Since my tweet about the anti-racist demo in Tokyo blew up, I want to shed a bit of a historical light on the antifa-movement in Japan.
It's not "imported by expats" like some weebs claim and it's not new at all. In this thread you'll find some history and also a lot of Pictures.

Anti-fascist/racist protests occur in Japan since the end of the 2nd world war. Until very recent (more about this a bit later) it was mostly leftwing griups protesting against the Emperor-system. It was (and still is) seen as a symbol of fascist ww2-Japan.

One of the earliest bigger protests dates back to the 12th november 1951(!), when the japanese emperor visited the University of Kyoto. Around 2000 leftwing students protested, small clashed with the police ensued.

Over the next decades, one of the bigger actors for the non-discriminatory cause were several "Buraku"-Groups. The Buraku were the "untouchables" in the old japanese caste system and their discrimination continues until today.

Then there is the fight against the Yasukuni-Shrine. A shrine which openly celebrates japanese colonialism/fascism and is honoring japanese war criminals. There have been anti-fascist protests against the shrine since decades.　Pictures from past years Demos in Tokyo.

2009 marks another important yr for the AFA-movement in Japan. Racist groups start a campaign against the Calderon-Family from the Phillipines. The racists even go as far as sending them death threats and threatening the kids infront of their school. AFA-Activist organize demos.

From 2009 on, more and more anti-racist/fascist Demos can be seen throughout Japan. Antifa-Groups form throughout the country, working together with labor unions. First attempts at stopping racist marches are made, arrests by the police occur. Here pictures from 2009 (Kyoto+Osaka

2012 marks another turning point: The Zaitokukai, an open fascist group infamous for having called for the murder of Koreans in Jpn starts to organise demos trough Tokyos Koreatown, called Shin-Okubo. Racists are violently attacking korean businneses. The police turns a blind eye

Soon afterwards the "group to bash racists" calls for direct antifa-action. At first it's just a kinda loose network of individuals who is trying to stop the fascists even by physical means.

The movement grows quickly and soon ther's hundreds of ppl protesting in Koreatown. Some choose militant tactics like sit-ins, others are protesting creatively. The movement has only loose ties with the traditional political left. It grew from t anti-nuclear demos after Fukushima

More and more racist demos are being directly protested against. The movement grows and peaceful anti-fascist parades are being held. Punkrock-groups and Hip-Hoppers record antifa-songs.

Here's one anti-fascist hip-hop song from the Toyko rapper "Akuryo".
It even has english subtitles, so don't worry about not understanding anything:

There's SO much more to write about the antifa-movement in Japan. Like, how it's fighting for a anti-hatespeech law. How it is bringing politics back into japanese subcultures. And MUCH more.

Let me just end with this: To all those weebs who think that Japan is their "nonpolitical" (read: sexist/racist) utopia: It simply is not. Japanese antifa is alive and kicking. So long from Tokyo.

I am writing a book about this movement which should release next year. By now it's only planned to be published in german (one of my 2 native languages), but maybe someone wants to translate it into english :)

Ah, and since a lot of US-americans are reading this:
Japanese antifa-activists of course also protested against Donald Trump when he visited Japan.