Zengakuren is not only an organisation of left-wing student activists; it is also a group of YouTubers. Perhaps the most unlikely Japanese Internet hit of recent months, Zenshin Channel is named after the main newspaper of the Zengakuren parent organisation, the far-left group known commonly as Chūkaku-ha (Central Core Faction). The channel was launched in […]
The Japanese Red Army: A Short History has been published in paperback by the Austria-based Bahoe Books. Though originally broached as a partial German translation of my first book, Dissenting Japan, we eventually shaped the project into a kind of spin-off book based on two of the chapters. The relevant sections on the Red Army […]
The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly has passed an update to the Tokyo Anti-Nuisance Ordinance that, activists say, will potentially muzzle protests and free speech, and strengthen police powers over civil liberties. The revision, which was voted through on 29 March and comes into force on 1 July, broadens the scope of the ordinance to cover actions […]
