How Shinto Kunimori Was Formed

* This article reflects the situation as of April 6, 2022.

Satoru Mizushima of Channel Sakura launched the regional party “National Conservative Party” for the 2019 Hokkaido prefectural assembly election. After many twists and turns he formed Kunimorishu, a civil defence group, and finally launched a national party called Shinto Kunimori (New Party Kunimori). Its official founding date is September 25, 2020.

From around 2019 the original Channel Sakura YouTube channel was riding high, passing 400,000 subscribers, and a year later it reached the milestone of 500,000. Around that time the political activities of Shinto Kunimori and Kunimorishu began.

Today, after YouTube removed advertising from the original channel, it operates under a separate account, Shin Nihon Bunka Channel Sakura.

At Mizushima's call, Kunimorishu has become a nationwide organization and is steadily gaining a firm footing. And in 2021 the political party Shinto Kunimori began actual election campaigning.

» About Kunimorishu today
» About the National Conservative Party (the former name)

About Shinto Kunimori

Shinto Kunimori is an anti-globalist conservative party backed by the Japanese conservative group Kunimorishu. Since it has no members in the Diet so far, it is classed among minor parties, but at last Japan has an anti-globalist conservative party.

Its leader is Nana Honma, a Channel Sakura Hokkaido presenter who also heads Kunimorishu Hokkaido. Hiroshi Ando serves as co-leader in charge of economic policy.

Given Japan's critical situation, the party's role is significant. As a national party, it intends to contest Diet elections. Just running in a national election requires a deposit of three million yen, plus many other costs, so finances are very tight — yet remarkably, it plans to field ten candidates in the 2022 House of Councillors election, including Hiroshi Ando, a former LDP member.

» Shinto Kunimori fields ten candidates in the 2022 Upper House election
» Shinto Kunimori in the 2021 Lower House election

Elections

Shinto Kunimori has actually fielded candidates in national elections.

» Shinto Kunimori: 2021 Lower House election results

Relationship with Kunimorishu

Kunimorishu says it will support Shinto Kunimori and sincerely conservative LDP members. But it intends to take a hard line — including campaigns to unseat them — against the pro-China faction within the LDP, which was originally a conservative party. It does not plan to vote LDP simply because a candidate is LDP.

For now, members say they are relieved that Shinto Kunimori has emerged as a party to vote for. Until now they had to choose by elimination or cast blank ballots.

Shinto Kunimori's Policies

Search results for Shinto Kunimori and Kunimorishu often show the word “right-wing,” and the general public seems to see them that way. But what they say is reasonable: they genuinely seek to enact an independent constitution — the founding ideal of the LDP itself.

They firmly oppose creating female branches of the imperial family. On the economy, they propose cutting the consumption tax to 0%, active fiscal spending and proper investment in Japan — economic policy with a clear philosophy. Their slogan is “Protect the lives and precious futures of the people.”

When you think about it, the nightmare of structural reform that began under the Koizumi administration has derailed many people's life plans. Japan's economy has become a distorted shareholder capitalism in which a few enjoy prosperity on the sacrifices of many — and, surprisingly, it was the LDP, once a conservative party, that pushed it.

Facing long-term deflation, the government peddled a false theory of fiscal collapse and held back spending; as a result Japan has lost its economic standing and its economy relies on foreign countries. Needless to say, Japan's decline has also left its security in a critical state. Against this backdrop, Shinto Kunimori is fighting with sound policies.

The Current Situation

Still, I expect the road will be hard. That is why I am writing this — to let more people know Shinto Kunimori exists.

Personally, I believe that unless someone acts now to save Japan, there is a real risk the country will become a slave state serving foreigners in all but name, or disappear altogether. With that in mind, I have high hopes for what Shinto Kunimori will achieve.

October 5, 2020 — sandragon965

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