Misao Redwolf

Interview Summary of Misao Redwolf, an illustrator and a leader of 首都圏反原発連合 (Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes).　

(interview (1) 02:45~)General Information about 首都圏反原発連合 (Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes)

Misao Redwolf was already working on Anti-Nukes movement back in 2006. However, Misao Redwolf and a guy started Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes after the 3.11 nuclear accident; however, Redwolf eventually took over the organization as the other guy left. This organization leads and organizes the Friday Night Protest. The atmosphere of the organization has changed since the origin and became much more calm and peaceful compared to where it all started when the people’s anger and the interest towards the issue were bigger. To make sure the Friday Night Protest is safe and organized, Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes formed a rule and announces before the Friday Night Protest starts. This is because in 2012, when the organization just started, Redwolf saw few groups trying to break into the Diet building. She was concerned about the social view on protests in general. Also, she did not want some participants to have fearful experiences, which might make people think protest is something violent. She used a speaker to stop those radical groups from breaking in. She values a non violent protest and part of that has to do with Japanese culture/society of being calm and subtle, unlike Taiwan where activists are much more active.  She thinks part of this has to do with Japanese population being relatively well off compared to some third nation world or neighboring countries where people are much more hungry towards the change. They distributes pamphlets and flyers with a list of rules to follow in order to participate in the Friday Night Protest. Also, they distributes signs to hold for free. This non-violent protest in Kasumigaseki is followed by other groups such as 総がかり行動実行委員会　(against constitutional revision/wants to keep the article 9) and SEALDs.She believes Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes’ protest shaped the way of protesting in Kasumigaseki today.

(interview (1) 15:25~) Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes’s rules for protest participants to follow:

• Do not take a violent action
• Do not distribute flyers during the protest
• Do not distribute flyers without permission from Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes  (because if it allows them, people from other organizations will come and distributes unrelated flyers/we met one of those people, check here. )
• And there are more!

A flyer we received

(interview (1) 09:12~) Relationship with other groups

Redwolf talked about a difficult relationship with Labor Union: Communist Unions and Liberal (socialist) Unions, 新興宗教 (New Religious Movement), 革マル派 KakuMaru-Ha, and 中核派 Chūkaku-ha. There are more conflicts with radical groups than the government.

(interview (1) 20:20~) Authority vs Protestors
Redwolf explained how she build a good relationship with police.

(interview (1) 29:30~) 高円寺 Koenji vs 霞ヶ関 Kasumigaseki

Redwolf explained the differences between protests in Koenji and Kasumigaseki.

(32:30~) Goals and Aims 

Her goal is to continue holding a protest every week. Her aim is to provide a space and platform to hold a protest at front of the Kasumigaseki. She thinks that if the protest stops for more than a month for example, it will be much harder for someone to restart a protest. Police might not be as considerate as right now if there is a space between the next protest and people in charge changes. Because the protest is held every week and it is well organized, she feels Kasumigaseki is becoming the place where anyone can protest without much initialization and effort to provoke something.

(interview (1) 33:20~) Why Kasumigaseki

Redwolf explained they gather around the Diet building, because there are a lot of other government official buildings too and not only politicians, but the bureaucrats also care about them. People became aware of there is something going on at Kasumigaseki and slowly became an iconic spot for protesters to gather.

(interview (2) 00:00~) SEALDs

Redwolf did help out SEALDs. However, she does not think SEALDs was very influential for protesters. It was more about media coverage as the number of students was not that many compared to older people who were not on camera.  While she does appreciate the influence of SEALDs on young people, she thinks they were overrated in terms of influence on protesting.

(interview (2) 17:00~) Relationship with Politicians

Redwolf has a connection with former Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Some politicians support them. Sometimes they come out from the building and give a speech for them during the Friday Night Protest.

(interview (2) 23:00~) Redwolf’s contributions

She explained how she won a trust from police. For example, she gained trust from police by always ending the protest on time (8PM). She also explained how she expand what they can do during the protest. For example, they hold a live show one time and they did not get into a trouble; therefore, since then they were able to make a loud noises.

MU

Interviewed on December 26th

Notes: Misao Redwolf Interview

*Below is our initial Notes after listening to the interview. Some contents overlap with the summary above.

Origins/ Early protests

• Not Demo but protest
• Demo = moving across the location (Parade) , Protest = not moving across the location
• No Nukes from 2006 but after 2011, nonactivists started demo as well
• 2011 Sep, gathered nonactivists and 12ish different activist groups to do bigger protest/demo ➡️　連合 Rengo, or the coalition.
• Late 2011 every Nuclear power plants were not operating after the incident. Govern was holding operating tests to restart the power plants (here she goes on and explains details on political situation back then which is not 100% related to our topic so I will cut it for this summary).
• Redwolf’s coalition started a protest in front of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry regarding this issue. 100~200 people attended. They called for No restart for Nuclear and purpose was to shout them with a big number of people so the ministry members can literally hear them.
• 総がかり(So Gakari) and SEALS followed Redwolf’s union and started protests and demo around Kasumigaseki.

About the Coalition

• Redwolf and one other guy started the group, however Redwolf eventually took over as the other guy quit.
• The atmosphere of the group has changed since the origin and became much more calm and peaceful compared to where it all started when the people’s anger and the interest towards the issue were bigger.
• Some of her comments are just a brief explanation of the group and this is available online.

Relationship and Involvement with/on other groups

• Labor Union: Communist Unions and Liberal (socialist) Unions
• Communist Unions and Liberal Unions had a rough relationship regard political disagreement. Refwolf mediated them to unite the unions for the protest and collaborate with the Non-Poli. This was the early form of 総がかり実行委員会 (the anti-war policy groups we encountered previously). ➡️　三舎合同, Three Unions
• 無党派市民層 (Non-Political Citizens)
• Unions had more regulated rules and systems that didn’t allow them to involve in Kasumigaseki Protest (this is because due to the unions’ management, they were required to inform “mobility” of the people, which means they had to be certain of how many people were involved in certain activities in certain locations in order to remain the control of union). Refwolf convinced and eased this system for this occasion and Unions were more proactive towards Kasumigaseki protest.
• 新興宗教 (New Religious Movement)
• When a protest is popular, religious groups tries to take advantage of the population and starts spreading their pamphlet, gives speech, etc. to attract the protesters to their religion.  She says these people are one of the hardest groups deal with as they do not always listen or follow general trend and rules among protesters and sometimes even calls for divine “Punishment” when she tries to stop them from spreading the religions.
• 革マル派 KakuMaru-Ha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Revolutionary_Communist_League_(Revolutionary_Marxist_Faction)

Tends to be much more aggressive and extremely political according to her. Another group that tends to disturb the “rules” and “order” of protests.

• 中核派 Chūkaku-ha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Communist_League,_National_Committee

Another radical group she has a hard time dealing with.

• In the 2012 Demo, a bunch of radical groups,  probably from above two groups, tried to break into diet building. The stuff of her came and reported that people started to 決壊(Kekkai or Outburst: a word used by protesters to describe the state where people gets disarranged and starts to move out to roadway and restricted areas).  She saw few groups trying to break into diet building. She was concerned about the social view on protest and demo in general and did not want some participants to have fearful experience thinking protest is something violence. She used the speaker to stop those radical groups from breaking in.  She values non violent protest and part of that has to do with Japanese culture/society of being calm and subtle, unlike Taiwan where activists are much more active. She thinks part of this has to do with Japanese population being relatively well off compared to some third nation world or neighboring countries where people are much more hungry towards the change.

Authority vs Protest

• The location around Kasumigaseki has a law to limit activities that emit a certain level of noise (we will look this up in detail). It took her some time to figure out if they could be any protest without getting shut by the government and police. She eventually figured out after some ranting/chanting section and organizing protest music bands, that there is a certain level of noise that government would just permit and let go. She did not want to break this middle ground she established with authority.  
• Around 2012~2013, in order for the protests and demos to take place, she often consulted with Kojimachi Police station to notify and propose the movement of Demos. This way not only she acquired acknowledgment and permission from the police, but she also gained long-term trust from them.  Although the large protests and demos are usually watched by riot police that are mobilized in the rotation and thus not aware of Redwolf’s proposal to the police office and can be troublesome, in general her organizations are much more favored by leftist or rightist groups who are much more hostile towards police. Police officers even provide her a coffee when she visits the office.
• She has a personal connection and trust relationship with Kojimachi Station. Kojimachi station is one of the key stations (due to the important landmarks such as the Palace) so the officers are usually elites. She gives a story where manager officer Ikeda once asked her to become a police officer.
• 公安警察 Koan Police (Public security bureau)

They have a  magazine they release for themselves and in one of the vol of the magazine they wrote an article on the difference between the radical leftist and Redwolf’s coalition. Although she does not favor Koan so much, she thinks the description of her group was spot on.

• Due to the top-down nature of the police department, she thinks there is no 100% trust from the police. However, in the field of Koenji or Kasumigaseki, she believes she has a good trust relationship with local police officers and Koan.
• Some leftists groups criticize her group for establishing relationship with authority

高円寺 Koenji vs 霞ヶ関 Kasumigaseki

• Started from Hajime Matsumoto 素人の乱 (Recycle Shop)
• Lead by leftist artists and focus was much more on anarchism and subculture.
• Much more creative and festive rather than political compared to protests. It was entertainment based. The focus was on anarchism and independence rather than politics and message towards politician.
• Kasumigaseki is all about sending the message to the politicians. No entertainment. Costumes are not allowed to show the seriousness.

Goal and Aims

• The concern with Abe politics.
• Her aim focuses on stopping the Nuclear Power Plants.
• Even the SEALS couldn’t really affect Abe governments.
• The audience is both politicians, citizens and media.
• Some politician has a direct relationship with some protesters. Some came to see disguising as a runner pretending to be running around Emperor’s Palace.
• Her goal is to hold a protest every week with continuity. Her aim is to provide a space and platform to hold a protest in front of the Kasumigaseki. She thinks that if the protest stops for more than a month for example, it will be much harder for someone to restart protest. Govt and Police might not be as considerate as right now if there was space between next protest and people in charge changes. Because it is every week, because it is well organized, she feels Kasumigaseki is becoming this place anyone can protest without much initialization and effort to provoke something.
• She has an issue with old leftist (eg. protesters from 70s anpo, 革マル, 中核) as they try to commit more violent actions and anti-authority actions. She also does not permit any groups from spreading pamphlet as it caused a certain problem in the past. However, these groups do not follow that type of “rules” claiming it is their freedom of speech. She is frustrated with these people who disturb “order” and “rules” her community and people in Kasumigaseki has created.
• Some radical groups tries to steal hegemony from her groups by disturbing the protest. She often gets death threats and negative online comments. ⅓ of her activities are basically dealing with troubles caused by other groups. She feels her trouble has to do more with other radical groups rather than authority.
• ネトウヨ, Neto-Uyo, (Online rightist)
• Hegemony: The impression and sense of being the leading position for Anti Nuke activities

Why Kasumigaseki

• Gathered around diet building because of govn buildings.
• People became aware that there is something going on at Kasumigaseki and slowly became this iconic spot for protesters to gather.

SEALS

• The fact that they are students became very catchy for the media.
• Okura used that as a weapon to become an influence.
• She thinks it was a one-time thing because it was media explosion rather than a strong influence on protesters. As the number of protesters continues to decrease as the time passes, media coverage disappeared.
• She doesn’t think SEALS were very influential for protesters. It was more about media coverage as the number of students was not that many compared to older people who were not on camera.  While she does appreciate the influence of SEALS on young people, she thinks they are overrated in terms of influence on protesting.

Koan Police

• Koan has a list of “marked” groups and people.
• Some Koan takes picture of protesters and participants.
• They usually have regular clothes on, but carries small notes with them.
• Redwolf says she can “smell” them out because of her experience.  (she can tell radical groups as well)
• There is no trust relationship with Koan, however, she thinks they are categorizing her group harmless.

Other groups

• Some participants get scouted by radical groups and involve in troubles. She made protesting rules, such as no pamphlet rules, to protect participants from those groups.
• More participants mean more radical groups that attending to attract those population.
• Religious groups distribute the pamphlet to spread their religion.
• These religious groups claim only God (Budha) can stop the nukes and does not listen to them. Again they even call for divine punishment when trying to remove them. Sometimes her group and other participants have to physically push them out in order to remove them from the location.
• Now participants are well aware of most of these groups so there is less trouble.

Targets (How to improve protest)

• Govt generally ignores protests. There are more of Protester vs radical groups rather than Protesters vs Gov’t.
• There are some inside issues as well.
• This is partial reason people get tired of protesting.
• Way to improving protests depends on which issue you are covering.
• However, she thinks her target is again continuity.
• She has a connection with politicians and scholars. Some politician gives a speech in the protest (They literally walks out from diet building and joins protest).
• She is closest with Former PM Naoto Kan.
• Some protesters are against politician involvement, but she thinks it’s important to have this bypass with the govt to make the protest more legitimate. She thinks the relationship with diet is important although old leftists disagree with her.
• She believes that the aim of protest should not be the communal affection and comfort but rather practical influence and connection between govn and people.
• Unlike the old days (like 70s Anpo) where protests and demos were much more explosive and aggressive, a modern protest should be stable and continuous. It is more suitable for the current social trend and Japanese culture.
• Her group’s job is to manage and organize the platform of protest rather than becoming leading protest groups. Activities should be individual driven and every participants and groups should have their own ways and means to protest.
• Because of her group’s management,  Police allow any groups activities under her control in Kasumigaseki. This is the goal and contribution she made to the demos in Kasumigaseki.
• She thinks this is the most suitable way to hold a protest in Japan considering people’s social character.

C.R.