ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the politics of nationalism and how it has been manifested, embraced and manipulated in contemporary Japan since the 1990s. The recrudescence of reactionary nationalism in 21st century Japan is an elite-driven process propelled by a backlash to dramatic shifts in war memory in the 1990s, but Prime Minister Abe Shinzō’s orchestrated neo-nationalism does not resonate powerfully at the grassroots, even though it appeals to an expanding minority. Aggressive right-wing identity politics has claimed the mantle of nationalism, wrapping their wide-ranging agenda in the flag of jingoism. Nationalism in contemporary Japan is thoroughly infused with right-wing conceits about national identity and values that harken back to the imagined glories of Imperial Japan. Ironically, Emperor Akihito (Heisei) emphatically distanced himself from that neo-nationalist agenda during the three decades of his reign.
