japanese and assimilating that it’s borderline comedic. I’m someone who knows near-native Japanese and able to work regular Japanese speaking jobs in all-Japanese environments. I can tell you from my personal experience, 9.5 out of 10 foreigners who know near-native Japanese and are assimilated into Japanese culture enough to work regular Japanese jobs are East Asians (Chinese, Korean, or Taiwanese). The other 0.5 out 10 are foreigners who aren’t English-speaking, like French or Russians. I’m talking about regular Japanese jobs where you apply through regular Japanese channels, interview in the same way as other Japanese candidates, do the same job as other Japanese, and get treated like a regular Japanese employee with no foreigner accommodation and no English assistance. That’s what assimilation is. I do not personally know a single English-speaking westerner who can do this, and I’m from the Gaishikei world. I’m not even saying that English-speaking Westerners who can do this are just uncommon. I’m saying that they almost don’t exist other than those few white people on Japanese TV.

English-speaking Westerners as a community basically just does not assimilate. They are no better than the muslims/Africans/Chinese they are trying to deport, ESPECIALLY the Chinese since East Asians are basically the only foreigners who assimilate on a large scale. I’m just baffled by any Westerner who has the audacity to even think for a second that they might be better assimilated than East Asian immigrants. English-speaking westerners are not even close to being the model minority who has the right to judge other foreigners; if anything they are the among the most un-assimilated foreigners. English-speaking westerners probably on average know much less Japanese than other foreigners since they get to rely on English even when living abroad.

I’m NOT against foreigners living in Japan without knowing near-native Japanese and assimilating. I don’t even think assimilating should necessarily be the goal for everyone. I think everyone should be respected and accepted regardless of ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, I’m baffled by foreigners who want to deport other foreigners for not assimilating while they aren’t even assimilated themselves.

P.S. My Patreon has all my writings AND many more videos than my YouTube channel!

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 14d

Why Japan's Politicians Lie About Immigration (and Why It's Hilarious)

youtu.be/8mNu3xtxNOg

(Podcast Episode) Why Japan's Politicians Lie About Immigration and Why It's Hilarious

YouTube video by Japan Media Review

youtu.be

Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 15d

Examples of Japanese comments saying that both the old man and the streamer were wrong:
x.com/natsunohinog...
x.com/yu_keep_japa...
x.com/kbellstokyo/...
x.com/maoamispn/st...
x.com/gustas_azul/...
x.com/arasuzikake/...
x.com/xrp49093904/...

ノグチアキヒロ（恐怖の2025年進行） on X: "もう一度書いておくが、電車内で配信した外国人はクソであるが、この暴力的な日本人高齢者の対応はもっとクソ。画面上部で見切れていて表示物に隠れて見えない部分があり不明瞭だが、少なくとも3回は日本人が先に外国人へ暴力的な攻撃を行っている。醜悪な映像。その後の日本人高齢者の威圧的な詰め寄" / X

もう一度書いておくが、電車内で配信した外国人はクソであるが、この暴力的な日本人高齢者の対応はもっとクソ。画面上部で見切れていて表示物に隠れて見えない部分があり不明瞭だが、少なくとも3回は日本人が先に外国人へ暴力的な攻撃を行っている。醜悪な映像。その後の日本人高齢者の威圧的な詰め寄

x.com

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 15d

Link to viral video of the violence
x.com/thetopmostdo...

TheTopMostDog on X: "@callistoroll Some context. https://t.co/tAGvBD7Yyz" / X

@callistoroll Some context. https://t.co/tAGvBD7Yyz

x.com

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 15d

Did you see the viral video about violence breaking out between a foreign streamer streaming on a Japanese train and a Japanese old man who tried to stop him?

Read my opinion here! Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/139550...

Did you see this viral video? It’s about a foreign streamer streaming on a Japanese train, and violence broke out between him and a Japanese old man who tried to stop him. The Japanese old man physically assaulted the streamer, and the streamer punched back much harder.

https://x.com/thetopmostdog/status/19...

The vast majority of the comments are saying the steamer is wrong and the Japanese old man is right. As someone who is fluent in Japanese and assimilated into Japanese culture, I want to give my opinion.

They are both in the wrong. Both their behaviours are a violation of Japanese norms.

Can you live stream on a train?

On Japanese trains and buses, you can have face-to-face conversations, but you can’t talk into an electronic device. Many Japanese people talk very loudly on the train when they travel in big groups, like a group of teenagers or salary men after drinking. As long as they aren’t talking into an electronic device, it’s fine. Talking quietly into an electronic device is a much worse offence than talking loudly with a big group. The live streamer’s offence isn’t the volume of his voice. That level of voice is common among those traveling in groups. The offence is that he’s talking to an electronic device. As for filming, you are allowed to film yourself on a train as long as your camera doesn’t point at others. Filming himself isn’t a problem. It’s the talking to an electronic device that’s the problem.

Was the old man in the right?

No, he wasn’t. The correct thing to do is to notify a train staff and let the train staff decide if the live streaming needed to be stopped. If no train staff is available at the moment, the correct thing to do is to report the incident later. Trains are owned by private companies, and the companies get to decide what behaviors are allowed on the trains. Train companies do not want random passengers aggressively enforcing rules in their personal ways. Train companies want you to report incidents and let their staff enforce the rules accordingly to company regulation. Japan is a society that heavily frowns upon “private justice”. The correct thing to do is almost always informing the authority instead of taking things into your own hands, especially if you plan to take matters into your own hands in an aggressive way. From the perspective of Japanese authorities, you taking things into your own hands is a high-risk behavior that brings more troubles. You are potentially causing more nuisance and troubles by trying to enforce private justice based on your personal judgements.

The old man was just a passenger and had no authority to enforce the rules of the train. The train staff would have the authority to check the company rules to see how live steaming should be handled. The old man doesn’t know the company rules, and he had no right to enforce rules according to his personal judgement, especially in such an aggressive way. And of course, he had no right to physically assault people for any reason.

If someone is being loud and disturbing your peace, you can either 1) report to the train staff, 2) politely ask the person to be quiet. If you want to confront the offender on your own without reporting to the authority, the most you’re allowed to do is a very very polite request.

P.S. My Patreon has all my writings AND many more videos than my YouTube channel!

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 16d

What is the future of anti-immigration politics in Japan? What's the aftermath of the rise of anti-immigration politics and the far right party Sanseito? Will Japan change its immigration policies? Find out in my newest video!
youtu.be/9b7RVFlLL7U

What is the Future of Anti-Immigration Politics in Japan? Will the Far Right Party Sanseito Grow?

YouTube video by Japan Media Review

youtu.be

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 19d

My analysis of the coming election
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS-A...

Who Will Be Japan's Next Prime Minister? LDP's Internal Party Factional Civil War Explained!

YouTube video by Japan Media Review

www.youtube.com

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 19d

Japan’s conservative superstar refuses to go far right and rejects anti-immigration talking points

Full post on Patreon:
www.patreon.com/posts/japans...

Patreon post about what Takaichi Sanae said about Taiwan and China:
www.patreon.com/posts/what-t...

As you probably already know, Japan is getting a new Prime Minister soon. For an in-depth analysis of this election and all the candidates competing to become the next Prime Minister, please watch my newest video “Who Will Be Japan's Next Prime Minister?”

This coming election will likely be a battle between the conservative superstar Takaichi Sanae and celebrity handsome nepo baby Koizumi Shinjiro. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Takaichi, she’s the right wing lady who denies that comfort women were forced sex slaves.

Takaichi just announced her platform for the coming election in a public speech, which is extremely important because Takaichi is the leader of the conservative world.

Link to her speech
https://www.youtube.com/live/l_hkfC71...

As the superstar of the conservative world, will Takaichi take up immigration issues? Will she lead the fight against immigration? The answer might surprise you, but no, Takachi did not talk about immigration. In fact, she actively avoided speaking about immigration and “foreigner problems” or any other far right talking points.

You might be like, wow, how can a conservative not talk about stopping immigration? This is an especially important question considering the recent rise of anti-immigration politics led by new far right parties like the Sanseito. The LDP is facing the problem of losing conservative voters to anti-immigration far right parties. As a conservative superstar, Takaichi is in the position of winning back these conservative voters from far right parties if she advertises an anti-immigration platform. Why didn’t she do it?

1 Anti-immigration has never been Takaichi’s game

Takaichi’s conservative policies have always been focused on 1) national security, 2) hawkish attitude toward China and Korea, and 3) denying Japanese war crimes. Immigration has never been her focus. Far right tactics like attacking immigrants and trash talking foreign tourists have never been her strategy. She attacks Chinese and Korean governments, NOT Chinese and Korean immigrants and tourists in Japan.

Takaichi brands herself as a successor of Abe’s conservative politics, and Abe wasn’t anti-immigration either. In fact, Abe even set up programs to welcome highly skilled immigrants and international students. Stopping immigration will cause chaos in the labor market and economy, and the LDP conservative establishment can’t have that. Far right opposition parties can scream “no immigrants” all day because they don’t need to be responsible for dealing with the actual consequences of labor shortage. Takaichi will be in a position of real power, and she can't say irresponsible things like "no immigrants."

2 Takaichi is presenting herself as center to center-right for this election

For the coming election, it’s very obvious that she has toned down her conservativeness and decided to move toward the center. She has decided to advertise a center to center right platform. She refused to include far right elements in her platform. Far right talking points include anti-immigration, catching Chinese and Korean spies, and denying separate surnames for married couples; she didn’t mention any of these. The vast majority of her speech was focused on the economy, energy and food self-sufficiency, healthcare, technology and AI, and building stronger alliances with Western nations. She literally said 1 brief sentence about MAYBE reforming laws regarding foreigners’ right to own real estate in Japan. She also said 1 brief sentence about the LDP building a special division to handle "foreigner problems," which is consistent with what the LDP has already been doing. It seems like she’s fine with the way that the LDP has been handling immigration and “foreigner problems," and she has no plan to change the LDP's stance on immigration. It’s extremely clear that she does NOT want immigration to be a talking point.

Not only did she refuse to include far right talking points in her platform, she didn’t even mention any conservative talking points that might drive away liberals and moderates. In fact, the only conservative-ish talking point in her platform is the problem of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals. This talking point isn’t controversial at all.

Moreover, she said that she prefers to maintain the LDP’s alliance with the Komeito, meaning that she is NOT actively considering allying with far right parties like the Sanseito or Conservative Party. Many have speculated about whether Takaichi will ally with the far right, and the answer turned out to be no. The Komeito has already announced that it will only ally with a center-right administration, meaning that it will NOT ally with a version of the LDP that has moved too far to the right. The Komeito has also strongly criticized the racist politics of the far right parties. If Takaichi wants to maintain alliance with the Komeito, she needs to be center to center right and distance herself from far right racist politics, which is what she seems to be doing.

In my newest video “Who Will Be Japan's Next Prime Minister?”, I already analyzed that Koizumi will present himself as center to center left in this election. This election will be a battle between center right and center left; far right talking points will not be used.

-------------------------------------------

Why did Takaichi choose to move toward the center instead of embracing the far right? I think the answer to this will unfold over time, but for now, this is what she thinks is the best political route for herself and the LDP.

During the speech’s Q&A session, she was asked about China and Taiwan and if Japan will help Taiwan when China invades. Takaichi's opinion on defending Taiwan is extremely important because she is Japan's top conservative anti-China hawk. If she doesn't defend Taiwan against China, no one will. To read about what she said about China and Taiwan, please read my Patreon post:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-ta...

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 21d

Who will replace Ishiba as Japan's next Prime Minister this October? What's happening in the LDP's internal civil war and factional struggles to claim the throne? Find out in my new podcast style video!
youtu.be/zS-A3eB1j6A

Who Will Be Japan's Next Prime Minister? LDP Internal Factional Struggles Explained!

YouTube video by Japan Media Review

youtu.be

Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 22d

Is Reddit an accurate information source for life and work in Japan? I recorded myself reviewing posts from r/japanlife

Find the video on Patreon
www.patreon.com/posts/139041...

Is Reddit an accurate information source for life and work in Japan? I recorded myself reviewing posts from r/japanlife (paid members only) | Japan Media Review

www.patreon.com

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 23d

New video! Japan's blue collar migrant workers from Southeast Asia: reality of working conditions, labor rights abuse, and racism

youtu.be/L_lbHDF0wmw

Reality of Migrant Workers in Japan: Racism, Abusive Work Conditions, Labor Rights Violations

YouTube video by Japan Media Review

youtu.be

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Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 23d

Join me on Patreon
www.patreon.com/c/japanmedia...

Translation of Japanese media: japan-media-review.com

www.patreon.com

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