Paper short abstract:

The paper presents the results of an analysis of the discursive interconnections between the metapolitical strategies of the Japanese Far Right and pro-Russian disinformation campaigns in regard to Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I present the results of an analysis of the discursive interconnections between the metapolitical strategies of the New Right and pro-Russian disinformation campaigns. In Japan, several well-established representatives of the Japanese Far Right show significant overlaps with views disseminated by Russian officials and media outlets in regard to the war in Ukraine. Particularly, I look into the online activity of prolific proponents of the political Far Right, such as the members of the party Issuikai and Suzuki Muneo, a representative in the upper house of right-wing populist party Nippon Ishin no Kai on the one hand, and the conspiracy narratives and disinformation disseminated by so-called “alternative” media outlets, such as blogs or the YouTube channel Channel Sakura. In my analysis, I apply a mixed-method approach of quantitative corpus-linguistic methods and in-depth qualitative discourse analysis to provide insights into the pro-Russian views as part of the metapolitical strategies of the aforementioned actors.