Protest in Contemporary Japan: Spatial Analysis of a Hidden Tradition
Since the 90s, one of the major transformations that affected Japanese society is the growing importance of civil society. In this regard, many researchers have focused on the rise of volunteer action. Few have examined its political dimension but most conclude that it is weak or even structurally impossible. A common point of these studies is that they fail to account for the growth of a strong, national and disruptive anti-poverty social movement that started in the 90s. I propose a spatial analysis of social movement sustainability to understand how, even during periods of low social mobilization, some specific sites support a high level of politicization. These local sites assure the continuity and the renewal of the activist’s engagement, the evolution of the action repertory and the ideological framework. I emphasize that mobilization against poverty, though recognized in the beginning of the 90s, has a long history. It is the one faction of the new left that has largely been forgotten until now.