ABSTRACT
This chapter describes several major developments within Japan’s conservative right between 2014 and 2020. The first is the 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial campaign of General Tamogami Toshio, a key figure within the nationalist right and a frequent participant in the actions described in other chapters of this book. Although Tamogami’s campaign received over 600,000 votes and widespread media attention, it led to the second event – his arrest and conviction for campaign finance violations. In the aftermath of this scandal, there was a major split within the activist groups researched for this book project. Some of the activists who sided with Tamogami eventually gravitated around new online activist and media organizations, most notably DHC Television. The creation and popularity of DHC and other well-funded right-wing media platforms reinforced disunity among the nationalist right. The chapter closes with a discussion of how online crackdowns on overseas far-right movements, such as the American alt-right, could threaten the survival of alternative media outlets that use the internet to spread viewpoints that could be classified as “hate speech.”
