An interesting story at the New York Times about the various right-wing (or uyoku in Japanese) sound trucks that ply their message at near-deafening levels in the streets of Tokyo (and I’m assuming, in other major Japanese cities as well). The article puts forth the suspicion on the
part of some that the groups that these trucks belong to, which appear so fringe and dismissed, actually enjoy quite cozy relations with the police, and perhaps with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as well.
Former far-rightists, retired policemen and historians say […] that they are not just noisy pressure groups. These observers contend that many of the nationalists disturb the peace and intimidate people freely because of their deep ties to the country’s conservative political elite.
Those who have studied them say that they are useful in bullying opponents of the long-governing, and conservative, Liberal Democratic Party and that many of them are actually members of criminal gangs that use their influence and protection to practice extortion.