This week’s footnote: the first of two parts on the postwar extreme right. This week, we’re mostly focusing on the extreme right in the first few decades of the Cold War, and in particular on the story of Akao Bin and his Aikokuto. How did a convicted socialist end up as one of Japan’s foremost violent anticommunists–and how did his ideas shape a new reality for the postwar right?
Sources
Kapur, Nick. Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo
Jo, Gwan-ja. “The Revival of Japanese Right-Wing Thought and the Coincidental Coolaboration of the Left and Right.” Seoul Journal of Japanese Studies 1, No 1 (2015)
A 1986 Chicago Tribune story on Akao Bin.
UPI press coverage of Akao Bin in the 1980s.
Images
