Goodbye Kitty, or Japan's far-right

This week is about the things that get swept under the rug. Japan sells a Hello-Kitty version of itself to the world, but at home, politics are forming that are anything but "kawaii". And in Argentina, a brutal crime has shocked the country, and feminists are saying it didn't come out of nowhere, but out of the structures nobody wants to face.

Plus, life under siege in El Fasher, a wildfire tearing through one of Africa's biggest reserves, Mali's messy split with France, a badly timed MILF joke in Turkey, new clues about China's origins, and why environmental battles in Kurdistan are always political. And so much more.

In Japan, the far-right has a loud megaphone, and now, there's a louder mainstream conversation on who is "really Japanese"

What happened:
Japan's right-wing and far-right parties are testing how far anti-foreigner politics can go.

Tell me more:
Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), on September 17, pushed the Ministry of Justice to make it more difficult for foreigners to immigrate to Japan and even explore ways to strip naturalized citizens of their Japanese nationality. The party is not in government, but they're a major opposition force. The far-right Sanseitō pushed it even further, saying they shouldn't even be allowed to run for office under their party. They frame naturalized Japanese as outsiders and claim the government is betraying "real" (ethnic) Japanese by protecting these outsiders.

Did you know:
When people become a Japanese citizen, i.e. become naturalized, they don't call them "Japanese"? They call them Kikajin (帰化人). For the most part, it's been considered a neutral description, but it's getting more and more of a bad rep now.

Why this matters:
Legally, once you naturalize in Japan, you're supposed to be exactly the same as a native-born citizen. Same political rights, same protections. The country also makes naturalized citizens give up their other nationality. So they don't get to protect themselves with dual citizenship the way some countries allow. If these parties succeed in creating rules to strip kikajin of citizenship, you'd have people with no passport anywhere, i.e. they would be legally stateless. That's a massive human rights issue and would put Japan in violation of international norms.

I haven't been following domestic politics in Japan. Give me an overview
Japan is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, but in practice it operates like one party ruled the entire country. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been in power for decades. Those two parties I mentioned above are not part of the government right now, but recently, the LDP's grip is weakening. They lost their majority in the lower house after the 2024 general election, and last year, in the July 2025 upper house (House of Councillors) elections, the LDP/Komeito coalition lost seats and couldn't hold a majority. That creates room for smaller parties to participate, especially in times when people feel poor, the population keeps shrinking, and more foreigners arrive to fill jobs.

Who's gaining ground now?
Far right populists like Sanseitō. The far-right party jumped from 1 to 15 seats in 2025. They're anti-immigration, nationalist, and love stirring the pot. They can't pass laws alone, but their rhetoric gets airtime and pressures bigger parties like the LDP and Ishin to lean more exclusionary. The other parties are a bit more fragmented, so coalition-wise, no bueno. But just to give you a quick overview of who else is on the playground: The CDP is the main liberal opposition. The DPFP sits in the middle between the ruling LDP and the extremes. Reiwa Shinsengumi is small but progressive and anti-establishment. The Communist Party still carries moral weight. And Ishin no Kai (more of a regional force right now) mixes reformist and neoliberal ideas (and they're a bit more influenced by the far-right).

What do "normal people" think?
Public opinion seems to lean very nationalist. A survey found 95% of young Japanese said, "you cannot become Japanese by citizenship." That reflects the deep idea that "Japaneseness" is about bloodline, not law. This has opened the door to hate speech, conspiracy theories, and pressure for kikajin to "prove" their loyalty. There are some naturalized citizens in politics, but oh my, they get hammered with hate speech about their origins. Even mainstream Japanese TV has given airtime to the questions if naturalized citizens are truly loyal, since there's no pledge of allegiance.

BTW, the conspiracy talk has gone quite far. Ultra-right groups in Japan pushed a fake story that 600 of Japan's 720 lawmakers are naturalized citizens. It spread online as proof that "real" Japanese have lost control of their own parliament. So, like QAnon or "Great Replacement" theories elsewhere, it's less about facts and more about creating paranoia that outsiders are secretly running the country.

What is the government doing?
No protection, no pushing back against the discrimination. Instead, in July, it set up an office with a friendly name, but its main job is to monitor "crimes" by foreigners. Oh, and they also do not call them Kikajin officially, but "people who acquired Japanese citizenship". As it stands now, to escape hostility, naturalized citizens are expected to blend in more completely, i.e. names, manners, accent.

Good to know:
About 80% of kikajin come from Chinese or Korean backgrounds.

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