R ALLYING A ROUND THE F LAG AT Y ASUKUNI

Figure 5 - Presents from viewers²²⁹

When viewers send presents to Channel Sakura, special videos are created to showcase the presents and give thanks. It is a frequent occurrence, happening every week. The presents are usually food or drink – in the above screen capture, it is rice and sake, sent as a gift of appreciation to Channel Sakura because of their Senkaku activism. There are many videos of this kind, with such a wide variety of presents from viewers in different regions of Japan.

Such videos reinforce the idea that there is a grassroots community supporting Channel Sakura.

more importantly, it gives protest marches a strong visual impact. Hundreds of people marching down the street can create a sea of Japanese flags – a striking display of unity.

Perhaps the most memorable of these flag parades is the annual Ganbare Nippon march held at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. It is held on August 15^th, the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in the Pacific War, as well as the

anniversary of Channel Sakura’s launch. Mizushima organizes a gathering of hundreds of supporters who come to Yasukuni in the early afternoon, offer their prayers together at the shrine, and then assemble in a nearby park. The park is full of Japanese flags, which dozens of Ganbare Nippon volunteers have spent hours attaching to flagpoles. The park is used to gather and listen to speeches from Mizushima, who stresses the importance of their march, which will honor those who died for Japan. August 15^this the day when they “become one with the heroic war dead.” The speeches also include references to the other activist campaigns taking place, such as the Senkaku Islands boat missions and the marches against mainstream media outlets.²³⁰

230"

【海ゆかば】英霊に感謝し、靖國神社を敬う国民行進

桜

日本文化チャン

ネル桜

年

月

日). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfAfOb1R5Ok

Figure 6: Yasukuni flag march (August 15, 2013)²³¹

Their march begins after the speeches. Led by Mizushima, they head towards Yasukuni Shrine in a four-person wide line that stretches back for several blocks. A van with a loudspeaker precedes them, playing the instrumentals to “Umi Yukaba,” a patriotic song from 1937 that was popular during the war. Every 30 seconds or so, a recording announces that they are the members of Ganbare Nippon, and they are coming to Yasukuni to express their thanks to the heroic war dead.

The march to Yasukuni takes over ten minutes. As they near the gates of the shrine, they come into contact with people who have come to the shrine to offer prayers. It is a supportive crowd, and many of them applaud the marchers and wave flags at them as they pass.

231"

平成２５年８月１５日頑張れ日本「日の丸大行進」靖国神社

年

月

日). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1qQ-lnejP4

The marchers halt directly in front of the gigantic iron gate of the shrine, waiting until the end of their line reaches the end of its marching course. They are then led by Mizushima in a singing of Japan’s national anthem. After the national anthem, they sing “Umi Yukaba.” Many of the participants know the lyrics to the song:

Umi yukaba Mizuku kabane Yama yukaba Kusa musu kabane

Okimi no he ni koso shiname Kaerimi wa seji

If I go away to the sea,

I shall be a corpse washed up.

If I go away to the mountain, I shall be a corpse in the grass But if I die for the Emperor, It will not be a regret.

It was a song that kamikaze pilots would sing before heading out on their suicide missions. Through the song, the marchers are both honoring and connecting themselves with the Japanese who sacrificed themselves for the Japanese Empire. They are in the physical place where many Japanese soldiers,

sailors, and airmen gathered to pray before going off to war, and it is also the place where the souls of those who never returned are enshrined. At the end of the song, they engage in another act that soldiers were known to perform,

“banzai” cheers for the emperor. It is an act that connects them to the past. It reinforces their commitment to continue their activism on behalf of the country that they believe should honor those who died in the war and replicate their commitment to emperor and country.

John Breen has written that the Yasukuni Shrine is a place of social importance for living people both to honor the war dead and utilize their memory for modern meaning-making. Rites performed at Yasukuni generate "a sense of time collapsing: Japan is once more an Imperial Japan, a glorious empire, united in a spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice." The organizations that worship there are working to help Yasukuni recreate an "idealized past" through the glorification of those who died in the war.²³² Ganbare Nippon’s flag march is certainly an example of such a ritual.

232John Breen, "The Dead and the Living in the Land of Peace: A Sociology of the Yasukuni Shrine,"Mortality9, no. 1 (2004)

Figure 7: Singing at Yasukuni (August 15, 2013)

It is an emotionally powerful communal event, held at a symbolically important place on a symbolically important day. For those who cannot physically attend the event, Channel Sakura produces a video summary.

Throughout the march, Channel Sakura cameramen are running back and forth, taking the best footage possible. When marchers sing, there are cameras on hand to get close-up shots. There is also a camera placed on top of the van leading the march, providing a sweeping view of the marchers are they turn around corners. In the post-production, Channel Sakura superimposes photos of kamikaze pilots over scenes of the march.

The viewer is given an audio visual experience in honoring the war dead, and Mizushima is sure to end the video by thanking the viewers themselves for their continued support for Channel Sakura and Ganbare Nippon. The online response by viewers is overwhelmingly positive. The 2013 video was viewed over 29,000 times and received 619 thumbs-up votes on YouTube (compared to

just 17 thumbs-down votes). Many user comments complimented the beauty of the flags and the songs.²³³