Hate speech, conspiracy theories, and fake news—today’s digital spaces are increasingly dominated by the messages of far-right extremists. While cyber racism and online radicalization have drawn growing attention, much remains unknown about the inner workings of far-right coordination online—especially outside of North America and Western Europe. The Digital Rise of the Far Right in Japan is the first volume to offer an in-depth, empirically grounded analysis of the far right in Japan, home to one of the world’s most active political internet communities. Focusing on Net-Uyoku —Japan’s online extremists— this volume draws on a rich set of original data, including large-scale surveys, archival research, social media data, ethnographic observations, and interviews. Contributors examine who these actors are, what they believe, how they operate, and how digital platforms both empower and limit far-right activism. This book advances the global study of the far right by theorizing the complex relationship between online and offline spheres—and the opportunities and constraints that structure far-right political engagement across both. This timely collection offers critical insight into the mechanisms of far-right influence and the challenges they pose to democratic societies.
Price: £90.00
Pages: 272
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Series: Global Studies of the Far Right
Publication Date:
13 October 2026
ISBN: 9781526184658
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
HISTORY / Asia / Japan, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Asian, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Media & Internet, Far-right political ideologies and movements, Media studies: internet, digital media and society
Yuki Asahina is a Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester
Naoto Higuchi is a Professor of the School of Human Sciences at Waseda University
Introduction – Yuki Asahina and Naoto Higuchi
Part I: Who are the online right-wingers?
1 The political orientation of Japan’s online right-wingers – Kikuko Nagayoshi
2 The working-class hero 2.0? Supporters of the radical right movement in Japan – Mitsuru Matsutani
3 The life-world of Japan’s online right-wingers – Naoto Higuchi
Part II: What are the internet’s impacts on the far right?
4 When hate becomes public knowledge: Foreign national suffrage, ‘Privileges’ for Korean residents, and a new framework of information laundering – Natalie-Anne Hall and Naoto Higuchi
5 National(ist) media: platform, participation, and the rise of digital populism in Japan – Nathaniel Smith
6 Converging online and offline infrastructures of the radical right – Kohei Kurahashi
Part III: How does the far right fight online?
7 Platformed cynicism and netto-uyoku: an affordance approach to 5channel’s News Flash+ reactions to Abe Shinzo's assassination – Stevie Poppe and Fabian Schäfer
8 From stigma to symbolic currency? How “made in Korea” historical revisionism became a symbolic resource for the Japanese far-right – Myungji Yang and Yuki Asahina
9 Humour to combat online far-right activism: The internet rightists Ban Festival – Ayaka Löschke
