Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-nt87m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-12T06:57:02.863Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Japan's Shift to the Right: Computational Propaganda, Abe Shinzō's LDP, and Internet Right-Wingers (Netto Uyo)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Fabian Schäfer
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In recent years, academic research and investigative reports have brought to light several cases of computational propaganda (i.e. orchestrated attempts to manipulate public opinion or the outcome of elections via social media), as well as proof that filter algorithms amplify right-wing conservative content on Japanese social media. Piecing together the scattered pieces of a puzzle, this article summarizes recent findings from various disciplines and provides an overview of the mechanisms and potential scope of computational propaganda in politics. Although there is no conclusive evidence of who is behind this anonymous activity, an analysis of these findings demonstrates increasing circumstantial evidence that certain factions of the LDP are actively using computational propaganda, either by commissioning external contractors or through its online support group, J-NSC, thereby condoning and appealing to anonymous Internet right-wingers (netto uyo). The concluding discussion assesses the effects and consequences of computational propaganda on the political sphere in contemporary Japan.

Keywords

Computational propagandasocial mediaLiberal Democratic Party (LDP)PopulismDappi
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , January 2022 , e4
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2022

References

shinbun, Asahi. 2021a. “Dappi no tweet, dare ga tōkō” [Who is posting Dappi's tweets?]. 3 December 2021 (accessed 3 December 2021).Google Scholar
shinbun, Asahi. 2021b. “‘Dappi no tweet ha meiyo kison’: Rikken gi'in ga webbu kankei kaisha teiso” [“Dappi's tweets are libel”: CDP lawmakers file lawsuit against an Internet company]. 13 October 2021 (accessed 13 October 2021).Google Scholar
Asahi shinbun AJW. 2020a. “Abe Forced to Call Off Bid to Extend Retirement Age of Prosecutors.” 18 May 2020 (accessed 20 May 2020).Google Scholar
Asahi shinbun AJW. 2020b. “LDP Brushes Off Millions of Protest Tweets over Prosecutor.” 13 May 2020 (accessed 15 May 2020).Google Scholar
Brown, J.D.J. 2021. “Russian Strategic Communications toward Japan: A More Benign Model of Influence?” Asian Perspective 45(3): 559–586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuchs, T., and Schäfer, F.. 2021. “Normalizing Misogyny: Hate Speech and Verbal Abuse of Female Politicians on Japanese Twitter.” Japan Forum: 33(4): 553–579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatachi, K. 2021a. “Dappi hasshin-moto no shachō ha ‘yūjin‘” [The sender of Dappi's tweets is a “Friend”], BuzzFeed News, 2 December 2021 (accessed 3 December 2021).Google Scholar
Hatachi, K. 2021b. “Yatō hihan o kurikaesu akaunto ‘Dappi’ no un'ei hōjin? Jimintō shibu ya kokkai gi'in ga torihiki, seiji shikin shūshi hōkoku-sho nado de akiraka ni” [Who is the cooperation behind the account “Dappi” that has been criticizing the opposition?]. BuzzFeed News 11 October 2021 (accessed 12 October 2021).Google Scholar
Hayashi, K. 2017. Media fushin: nani ga towarete iru no ka [Distrust towards the media: What is being questioned?]. Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Hayashi, K. 2020. “The Silent Public in a Liberal State.” In The Crisis of Liberal Internationalism, edited by Funabashi, Y. and Ikenberry, G. J., 325–358. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Hegelich, S., and Janetzko, D.. 2016. “Are Social Bots on Twitter Political Actors? Empirical Evidence from a Ukrainian Social Botnet.” Proceedings of the Tenth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media. Cologne: ICWSM.Google Scholar
Higuchi, N. 2018. “The Radical Right in Japan. In The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Howard, P. N., and Kollanyi, B.. 2016. “Bots, #Strongerin, and #Brexit: Computational Propaganda during the UK-EU Referendum.” Social Science Research Network (accessed 29 May 2017).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huszár, F., et al. 2021. “Algorithmic Amplification of Politics on Twitter.” arXiv (accessed 22 October 2021).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Itō, M. 2019. Netto uha no rekishi shakaigaku: andāguraundo Heisei-shi, 1990–2000-nendai [A historico-social history of the Internet far right: An underground history of the Heisei period, 1990s–2000s]. Tōkyō: Seikyūsha.Google Scholar
Jōmaru, Y. 2011. Seiron no kenkyū [A study of Shokun! and Seiron]. Tōkyō: Iwanami shoten.Google Scholar
Kimura, T. 2018a. Haiburiddo esunogurafi: Nettowaku komyunikeshon kenkyu no shitsuteki hoho to jissen [Hybrid ethnography: The quantitative method and praxis of network communication research]. Tōkyō: Shin'yōsha.Google Scholar
Kimura, T. 2018b. “‘Netto yoron’ de hoshū ni tatakareru riyū: Jisshō-teki chōsa dēta kara” [Reasons for being attacked by conservatives in the “internet public opinion”: Based on data from an empirical analysis]. Chūō kōron 132(1): 134–141.Google Scholar
Kollanyi, B., Howard, P. N., and Woolley, S. C.. 2016. “Bots and Automation over Twitter during the First US Presidential Debate.” COMPROP Data Memo 1:1–4 (accessed 5 January 2022).Google Scholar
Koopmans, R., and Statham, P.. 1999. “Political Claims Analysis: Integrating Protest Event and Political Discourse Approaches.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly 4(2): 203–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Litera, . 2021. “Netto uyo Dappi un'ei to no torihiki o hōjirareta Jimintō damī hōjin no jitsumei” [Real name of the LDP dummy company reportedly doing business with the online right-winger Dappi revealed!] Litera, 15 October 2021 (accessed 18 October 2021).Google Scholar
Löschke, A. 2021. “Administrative Measures against Far-Right Protesters: An Example of Japan's Social Control.” Social Science Japan Journal 24(2): 289–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
shinbun, Mainichi. 2017. “19,000-strong LDP supporters' group debates how to knock down election rivals.” 18 October 2017 (accessed 22 October 2017).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, J.-W. 2016. What Is Populism? Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murai, S., and Suzuki, T.. 2014. “How the Japanese Social Media Users Discussed the Senkaku Controversy.” In The Dispute Over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands: How Media Narratives Shape Public Opinion and Challenge the Global Order, edited by Hollihan, T. A., 169–199. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Nagayoshi, K. 2021. “The Political Orientation of Japanese Online Right-Wingers.” Pacific Affairs 94(1): 5–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakano, K. 2015. Ukeika suru Nihon seiji [Japanese politics tilting to the right]. Tōkyō: Iwanami shinsho.Google Scholar
Nakano, K. 2016. “New Right Transformation in Japan.” In Disasters and Social Crisis in Contemporary Japan: Political, Religious, and Sociocultural Responses, edited by Mullins, M. R. and Nakano, K., 23–41. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Nakano, K. “History, Politics, and Identity in Japan.” In Identity, Trust, and Reconciliation in East Asia: Dealing with Painful History to Create a Peaceful Present, edited by Clements, K. P., 201–222. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Niiya, E. 2021. “Kawai Drops Appeal, Accepts Prison Sentence for Vote-Buying.” Asahi shinbun AJW, 21 October 2021 (accessed 22 October 2021).Google Scholar
Nishida, R. 2015. Media to Jimintō [The media and the Liberal Democratic Party]. Tōkyō: Kadokawa shinshō.Google Scholar
Pomerantsev, P. 2019. This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War against Reality. London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar
Sakamoto, R. 2011. “‘Koreans, Go Home!‘ Internet Nationalism in Contemporary Japan as a Digitally Mediated Subculture.” Asia-Pacific Journal 10(2) (accessed 17 November 2017).Google Scholar
Sugano, T. 2015. Nippon kaigi no kenkyū [An inquiry into the Japan Council]. Tōkyō: Fusōsha.Google Scholar
Schäfer, F., Evert, S., and Heinrich, P.. 2017. “Japan's 2014 General Election: Political Bots, Right-Wing Internet Activism, and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's Hidden Nationalist Agenda.” Big Data 5(4): 294–309.
Posuto, Shūkan. 2019. “‘Han-Abe’ wo tataki makuru ‘senden kōsaku butai’ no sosei” [The birth of the propaganda division fighting the ‘anti-Abe camp‘]. 12 December 2019 (accessed 1 November 2021).Google Scholar
Statista, . 2013. “Most-used languages on Twitter as of September 2013.” (accessed 17 November 2017).Google Scholar
Sugiyama, S. 2020. “Former top Abe aide and wife arrested in vote-buying scandal.” Japan Times, 18 June 2020 (accessed 17 November 2021).Google Scholar
Tsuda, D., Kayama, R., and Yasuda, K., eds. 2013. Abe seiken no netto senryaku [The Internet strategy of the Abe administration]. Tōkyō: Tsukuru shuppan.Google Scholar
Tsuji, D. 2008. Intānetto ni okeru ‘ukei-ka’ genshō ni kansuru jisshō kenkyū: Chōsa kekka gaiyō hōkokusho [An empirical study of right-wing phenomena on the Internet: A summary report] (accessed 17 November 2017).Google Scholar
Wang, S.S. 2016. “To Tweet or Not To Tweet: Factors Affecting the Intensity of Twitter Usage in Japan and the Online and Offline Sociocultural Norms.” International Journal of Communication, 10:2637–2660.Google Scholar
Williams, J. A., and Miller, D. M.. 2016. “Netizens Decide 2014? A Look at Party Campaigning Online.” In Japan Decides 2014: The Japanese General Election, edited by Pekkanen, R. J., Reed, S. R., and Scheiner, E., 144–152. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Woolley, S., and Howard, P.N.. 2019. Computational Propaganda: Political Parties, Politicians, and Political Manipulation on Social Media. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, T. 2019. “Netto uyo to feminizumu” [Internet right-wingers and feminism].) In Netto uyo to ha nani ka [What are Internet right-wingers], edited by N. Higuchi et al., 164–187. Tōkyō: Seikyūsha.Google Scholar
Yoshida, M. et al. 2021. “Japanese Conservative Messages Propagate to Moderate Users Better Than Their Liberal Counterparts on Twitter.” Scientific Reports 11(1):19224CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed