Back on February 11 Japan celebrated National Foundation Day. Japan was supposedly founded on this day and had its first emperor obtain his position as emperor almost 2,700 years ago. This was previously a big holiday in Japan, but since WW2 it has become rather tame. We went for a walk on February 11, 2010 from Ebisu Station to Azabu Juban and then to Roppongi before getting on a train for home. Between Ebisu and Azabu Juban there were hundreds of police in riot gear, dozens of prison buses ready to haul people away, and many vans preparing for some sort of demonstration or protest. I would have taken more pictures, but it was absolutely freezing. With the wind blowing, the temperature felt well below freezing. And later in the day it snowed. Anyway, my hands had no desire to leave their gloves to take photos.

We didn’t see an actual demonstration or protest. It was so cold if such an event did take place few were witness to the proceedings. I saw nothing about it on the TV or internet either.

The truck on the left says “Restore Emperor Military” (皇軍復活). The one on the right says “Japan National Party” (日本国政党). There isn’t a political party called the Japan National Party by the way. Apparently ultra-conservative Japanese still exist, but you have to be at the right place, at the right time, to find them.

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Posted on February 27th, 2010 under Japan • Tags: signs, Tokyo. • RSS 2.0 feed • You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed