Overview of Kunimorishu

Kunimorishu is a private political group launched by Channel Sakura. I wrote earlier about how it was founded: » How Kunimorishu began.

Today Kunimorishu operates nationwide as a civil defence organization and political group, and it is gradually taking shape as an organization. Here I give an overview of what kind of group it is.

What Kunimorishu Does

Basically, Kunimorishu's activities consist mainly of leafleting and street campaigning.

It is a nationwide organization, but in practice branches are set up region by region, and each branch handles its own activities and management. Outside relatively populous areas such as major cities, some regions have no branch at all, so in the countryside activity is limited for now to individual efforts such as leafleting. Where branches exist, members also carry out group street campaigns.

Wakayama Prefecture — home of Secretary-General Nikai, regarded as the epitome of the pro-China faction — is a key area, and members from across the country are mobilized for the campaign to unseat Nikai.

On Ishigaki Island, Kunimorishu's representative Satoru Mizushima has tried to board a boat himself to fish in the waters around the Senkaku Islands, but he has been unable to go because of obstruction by the Japan Coast Guard. However, ordinary fishermen who are also Kunimorishu members do go out to fish around the Senkakus, creating evidence of Japan's effective control of the islands.

Elections

Although Kunimorishu is a political group, its candidates run not under its own name but under the affiliated Kunimori Party. Activists are selected to run for the party, but since it lacks the financial base to comfortably pay even the deposit for national elections, it is unclear whether it can even field candidates.

In the past, however, Kunimorishu activists have run in — and been supported in — local (rather than national) elections. When Keiji Yoda, a presenter for Channel Sakura's Okinawa bureau (not a Kunimorishu member), ran for the Naha city assembly, Okinawa's Kunimorishu backed him. Unfortunately, he lost heavily.

Ten Candidates for the 2022 Upper House Election

Shinto Kunimori announced around ten candidates for the 2022 House of Councillors election and actually held a press conference to present them.

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

Candidates in the 2021 Lower House Election?

In the 2021 House of Representatives election, Kunimorishu actually fielded two candidates.

» Nana Honma runs for the Kunimori Party in the 2021 Lower House election

Reputation

In the Wakayama constituency, Kunimorishu has a poor reputation among Nikai's supporters. That is unavoidable given the conflict of interests, but its campaign seems, if anything, to have united some of his supporters.

How the General Public Sees It

Most ordinary people seem to be watchers only. Surprisingly many know Kunimorishu and Channel Sakura exist, but quite a few do not want to join. Their reasons: the activities show no visible results and seem a waste of time, and many activists are elderly, so people don't want to get dragged into trouble.

How Traditional Right-Wing Groups See It

For the traditional right wing, the very fact that ordinary citizens like Kunimorishu members are carrying out conservative street campaigns is quite astonishing. Ordinary people who gathered online, awakened to patriotism and are now engaging in right-leaning activism could even shake the identity of the right wing itself. Their ideas overlap considerably with those of the Greater Japan Patriotic Party, but Kunimorishu's style is much milder, and it is not thought to seek radical action.

September 6, 2021 — sandragon965

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