Trouble at t'mill ...

A hint of trouble around the district this afternoon. A couple of times today I heard a 'gaisensha' - a 'battle-bus' belonging to one of the right wing political groups known here in Japan as 'uyoku dantai' - heading through the village. These groups are the equivalent of the 'National Front' in the UK and promote a similar kind of agenda and appeal to a similar membership too. In substance their politics and style often hark back to the symbolism of Japan's pre-War military days. If you ever visit Japan you will probably see one of their gaisensha sooner or later, speeding around the streets in Tokyo perhaps and playing martial music at an incredible volume. Usually old converted buses and vans, their windows are grilled over as a protection against bricks and stones. They are painted black and adorned with slogans and sometimes the old Japanese Imperial Flag and the Emperor's crest. Many of these groups are said to have links with the 'yakusa' - the Japanese mafia - which seems to buy them a certain immunity from the police. There is certainly plenty of potential violence around in this country and sometimes it even results in assassinations of politicians. Last year the Mayor of Nagasaki, Iccho Ito, was shot by a gangster in a revenge attack.

It isn't the first time I've heard a gaisensha in the village but it isn't common here. Occasionally they can be seen speeding through the countryside trying to drum up new membership amongst farmers but they are usually a more urban phenomenon.

Well, today when I heard them after dark headed along the prefectural highway on the other side of the valley for a third time it suddenly dawned on me what was afoot. About a mile from here is the only mosque in the Prefecture. There are almost no Muslims living in the area but they have chosen the location because it is pretty well the geographical centre of Chiba-ken and also handy for the rail network. And this was the time for Friday prayers. The guys on the bus were obviously minded to wind up the guys in the mosque.

Well, that was all there was to it, compared with some stuff I've seen in my time in Northern Ireland and the Middle East it was hardly 'big potatoes'. But it had the unpleasant edge to it that xenophobia always does, nobody had an 'amicable solution' in mind. Let's hope it doesn't become a regular feature of Fridays around here.