WSJ: China Row Fuels Japan's Right Wing

By YUKA HAYASHI

TOKYO--A bitter confrontation with China following a ship collision in the East China Sea is fueling nationalism among Japan's conservative politicians and right-wing activists, energizing them in their attacks on Prime Minister Naoto Kan's center-left government.

As the dispute over the collision continues unabated, conservative lawmakers like former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara have harshly criticized the government's decision to release a captured sea captain under pressure from China, saying Japan needs to stand firm to defend its territory.

While Japan's general public, increasingly acclimated to the idea of a rich and powerful China, has shown a muted response to the latest tension, right-wing groups are beginning to raise their voices, with one group preparing for a big anti-China rally in Tokyo on Oct. 2. "China made foolish mistake in awakening Asia's sleeping tiger," wrote one person on a popular Internet chat page called Channel 2. "Now every Japanese is tuned in on maritime disputes."

On Tuesday, a group made up of roughly 100 conservative politicians led by Mr. Abe held a meeting in parliament and adopted a harshly-worded statement criticizing the release last Friday of the captain of the Chinese trawler that slammed into Japanese coast guard ships in disputed waters.

"We are standing at a watershed where our ability to defend the Japanese people and this nation itself is tested," the group named Sosei Nihon, translated roughly as Creation Japan, said in its statement. "We hereby declare we will resolutely seek to overthrow the Kan administration which has damaged our nation's interest, trust and dignity."

Such criticism could add to the headache of Mr. Kan, who is already struggling with an internal party fight and attacks on his policies from opposition parties in parliament, where the ruling party lacks a majority in one of the chambers.

Government leaders tried to fend off the criticism. Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said at a parliamentary committee meeting Tuesday that Japan wouldn't hesitate to take similar action again if a Chinese ship commits a violation in what it considers its territory. "The Senkaku Islands are our unique territory. It's our natural right to defend its sovereignty," he said. To gain understanding of the international community for Japan's stance vis-a-vis China, Mr. Kan will attend the Asia-Europe Meeting in Brussels next week, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said.

The U.S. has applauded the decision by Mr. Kan's government to release the captain, but has expressed concern that both China and Japan have continued heated rhetoric in the aftermath of the release.

China continues to demand apology and compensation for the sea captain's detention. However, its Foreign Ministry on Tuesday sounded a somewhat less confrontational tone than in other recent comments, though it emphasized that Tokyo must act to repair ties. "China places importance on relations with Japan," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a routine briefing. "For China-Japan ties to maintain healthy, stable growth requires both sides to work together in a common direction, and requires Japan to take genuine, practical action."

Meanwhile, China kept up its pressure on Japanese businesses. Customs agents maintained their heavy scrutiny of inbound and outbound Japanese goods at Chinese ports on Tuesday, shipping agents said. Japan's trade ministry said Tuesday that Tokyo is investigating how slowing imports from China are affecting Japanese companies and their overseas operations.

Amid the continued tension, some Japanese politicians are flashing nationalistic sentiment. Mr. Ishihara, a popular Tokyo governor known for his often-radical views, spent nearly all of the 20 minutes of his weekly press conference last Friday pounding on China and the Kan government.

"What China is doing is very similar to what organized crime groups do to expand their turf," said Mr. Ishihara, who once helped to raise money to build a lighthouse on the main island of the disputed Senkaku Islands known in China as Diaoyu. He later helped to have its successor lighthouse recorded on official navigation charts.

Asked if the incident may affect a recently-signed agreement under which Tokyo's Ueno Zoo will receive two giant pandas on loan from China early next year, Mr. Ishihara said: "Are you asking if we will give up the Senkakus for pandas?" Mr. Ishihara said. "The answer is quite obvious, isn't it?"

Right-wing nationalism - usually directed at Japan's immediate neighbors rather than the U.S. - has been a relatively small force in a country that has enforced pacifism and downplayed nationalism since World War II. But conservative activists often emerge as noisy voices - sometimes literally, driving around urban streets in high-volume soundtrucks - during contentious debates. They came out in force in recent months, for example, to oppose a now-stalled government proposal to give foreigners voting rights. The nationalism sometimes turns violent, such as the 1990 shooting, which seriously injured the mayor of Nagasaki, who had questioned the role of Emperor Hirohito during the war. It's never been clear just how much power and influence right-wing nationalists really have, but incidents like the ongoing China tiff elevate their profile.

Despite the rising voices from conservative politicians like Mr. Ishihara, there have so far been only few reported incidents of right-wing activists taking to the streets. On Sunday, a 20-year-old man was arrested after he threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb at the Chinese Consulate General in Nagasaki, police said. No injuries were reported. One 32-year-old man was arrested with a cooking knife in his bag in front of the prime minister's residence in Tokyo on Saturday. The man said he was there to protest the release of the sea captain.

The biggest anti-China action will likely take place this coming Saturday when an alliance of activist groups led by Toshio Tamogami, former chief of staff of Japan's Air Self Defense Force, is organizing a rally in central Tokyo. Mr. Tamogami has become an admired figure among Japan's right-wingers after a 2008 essay - in which he denied Japanese aggression in China during World War II - caused him to lose his job.

"China is clearly aiming to annex the Senkaku Islands and annex Okinawa so we need to put a stop to it at the entrance door," Mr. Tamogami, who had reached the rank of general, said in a phone interview. "The government's action this time was totally wrong in that respect." He added that the captain's release nly emphasized the notion that Japan is a weak nation that caves each time pressure is put on.

Mr. Tamogami expects "thousands" of participants in Saturday's rally, planned in Tokyo's busy Shibuya shopping and entertainment district. In June, over 1,000 conservative politicians, academics and pundits gathered at his group's conference. Attendants included Mr. Abe, the former prime minister, and Yuriko Koike, a former defense minister and top opposition lawmaker.

--Mari Iwata in Tokyo and James T. Areddy in Shanghai contributed to this article.