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Episode 196: QAnon International: Japan feat Sarah Hightower (Patreon)

Published:
2022-07-24 17:35:41
Imported:
2026-06
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  • Episode_196-QAnon_Japan_featuring_Sarah_Hightower.mp3

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Content

Translating Q drops, organizing "stop the steal" rallies, forming splinter cults, and worshiping Michael Flynn. It looks like Japan has quite an assortment of Q followers. To help us figure them out, we interviewed Sarah Hightower, an independent cult and extremism researcher with a focus on Japan.

Tour tickets for Portland, Seattle (Sold out!), Eugene: http://tour.qanonanonymous.com

Thanks for supporting us on patreon!

QAA Merch / Join the Discord Community / Find the Lost Episodes / Etc: http://qanonanonymous.com

Music by Pontus Berghe. Editing by Corey Klotz.

Comments

Shivvy

+1 for Sarah praise! Wow she’s great

Regan

When I was in Japan I ate a bowl of what was called Jew ear ramin on the menu

Anonymous

careful of that whiskey

Trapped in gay gacha hell

I mean Japan is basically the Britain of Asia and the lost decade still felt so it's like not shocking a lot of their elderly also got into q

Anonymous

My god, that Coneheads reference…*chef kiss*

Anonymous

The guest knocked it out of the park. Really interesting stuff.

Anonymous

Since she probably won't share it, https://www.patreon.com/nezumi_ningen/

Treppy

be warned their guest is very mean on twitter lol

Anonymous
>>88286804

I like her twitter content but just found her voice and intonation to be kind of grating.

Victor in Brooklyn

Possibly the most annoying voice I have ever heard on a podcast. It sounds like a bad actor trying different approaches at ranting and being shocked and appalled or interrogating an imaginary person, losing her breath...just unbearable.

Jess C

I think the guest mught have been a lot more compelling if she provided more context/walked us through more of a narrative. It was helpful when Travis asked for clarification. I get the impression that Sarah really cares about what she does and is knowledgeable but I found this episode quite hard to listen to because she sounded a little bit like someone ranting to me on discord as we're gaming. Like I didnt *disagree* with anything but it wasnt the usual elite QanonAnonymous tier podcast I'm used to. I feel like the subject matter was great but not presented in a great way.

Arthur G. Pym

Guest sounds like a text to speech program set to “uptalk”. Truly surreal

Anonymous
>>88548128

I guess you don't spend much time around young people, then. Love it or hate it, tens of millions of people speak that way in the US alone.

Brad Plumb

Hey Team, a pro-tip from a Japanese translator. It's pronounced "Aum SHINRI-kyo" not "Aum Shin-RIKYO". Shinri is the word for the subconscious and Kyo is the word for religion. The guest is 100% accurate with her facts, but it might help to have a bit more context to understand things in Japan. 1. Theories about the Imperial Family have been around for decades. I hadn't heard that Hirohito was British before, but a common one is that he was really Korean or Chinese. These theories tend to take hold with the certain segments of the Japanese right that are devoutly anti-Korean and also tie in with the fact that the Imperial Japanese government, before and during World War II, was in fact a quasi religious organization that held the Emperor up as a god. It is important to know that this was not always the case. One of the aspects of Japanese history that is not well known outside the country is that the war-time government actually took power through a coup in the 1930's and it was only then that their particular brand of Shinto was named the national religion. This means that Imperial Japan is merely one small period within the larger framework of Japanese history and culture, though it undoubtedly had the biggest impact internationally of any other point in its history. Anyway, to the people who hang onto the cult of Emperor worship (itself implied by the very name "Yamato"), Hirohito was a traitor who took Japan down from within by allying with McArthur and famously announcing publicly, on the radio, that he was human. This was followed by the war crime prosecutions and the revelations about the Rape of Nanking and Korean "Comfort Women", both of which continue to be controversial today. After World War II, most of Japanese academia became dominated by anti-war leftists, especially in the field of history, and there was little resistance to the idea that Imperial Japan had committed atrocities in Asia. Because of this, the Japanese right made "reclaiming the historical narrative" one of their primary goals and one of the ways they win favor with people is by saying that Korea and China are lying about the war crimes in order to exploit Japanese guilt and their "inherent good nature". 2. It also helps to know that nationalism in Japan is not anti-western or anti-American. In fact, the right wing and conservative politicians have been very protective of the military alliance with the US and especially the maintenance of bases in Okinawa. Traditionally, it has been the left that has been opposed to American involvement in Japan, often from an explicitly anti-war perspective. This plays into the Michael Flynn worship and the support for Trump. 3. "Hobbies" in Japan tend not to be just something by which people pass their leisure time but a way of solidifying one's identity by identifying with certain groups. When one embraces a hobby in Japan, there is a general tendency to go all in without question. This means that an otaku who is into sci-fi is naturally attracted to stories about UFOs, lost continents, etc. That is the breeding ground from which Mu Magazine grew. Mu then spawned into its own hobby, which involved general interest in EVERYTHING conspiracy or paranormal related, no matter what the origin, context, political association, etc. THink the Lone Gunmen from the X-Files. 4. As the guest mentioned, certain politicians took advantage of the conspiracy/paranormal subculture to push their own agenda. This has resulted in all sorts of alternate history narratives, most of which are linked to that person's individual political obsessions. Things like anti-semitism or other cultural poison pills are used as a shiny object that gets people's attention and pulls them in so the writer can push their real agenda. 5. Japanese people, over the past 2 to 3 decades, have grown notoriously apolitical. An average, even highly educated, person in Japan has a hard time articulating how their government works or what is happening in the country politically. There is a general belief that all politicians are untrustworthy and that political agendas are a waste of time. 6. Because of this, people who take an interest in political issues often inevitably find themselves on the fringes of society, which leaves them inevitably more vulnerable to fringe material. Fringe movements also feed on the general frustration associated with trying to achieve anything politically in the country, which breeds distrust. Not to mention that the overall political apathy allows for fringe material to take over where normal political discourse would normally exist. 7. There is an excellent podcast called "Before After Aum" that is hosted by a survivor of the sarin gas attacks (also a documentary filmmaker in his own right). This podcast does a brilliant job of clarifying the context in which the religious cult "boom" occurred in the 1970's and 80's. As described, there was a period after World War II in which it was believed that a lack of religious diversity, free speech, etc. had contributed to the rise of Imperial Japan and as such, strict laws were put in place to protect the freedom of religious organizations. Aum took advantage of this. The Unification Church does, as well, as outlined by the guest. 8. The parallels between Q Anon and Aum Shinrikyo are extensive and the Aum Shinrikyo story is an important one for anyone who has an interest in these topics. In addition to the "before after Aum" podcast, I also recommend the documentary created by its host "Me and the Cult Leader". as well as "A" and "A2".