Perhaps related to culture, perhaps also (more?) to social conditions. But such generalizations are always tricky and risk sending us down the essentialist path towards nihonjinron.

It was easier in the Long Sixties because Vietnam and Okinawa were key issues with emotional resonances that formed the “glue” for a wide movement. The far right is also very disparate but the emperor system and love of the motherland arguably retains people better. 2/

Sadly, as the current and very acrimonious split between Zengakuren and its parent organization demonstrates, bringing people together (or even just keeping people together) has always been a problem for the Japanese radical left. 1/

The climate crisis is indeed largely/strangely absent from the Japanese far left's discourse, though an argument could be made that capitalism and neoliberalism are responsible for the acceleration of the crisis, making it possible to campaign for the environment from a radical leftist position.

The acrimonious split in Japan's left-wing student movement has attracted little mainstream media attention with the exception of the conservative Sankei, which has positively revelled in the dispute. www.sankei.com/article/2025...

YIDFF 2025 – report 5: The Future of Dialogue: Yoshida Dormitory, Kyoto University
asian-docs.com/2025/11/02/y...

You can engage with the perceived glamour of the district in the cultural imaginary, both at the time and since, but you shouldn't simply replicate it, especially when you are working in a visceral, popular medium like film with such a capacity for perpetuating misunderstandings. 5/

Personally, the most offending example is Sakuran, first a manga by Anno Moyoco and then a 2006 film directed by Ninagawa Mika with her usual penchant for vivid colour. It's a glossy film that, if memory serves, largely glosses over the realities of prostitution in Yoshiwara. 4/

Last year, we had the controversial exhibition at Tokyo University of the Arts showcasing the "glamorous culture of Edo's party zone". It was heavily criticized for misrepresenting human trafficking. 3/ www.tokyoartbeat.com/articles/-/d...

The current NHK Taiga Drama, Unbound, is also set partly in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. 2/

The exhibition is the results of research by Hosoya Shuhei, a specialist in the period. He recently published a book about the anti-expo practices of Zero Jigen's Kato Yoshihiro. A related symposium takes place at Nagoya Zokei University on October 25. www.adfwebmagazine.jp/art/events-t...

Guess that only really leaves Shūkan Dokushojin among similar publications.