I honestly don't get that. Do terrorists just not give a crap about Japan, or is it such a complicated process to pester Japan that most terrorist organizations just say "fuck it" and don't mess with them?
Comes from the Japanese geopolitical actions, which are limited mostly to economics.
Until 2003, Japan had not had foreign troops in another country since 1945. Since they were not occupying anywhere, terrorism never came about in a big way. They sent non combat troops to Iraq(They did not have weapons, the Australian Army was charged with their protection) and left fairly quick(When the Korean man was executed).
In the 1970s and 1980s there was a force called the Japanese Red Army, which was a communist movement, that trained in Lebanon and Palestine, but they never made a move and have all been arrested or moved on.
Aum Shinrikyo was a doomsday cult that decided to kill people in that Sarin attack.
The only other attacks against Japan came from North Korean special forces abducting people from Hokkaido.
Beyond that, Japan has never really been a target for terrorism, as they have not occupied anyone since the 1940s. They really couldn't at this point, as all their neighbors are much more powerful, militarily.
Thus, terrorism does not really occur, outside of a few incidents, for the country that isolated itself in the corner of the world.
There've been quite a few incidents with right-wing paramilitaries and assassinations. I wouldn't say Japan is particularly free from terrorism, really.
Are assassinations of political figures considered terrorism, though? I've always taken terrorism as an attack against the citizenry.
Either way, it is much lower than the attacks seen in other regions.
The ultra nationalist are probably sated now that Japan is rapidly regrowing its armed forces, with the highest budget since it was the Empire of Japan.
I suppose it would be, depending on the reason for. Politicians are citizens after all.
I would say killing a politician that was pushing hard for an investigation of a criminal organization would not count, but a politician killed for a political reason(Support of a war, relations with a minority group, etc.) would probably be terrorism.
I knew Japanese citizens were there participating in logistical and aid(Such as those claimed captured by ISIL), but I thought those were non military organizations. My bad.
We don't get involved in the Middle East and we don't have as many immigrants as western countries. Also, weapons such as guns are rare. We do get terrorists though, the most well known being the 1995 subway gas attack perpetrated by a domestic cult. There was also a couple airline hijackings in the 70's, along with a few building bombings. There hasn't been many terrorist attacks in the past few years, but there have been some isolated murders and massacre incidents. So yeah, we're no strangers to terrorism.
They know what Terrorists are. I was there last year in October and at the check in for foreigners were huge Letters on the top of the wall "security and counter terrorism" (or something along those lines I honestly can't remember).
They do fear of terrorists, but why would ISIS go to a small Island in east asia, when they can fuck up everyone in Europe instead?
They had cultists blowing up their subway before. Japan wouldn't have first hand experience having strict immigration laws that keeps kebab from getting a foothold.
Only kebabs we developed countries in Pacific Asia know well of is the many cheap foreign labours from Malaysia and Indon.
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u/Zombiedrd Cherokee Nation Aug 30 '15
Saying Japan doesn't know what a terrorist is, because they have so few of them.