Event Report: Japanese Nationalism from the Ground Up: A Profile of Nippon Kaigi and its Local-Level Activists
On February 25th, 2021, the Centre for the Study of Global Japan, in partnership with the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, welcomed Levi McLaughlin to present “Japanese Nationalism from the Ground Up: A Profile of Nippon Kaigi and its Local-Level Activists”.
McLaughlin began the presentation by outlining the motivations behind his fieldwork and research on Nippon Kaigi, or “Japan Conference,” an unincorporated lobby association that is credited with providing ideological motivation and legislative guidance to Japan’s top elected officials and other powerholders. He noted that while recent years have seen a rise in attention to the group’s history and the influence of its prominent signatories, comparatively little attention has been paid to Nippon Kaigi’s ground-level operations. McLaughlin emphasized that he would be discussing the group and its local-level activists through the lens of the practice of cultivation.
During the presentation, McLaughlin discussed the organizational structure and membership participation of Nippon Kaigi. The group serves as a meeting-point for religious organizations, ethics training groups, political reform associations, and others that diverge in terms of teachings and practices but cooperate in efforts to return Japan to the imagined glories of its imperial past. The speaker paid particular attention to gender roles, ritual practices, doctrinal instruction, and other factors that are often left out of estimations of Nippon Kaigi’s political impact.
McLaughlin also shared about his experience meeting long-term group members and attending the Nippon Kaigi conference. He drew on his ethnographic engagements with Shinto priests, members of ethics training seminars, and other Kaigi affiliates to create a complex picture of how the group manifests through local-level activities. His experiences revealed the extent of Nippon Kaigi’s nationalism and highlighted the need to situate the group within a much larger network. Here, cultivation places Nippon Kaigi in context – it is one of the many nexus points for nationalist activists. In this way, McLaughlin demonstrated how a profile of the organization that gives precedence to the quotidian lives of its participants may reorient research on nationalism in Japan today.
The presentation was followed by a Q&A session moderated by Professor Phillip Y. Lipscy, Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Japan. During the session, McLaughlin addressed various questions surrounding his fieldwork and research on Nippon Kaigi.
The Centre would like to thank Levi McLaughlin for delivering an insightful presentation and the global audience in attendance for their engaged participation.
To view a full video of the presentation, CLICK HERE.
About the Speaker:
Levi McLaughlin is Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. North Carolina State University. He is co-author of Kōmeitō: Politics and Religion in Japan (IEAS Berkeley, 2014) and author of Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution: The Rise of a Mimetic Nation in Modern Japan (University of Hawai`i Press, 2019).
