The Yakuza’s Ties to the Japanese Right Wing

“Uyoku dantai” are Japanese nationalist right-wing groups; there are over 1,000 in Japan, with about 100,000 members in total. Well known for their black propaganda vans, they are often seen driving around staging protests with their loudspeakers outside the Chinese, Korean and Russian embassies, demanding ownership of the Senkaku and Kuril Islands, among other territories. We caught up with Masaya Kudo, the leader of the right-wing group Nihon-no-Kai, and talked to him about his philosophies and concerns regarding the right-wing movement today and their ties to the Yakuza.