Political extremism in Japan his prewar, divine status, and repudiation of Article 9. Many, if not most, right-wingers had intimate connections with Japan's gangster underground, the yakuza. Japanese right-wing extremists (Uyoku dantai) are notable for their use of black buses, which often carry loudspeakers broadcasting nationalistic slogans. The ritual suicide of one of Japan's most prominent novelists, Mishima Yukio, following a failed attempt to initiate a rebellion among Self-Defense Forces units in November 1970, shocked and fascinated the public. Mishima and his small private army, the Shield Society (Tatenokai), hoped that a rising of the Self-Defense Forces would inspire a nationwide affirmation of the
Propaganda in Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II from Western imperialism. Propaganda portrayed the West, and especially the Anglo-Saxon world, as decadent and weak. Japanese nationalistic propaganda made it difficult for the diverse nations of Asia to feel that they belonged in the new world order Japan was offering. (Japanese propaganda also promoted general Pan-Asianism, but this was never implemented as thoroughly as the nationalistic elements.) Because of this, Japanese propaganda was less appealing to non-Japanese than American propaganda, with its message of universal democracy open (in theory) to everybody. Japanese wartime propaganda was distributed through films, magazines and newspapers, radio, books, cartoons and the education system. The