Kobayashi Yoshinori Is Dead: Imperial War / Sick Liberal Peace / Neoliberal Class War

A young “freeter” named Akamatsu Tomohiro shocked liberal pundits in Japan with his short piece published in the Asahi Shinbun’s journal of ideas Ronza in January 2007. Called “Kibō wa sensō” (My only hope is war), Akamatsu’s challenge to informed readers warned that if Japanese youth continue to be robbed of an economic future, they just might turn to the military out of desperation. He darkly suggested that the disappearance of anything resembling equality in neoliberalized Japanese society could very easily be replaced by the leveling effect of a militarized and mobilized Japan. Akamatsu’s challenge was that war stands a better chance of making Japanese society more equitable than any other social force and, for that reason, is more attractive for Japanese young men than out-of-date promises pitched by an increasingly irrelevant trade-unionism. After ten years of startling commercial success that he has leveraged into a central place among political commentators in the Japanese media (and the starring role among contemporary ultranationalists), the manga artist Kobayashi Yoshinori doubtless read Akamatsu’s article with glee. “My only hope Kobayashi Yoshinori Is Dead: Imperial War / Sick Liberal Peace / Neoliberal Class War