Members of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Parliament Linked to Right-Wing, Anti-Korean Group Zaitokukai

Members of Japan‘s parliament are allegedly linked to ultra-nationalist right-wing group Zaitokukai, a xenophobic cadre of pseudo-fascists known to terrorize the Korean population living in Japan.

Prominent figures in the Abe administration have denied their involvement with Zaitokukai after the revelation of photographs of cabinet members with several Zaitokukai associates.

Most prominent among these cabinet members is Shinzo Abe‘s Eriko Yamatani, head of the National Public Safety Commission.

Normally the Japanese police ignore Zaitokukai‘s activities; however, this past July the group was ordered to pay renumeration to a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)-funded school attended by North Koreans in Japan.

Virulently anti-Korean, Zaitokukai wants the Japanese government to expel the Koreans currently living in Japan. Yamatani was photographed with former head of the Zaitokukai, Shigeo Masuki, who said he has known Ms. Yamatani for approximately 15 years. For her part, Yamatani claims to not remember when or where she met Shigeo Masuki nor how long she has known him. It is estimated that half a million ethnic Koreans currently live in Japan. For much of their history they were subjected to brutal discrimination and even violence. Abe‘s cabinet is markedly more rightist than previous Japanese administrations.

In addition to worshipping at Yasukuni war memorial shrine, members of the cabinet also advocate for a reform of Japanese curriculum with regard to its involvement in World War II. Many cabinet members are part of the Shinto Political Alliance Diet Members Association, a group that seeks to return Japan to more traditional modes of living and thought in so far as they understand the way such things should be, not how they were or are (a key point when discussing people who want to “restore” anything – it doesn’t mean they necessarily know anything).

[Independent UK, Japan’s cabinet rocked by new claims of links to neo-Nazis who target the ethnic Korean population]