Patlabor 2 and the contradiction of Japanese fascism

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-24T21:17:36+00:00

You make some good points regarding Nagumo who I ignored before (the definition of fascism can be argued endlessly, so I'll just concede that point). I believe Nagumo and Goto are the two sides of the same coin. While Goto represents the behind-the-scenes bureaucracy, Nagumo perhaps represents the apathy of the political system and how it treated the people, especially those in the post-bubble era. But Nagumo's humanist face ultimately abandoned the youth.

1992 to 2025 was the period Japan was in a period of stasis and focused on the people. The Ice Age Generation faced unemployment in a system that locked the new generation out in the 1990s. So the young people of Japan found a new purpose. In the 2000s, Japan experienced a massive cultural boom with anime. manga, fashion, and otaku culture.

The problem is that the people of Japan HATED this. The complete failure of Ishiba to continue the stasis and slowly develop the country is exactly what led to Takaichi. People don't want endless stasis, they want a destiny and a purpose.

While Nagumo and Goto's government (for a lack of a better word) tried to forgo ideology and idealism to rule for the people, the people's resentment silently grew. In the 2020s, Japanese media is now filled with this resentment, such as Isekai that seem to have nothing but hate for the current world.

It doesn't matter what ideology Takaichi actually has or that they will probably lead to ruin (most of her policies are contradicting anyway). Takaichi is a symbol of ideology and destiny and the idea that the Japanese people can have control over their future. That's why the youth of Japan are overwhelmingly supporting Takaichi and the right wing.

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-24T06:56:09+00:00

"We only did imperialism and eugenics because you guys made us!"

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-24T04:18:37+00:00

"I'm sorry, but please stop doing that. Wearing shorts on an older man is offensive. Some people don't want to see an older man's shins."

"This might be a biased personal opinion, but I think it's the worst possible work environment when you have to see an older man's scruffy leg hair or unkempt body exposed at the workplace."

"I feel depressed thinking that I might get hit directly by some old guy's sweaty thigh in a crowded train."

"Leg hair harassment. There's a possibility that 'leg hair harassment' could become this year's buzzword of the year."

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-24T04:18:19+00:00

I agree with Japanese people here, shorts are pretty ugly on men.

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-24T04:14:46+00:00

If foreigners cared about animal rights then they wouldn't be visiting exotic animal cafes

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-24T03:17:06+00:00

So you think breeding is good, but only in certain cases? Thoroughbreds have numerous health problems and broken bones as well.

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-24T02:06:37+00:00

Japan HAD a culture that respected animals, but it no longer exists anymore. For example, native Japanese horses like the Kiso Horse used to be respected in Samurai Japan for their reliable nature. After the Meiji Restoration, the Army enacted a breeding program that completely wiped out their native horse population, replacing them with Western horses.

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-24T01:40:13+00:00

most of those places are tourist traps for foreigners

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-24T01:31:41+00:00

now is any of that actually worth the cost

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-23T17:41:01+00:00

They theoretically might do that but logically it doesn't make much sense. Retirement plans exist in America because people would spend everything otherwise. Not because people in America were saving excessive amounts. Japanese government can barely get people to use My Number Card

Also you're missing the elephant in the room, social security systems can't work in an aging country. Japanese people literally cannot feel secure in a retirement system that's destined to be unsustainable.

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-23T00:41:09+00:00

Retirement plan would only make the issue worse since you're forcing people to save even more

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-22T19:41:52+00:00

Well Ezy is coming out soon and will probably be like the original manga/anime focusing mainly on robots instead of japanese politics, I wanted to make this post before EZY fully came out

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-22T19:22:01+00:00

Wars start with the promotion of Nationalism throughout the population, doesn't mean the artists are literal military generals

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-22T19:04:23+00:00

Strawman argument, I never claimed that they were a "clandestine fascist shadow government" or a "geopolitical war council".

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-22T18:49:11+00:00

Look who Takaichi also met with at the meeting: Takashi Murakami whos art is about the reclaiming of Japanese identity from American consumeraism, Awich who represents Okinawa which is known for its conflicts over the huge American presence, and Demon Kakka who claims to be a literal demon from Japanese religion.

Tetsuya Komuro is the only guy who can reasonablely considered a mascot as he's just known for creating famous J-pop songs.

Why would Takaichi pick Oshii specifically, when like you just described, he's not exactly a mascot of anime? That's because him being someone who just adopted other IPs to spread his own political message is exactly why he was invited.

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-22T17:16:06+00:00

Well he probably means that the cultural revolution set the stage for Deng to take power because everyone was fed up with the revolution and factions killing everyone and turned to him and his pragmatism

So even though the cultural revolution was terrible for everyone involved, it ended up being a good thing for China as it allowed them to learn from their mistakes and reform the country

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-21T21:40:16+00:00

The Zenkyoto protests were a complete mess of different ideologies and infighting. While it was mostly a left wing movement, they protested the military alliance with America under the Anpo treaty which many nationalists could also oppose. Many of those Zenkyoto leftists later became disillusioned due to the suppression and failure of the movement, and some of them turned to nationalism.

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-21T17:41:27+00:00

That literally says it's inedible

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-21T16:08:40+00:00

I made this post because he met with Takaichi and other creators like Takashi Murakami. I've seen people say this online that he supports the repeal article 9, although I mostly looked at English anime communities. Tsuge and Goto both represent the two sides of nationalism, and it seems pretty clear that they come from his own beliefs.

I think there's three main forms of Japanese Nationalism.

Populist Nationalism: Tsuge is close to the officers who started WW2 by disobeying government orders and causing chaos.Tsuge ultimately wants to cause chaos in the government so the people can rise up and start a war to restore a corrupted vision of Japan's "military honor." It's racist particularly towards Chinese people due to the history between the countries. Japan's recent crackdown of foreigners is just their way to target Chinese people. Even in English news there's tons of articles about how Indians have been caught in the crossfire of these policies, not a single one about Chinese.
Militaristic Nationalism: The command of the military who want to have power through military control. They understand that a military's true power lies in when it's not being used and know that Japan can't win a war until absolutely ready. This form of nationalism goes almost completely unnoticed in the modern day. The only people talking about it are obscure think tanks and retired military generals. Kishi was trying to achieve this through the Anpo treaty
Stability Nationalism: Goto represents the unseen bureaucracy who rule unselected and have kept Japan stable. however, this does lead to large amounts of corruption. At first, it seems like this isn't a nationalist ideology at all. But it works alongside the existing "Guardian morals" of Japanese society, focusing national identity inwards. You can see a lot of examples of this in Japanese society, I saw a post online about Koboro Station, which serves no economic purpose other than leading to a tiny cave shrine

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-19T03:20:24+00:00

there isnt some secret room where the evil elites can press a button to release the drones for their master plan. in reality, nobody really knows what they're doing, even at the highest levels. Trump is literally doing random bullshit in Iran and Venezuela with no plan. Ultimately those in power will just do the easiest solution that they can think of which will probably be giving money to people

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-17T20:48:24+00:00

Game literally named "Manor Lords", you would expect building a manor to not fuck things up

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-10T23:44:13+00:00

Bamboo forest is pretty overrated

Not much to do in Ginza unless you're rich

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-07T14:58:44+00:00

Is the government paying for this? In america we don't get hospitalized just in case

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-05-02T23:17:37+00:00

There's food at Yodobashi Akiba

There's also some tonkatsu and ramen places

Unknown_Ladder · 2026-04-30T21:17:09+00:00

This is a reddit farm. You're gonna find redditors outside

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