Zaitokukai, also known as the Citizens Against Special Privilege of Zainichi, is a far-right anti-foreigner group devoted to “eliminating the privilege” of Zainichi Koreans in Japan, although their activities more often characterised as acts of racism and hate speech. Zaitokukai’s frequent demonstrations are at the forefront of the discriminatory movements against Zainichi throughout Japan.

On June 16, the group made news when several prominent members of the group were arrested on charges of assault after one of their usual protests got out of hand. Although the media seems to be wary of explicitly naming the opposing group that showed up to counter-protest Zaitokukai’s demonstration, many believe it was the Shitback Crew, an anti-Racist group that has since posted video footage of the incident online.

Although some might find the footage of counter-protestors shouting “Racists go home!” at the Zaitokukai protesters inspiring, the netouyo have unsurprisingly come out in full force in support of the Zaitokukai members. Many commenters are taking issue with the media coverage of the incident, saying that the article is biased for releasing the name of the leader of Zaitokukai but not the counter-protesters.

What do you think? Is the media unfairly influencing the way this story is spread, or are they merely showing legitimate concern for the safety of an already marginalized minority?

From Yahoo! Japan:

Eight Zaitokukai Chairmen Arrested, Suspected of Assault at Shinjuku Anti-Foreign Demonstration – Tokyo Police

After a hate speech demonstration in the Shin-Okubo area of Tokyo calling for the expulsion of Koreans living in Japan resulted in conflict between demonstrators and an opposing group on June 16, Shinjuku police arrested leader Takada Makoto (alias Sakurai Makoto, 41, of the Hirai district of Edogawa ward in Tokyo) of the Citizens Against Special Privilege of Zainichi (also known as Zaitokukai) on suspicion of assault. In total, eight men and women were caught red-handed by Tokyo Metropolitan Police.

According to Shinjuku police, at around 3 pm on June 16 a demonstration called “The Shinokubo Sakurada Festival” was scheduled to take place around Shinjuku’s Ookubo station, but before it could start, there was a conflict with members of an opposing group near the station around 2 pm. Four people from the demonstrating group, including Takada, and four people from the opposing group, including photographer Okubo Kenji (48, of the Miyasaka district in Setagaya ward), were arrested. No one involved in the demonstration was injured.

Takeda was arrested on the charge that he allegedly grabbed the collar of the self-styled manager of the opposing group (male, 46) and spat on him on Shinjuku street a little after 2. Takada has denied the charge.

Comments from Yahoo! Japan:

へのへのもへ（run…）さん:

They’re releasing the name of the Zaitokukai leader and treating him as a suspect, but they’re not releasing the name of the person from the Shitback Crew who was also arrested for fighting. It’s completely clear that they’re intentionally hiding them. You can totally tell from the name Sei Yoshiaki anyone can completely tell that he’s Zainichi, so they’re not releasing it because they’re concerned. I understand how unfair the mass media’s reporting is. It’s cowardice to be concerned about even those who have been arrested. The mass media can’t help being called traitors, because it’s true.

あゆみネコです！（k10…）さん:

Shin-Okubo is not Korean territory! Go back to your country right now.

水瀬大魔神（miz…）さん:

The Japanese government should abolish Zainichi privileges and ban legal aliases ASAP.

helpfuljoy（wor…）さん:

This article seems to be biased towards an online community for Korean current affairs. To the last, Zaitokukai’s purpose is to forbid the special privileges of Zainichi, and they don’t have anti-foreign or hate speech goals.

水瀬大魔神（miz…）さん:

From the bottom of my heart, I hate Koreans!!

(´･Д･)（fxx…）さん:

They’ve intentionally made it hard to understand, but there where four people from Zaitokukai arrested, and four people from the opposing Zainichi left-wing group, right? The title obscures this and makes it look like eight members of Zaitokukai were arrested.

eig*tta**s（eig…）さん:

We can’t allow the oppression of freedom of expression. I think Zaitokukai’s assertions are extremely correct.

licensacc（wit…）さん:

It’s a biased article, isn’t it? Typical shit news. It can’t be helped that they try to make Zaitokukai look bad, Korean garbage media.

月島 花（wor…）さん:

The Shitback Crew, a group of South Korean naturalized citizens, came to interfere in their army of Mercedes-Benzes, but why couldn’t they be arrested? It was probably an attempted murder. Is not being arrested even after attempting murder becoming a Zainichi special privilege?

侍日本魂（sam…）さん:

Calm down. They can’t do anything more than arrest him for something like this. Let’s enforce justice without using violence. In the name of proving that Japanese history isn’t wrong, too.

ほうじ（myo…）さん:

Both sides were arrested, and both parties in the fight will be punished together, but the biased article’s headline strongly indicates that “Zaitokukai” is bad.

nao（nao…）さん:

It seems like the Zainichi think this is the downfall of the Zaitokukai, but it’s no joke. Whenever there’s an unfair arrest, our unity becomes stronger, and moreover the anger towards the Zainichi just increases. Even so, Sakurai is a pen name so they gave out his real name, but the Zainichi who were arrested were probably using common names, so why don’t they give out their Korean names? It’s weird!

卍丸（man…）さん:

We absolutely can’t allow hate speech by Koreans toward the Japanese. Comfort women? Lies! Invasion? Morons who don’t feel gratitude for being “merged” and “modernized” during the colonial period can shut the hell up! We can’t forgive the Koreans who extort money and insult our ancestors’ dreams of peace in Asia.

シュルツ司令とガンツの顔射衛生法（tak…）さん:

Even if you get pissed off, please stop the behaving just like the Koreans.

(＊◇＊)（joi…）さん:

Have you thought about why only the Koreans are the targets of demonstrations, even though Japan has a lot of foreigners? Zainichi & Netouyo?

シラっとした民意（man…）さん:

That street lined with Hangul signs is somehow really creepy.

バンドろっくす（jjj…）さん:

It’s the media’s fault that anti-Korean people like this are increasing! Korea is waging a negative campaign around the world against Japan, but on TV you just see news biased towards Korea, so they’re raising their voices. It’s what the Turkish people are fighting for now.

kanamehaorenoyome（wgh…）さん:

They get a perfect score for shadiness for not giving the name of the opposing group. w The mass media’s approach to reporting is incredible. w Give the names of the bastards on the opposing side, too! w They’re probably common names, but ww Well, Zaitokukai is inconsequential, but the mass media’s garbage is really coming out, huh? ww

t9t*ash（t9t…）さん:

The sense of balance of the correspondent writing this article is dubious. He didn’t give out the names of eight people arrested from “Zaitokukai.” The internet community doesn’t encourage biased reporting, so you should quit it already. That’s also a reason to collect an unbiased evaluation of Zaitokukai’s activities in a place like this.

sleep_aig（sle…）さん: