, also known as simply Channel Sakura, is a Japanese right-wing television channel and

video-sharing An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...

website founded in 2004. It is known for its support for

conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

and

Japanese nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts the belief that the Japanese are a monolithic nation with a single immutable culture, and promotes the cultural unity of the Japanese. Over the last two centuries, it has encompassed a broad range of ideas a ...

, with its main spokesperson being

Satoru Mizushima is a Japanese filmmaker and nationalist. He graduated from Waseda University majoring in German literature. He can often be seen and heard during nationalist rallies in Tokyo, especially during anti-Chinese protests. He denies Japan's destructive ...

. The channel broadcasts Japanese history, culture, politics, economics, etc. from a right-wing point of view and has hosted

Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...

, the PM of Japan and President of Liberal Democratic Party, many ministers, members of the Liberal Democratic Party as well as the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Part ...

, local government delegates, well-known intellectuals and people in various fields. Discussion topics often include positive portrayal of Japanese imperialism, war crime denial, anti-Korean and anti-Chinese sentiments as well as attempting to present a "pure" Japanese cultural image. In addition, the channel is associated with nationalist and right-wing Japanese political groups, such as

Nippon Kaigi The Right side up ...

Ganbare Nippon (''literally'': Hang In, Japan! National Action Committee), usually abbreviated to , is a Japanese conservative nationalist group founded on February 2, 2010. One of the founders was right-wing filmmaker and playwright Satoru Mizushima. The inaug ...

and the Sunrise Party of Japan ("Tachiagare Nippon"). Channel Sakura also participates in mass political rallies, which have garnered as many as several thousand participants, carrying Japanese

Hinomaru The national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner bearing a crimson-red circle at its center. This flag is officially called the , but is more commonly known in Japan as the . It embodies the country's sobriquet: the Land of the Rising S ...

flags. For example, these groups demonstrated against China during the 2011 Diaoyutai/Senkaku dispute, against

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sys ...

's showing of

Korean drama Korean dramas (; RR: ''Han-guk deurama''), more popularly known as K-dramas, are television series in the Korean language, made in South Korea. They are popular worldwide, especially in Asia, partially due to the spread of Korean popular cultu ...

s and other content (during which time they called Fuji TV the "traitor network"), and against

Naoto Kan is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to serve for m ...

's administration in the aftermath of the

2011 Tohoku earthquake Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

as well as the handling of the 2011 Senkaku Dispute.

Criticism

Channel Sakura was criticized for showing the 2007 film

The Truth about Nanjing is a 2007 film by Japanese nationalist filmmaker Satoru Mizushima about the 1937 Nanjing Massacre (Nanking Massacre). Background and funding Mizushima said he received more than 200 million yen (US$1.8 million) in donations from 5,000 of his ...

, that portrays the

Nanjing Massacre The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Ba ...

as a hoax. Channel Sakura and President Mizushima himself have denied being a right-wing historical revisionists, and held a press conference with the

Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...

held at the

Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ) was started in 1945 to provide infrastructure for foreign journalists working in Post-World War II Japan. Historically, the club has been located in the area around Ginza. Today, the club offers ...

in February 2015. He said he affirmed what was described as "Conservative."

Hideaki Kase was a Japanese diplomatic critic known for promoting historical revisionism. His father, Toshikazu Kase, was a diplomat under Shigenori Tōgō who negotiated an end to the Pacific war. Yoko Ono is his cousin. Revisionist organizations Kase wa ...

, who attended the press conference with Mizushima, told a foreign reporter, "I'm totally ignorant about Japan, and I'm talking about sloppy things." He criticized the report as "only reporting with the same ideological color as the

," and criticized Japan's conservatives in the form of right-wing historical revisionists. Saying "I even get angry," "I want you to tell me the truth," and "I'm very sad."

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2004 establishments in Japan Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan Conservatism in Japan Japanese nationalism Television channels and stations established in 2004 Historical revisionism of Comfort women Internet properties established in 2004 Mass media companies established in 2004 Nanjing Massacre deniers Television in Tokyo

Criticism

See also

References

External links