This is Tokyo! Part 6 - Vertical Double Parking »This is Tokyo! Part 5 - Men with Microphones...
No country would be complete without a few right wing wackos. Japan has more that it's fair share.
These guys can be found driving around Tokyo, or in front of major train stations playing loud military marching music while blasting political schlock at extremely high volumes.
The line between free speech and public nuisance is quickly crossed at extremely high volumes, and these groups are notorious for disturbing the peace. But they are the public arm to the Yakuza and other extremist right wing groups, who have both thoroughly penetrated the political system and receive sympathetic treatment from the beaurocrats and politicians, they are basically "untouchable".
These guys were dressed like Nazi "storm troopers", including the guy below who was carrying a police nightstick (not visible). Their message this day was to kick the foreign white invaders out of Japan and go back to Imperial Rule like the "good old days". I decided not to press the issue, so these pictures were shot with a 300 mm telephoto lens.
Location: Ikebukuro, Tokyo
OrigPubDate: 2001
Search
