This podcast seeks to challenge the commonly held assumptions about Japan as harmonious, homogeneous, and traditional by recasting its history as a history of conflict and change, as the history of class struggles, from anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, and intersectional perspectives.
https://againstjapanism.buzzsprout.com
Orientalism and Reactionary Ideologies in Video Games w/ Kazuma Hashimoto and Andrew Kiya
Kota is joined by Kazuma Hashimoto and Andrew Kiya to discuss the Ghost of Tsushima, its fetishization of the samurai through a misinterpretation of Kurosawa Akira's films, Cyberpunk 2077, how Orientalism and the idealization of Japan in these games (re-packaged and exported abroad through the Japanese state's "Cool Japan" initiative) enable the far right pro-imperialist politics both in ideology and practice.
We specifically discuss the recent attempt by the Japanese far right to shut down an art exhibit about comfort women in Aichi Prefecture and the campaign to recall its governor through fraudulent means, as well as the online harassment against Kazuma and Andrew themselves.
Finally, we discuss the possibilities and limits of video games as a medium to promote radical politics under capitalism.
Follow them on Twitter and Twitch at @JusticeKazzy_ & @wouldhaus
Kazuma's publications:
https://www.polygon.com/2020/7/23/21333631/ghost-of-tsushima-kurosawa-films-samurai-japan-abe-politics
https://www.polygon.com/2021/1/30/22255318/cyberpunk-2077-genre-xenophobia-orientalism
Andrew's publications:
https://bulletpointsmonthly.com/2020/08/06/spectre-of-fascism-ghost-of-tsushima
https://unseenjapan.com/aichi-prefecture-japan-governor-recall-fraud/
Intro Music Cielo by Huma-Huma
Outro Music: Parabola Divanorium by Paraj Bhatt