Japan has not been immune from beliefs in satanic numerology that prevail in the West. Most Japanese have heard that "666" signifies something terrifying, even if they don't know that the figure is associated with the mark of the Beast of the Apocalypse in the New Testament's Book of Revelation. The beast -- said to be a grotesque figure with seven heads and 10 horns, that comes out of the sea -- has been used more recently to symbolize the worldwide political system.
Does this perhaps explain the frequent association of Tokyo's Roppongi district as the capital's very own sin city? After all, if you look closely at the kanji characters for Roppongi (六本木) you can see that all three characters incorporate the strokes used to write the kanji for roku (six).
But wait! Within the same three characters are embedded more numbers. Apart from six, the middle character (read hon) contains the kanji 十 (ju, ten); and the third character (read ki or gi) contains the Arabic numeral 1. Which gives us 10 plus one.
Now don't get excited, but six plus ten plus one also happens to correspond to the street address of Roppongi Hills complex, which appears on maps as Roppongi 6-chome, 10-1.
Is that an amazing coincidence? Or part of something more sinister? Can it be taken to portend that something unpleasant (shudder!) is going to happen in Roppongi in 2025?
Writing in Weekly Playboy (Jan 27), conspiracy watcher and author Jun Amamiya emphasizes that his intention is to help the naive and gullible from becoming ensnared in the kind of wacky conspiracies that seem to be popping up all the time.
Many of these, not uncoincidentally, involve the number 6.
This kind of satanic numerology continues to spawn a stream of new conspiracy theories. A fairly recent one is that Roppongi will become the focal point for the Japanese version of the "deep state."
As for this year in particular, Amamiya notes that that fans of the occult and dyed-in-the-wool conspiracy buffs have been drawn to a bestselling comic book titled "The Future as I See It," published in 2021 by illustrator Ryo Tatsuki. In it, the author predicts some sort of "major disaster" will occur in July 2025.
Tatsuki's fertile imagination essentially foresees the emergence of a "battle between light and darkness." Should light emerge victorious, the world will be saved; a victory for darkness will mean the world's downfall.
Driven by social media, some Japanese are known to take a rapt interest in strange events that occur abroad, and these have been known to feed conspiracies at home.
Under the new Trump administration, conspiracy theories in the U.S. concerning foreigners and immigrants are likely to increase. One trope likely to become more widespread is the "Great Replacement" theory, which claims that society's elites are promoting immigration in order to reduce the white population.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump himself has been known to latch on to conspiracies as benefits his public persona, and his imminent inauguration to his second term is believed likely to spawn a host of new crackpot stories, some circulated here wholesale or modified to suit similar narratives in Japan.
In this day and age, Amamiya asserts, conspiracies need to be taken seriously. A century ago in the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake, the spreading of malicious rumors that certain people were poisoning wells led hysterical mobs to murder thousands of Koreans.
It is important -- no, make that essential -- to maintain vigilance against such stories, which can occur at any time.
"Conspiracy theories have typically involved the sentiment that 'I am party to information that other people are not,'" Amamiya explains, adding, "'If that information came to be widely known, the whole world might be flipped.'
"In other words, you think you know something that others do not, and by disseminating that knowledge you may be part of a force that can turn the world upside down."
"So when and if you happen to encounter a conspiracy theory, and realize it is likely to be just that, a conspiracy theory, and experience the buzz you get from it, I think you will be able to better understand the feelings of people who get caught up in it," says Amamiya.
"What's important is to have sensible people around you with whom you can talk things over about conspiracy theories," he points out.
"It would be good to distance yourself from conspiracy theories and reconcile your perceptions with others, by asserting things like, 'That can't be true,' or 'There aren't enough facts to support it.'"
According to Amamiya, a common pattern is for people to become immersed in conspiracy theories on social media sites like YouTube, and then spend time networking with others who are already into conspiracy theories, without communicating with their family members or friends.
"The solution is to read articles and books written by people who monitor conspiracies, or attend talks they give," he advises. "I think this will have the effect of forging ties with people who have distanced themselves from conspiracies, and that in turn will build up their resistance."
© Japan Today
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NCIS Reruns
When political candidates for national office flaunt goofy stories (like immigrants eating cats and dogs in Ohio USA) that they cherry-picked from social media, you know the world is teetering on the precipice of something dreadful.
virusrex
Conspiracy theorists are frequently victim of mental problems, give exaggerated value to their own opinions no matter how wrong they are, frequently antisocial, paranoid, insecure, etc. Many take pride in not being able to discuss or argue and to be openly irrational about their beliefs. Even worse is that those with poor morals tend to believe everybody else is the same (so they see no problem thinking for example that every doctor in the world could be hiding cures from their own families and friends just for money). The people that systematically believe in conspiracies are not trying to help society but instead to validate their own flaws no matter who can suffer because of the rumors they spread.
As the article says, It is important to maintain vigilance against such stories, because sooner or later people will be victimized if the belief in them spreads.
starpunk
The most ridiculous crap has been bouncing around since Rubbish Limberger and his immature ilk took over AM radio in the 90s. Remember the hysterical misinformation surrounding the Comet Hale-Bopp and those cult suicides? Then when Obama was POTUS there were the most ridiculous whacko ideas concerning him nearly every single day about 'what he was gonna do' but didn't. 'Birther', anyone? Of course some won't admit it but the 'problem' was ( coff! coff! ahem! ) that Pres. Barack Obama has a 'funny' (non-European name) and he is ( coff! coff! ahem! ) BEE-ELL-AYY-CEE-KAY. Mhm.
Conspiracy theorists are not victims of mental problems, they're just evil and immature gossipy kids that we all knew in school who never matured a single day. They know what they're saying is wrong and grossly exaggerated to the max. They love to see other people turn against each because of the LIES they propagate.
Ever read the Shakespeare play 'Othello'? Recall the grousing gossipy chump character Iago. That's what these 'conspiracy theory' nerds truly are. IAGOS!
theFu
It isn't just conspiracy theorists, it is not being able to differentiate between reality and fantasy. Some people actually believe that humans have been beyond the moon and that aliens have landed on Earth. These are fantasies.
Trump has so many fantasies in his mind, I have to wonder about his sanity and that of all his followers.
As people believe that scientists are the enemy of clear thinking, because a few have made some outlandish claims, disregarding facts that nearly all scientists believe, it will only get worse.
David Brent
I know people who even today think the whole COVID pandemic was thought up by Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci in order to vaccinate people with something dangerous, so as to reduce world population, or some such nonsense. These people walk among us, and vote; and have offspring.
Zaphod
theFu
Both conspiracies and conspiracy theories are as old as mankind. But I agree with you, the difference between the believers and the disbelievers of crackpot misinformation is a real dividing line. E.g. those of us who uncritically swallow every hoax promoted by he legacy "mainstream" media have been falling for endless stream of hoaxes, from the Saddam WMD hoax, the Russian peepee hoax, the Hunter laptop Russia hoax, the Suckers and losers hoax, the Fine People hoax, the Bloodbath hoax, the Enemies within hoax, the Putin wants to invade Europe hoax to the Liz Cheney firing squad hoax..... I could go on for pages. Sadly, the ability to think critically is not spead evenly, and group-think is always a strong power.
starpunk
My little sister believes that the Chinese government (which is ROTTEN) 'invented' COVID as a 'biological weapon' and unleashed it on the world, and that vaccines are just a money-grabber for all those 'big companies'.
She never applied herself beyond HS, in fact she 'gets' the info from these whackos who dominate the radio and TV in America - no, wait! Sinclair Corp., they control Faux News, ABC News, CBS in my hometown. Oh yeah, a 'Big Company', a practical 'media monopoly' you could say. That, and she still clings to the long discarded notion that gays 'invented' the AIDS virus too.
Oh hell. Some people never learn, because they just don't want to!
Zaphod
David Brent
...and others believe that the Corona Virus miraculously erupted, of all the places in the world, from a pangolin in a fish market in the city of Wuhan, minutes away from Wuhan Corona Virus Institute were they were doing enhanced function research on Corona Viruses under unsafe conditions. Which of course had nothing to with the miraculous pangolin Corona creation in the fish market. Hey, after all Drs Fauci, Peter Daszak and the WHO told you so, as reported by arbiters of truth like the American alphabet media.
Which just goes to show that lack of critical thinking is spread across all political camps.
virusrex
An easy way to see which one is believing fantasies is to ask for proof, conspiracy theorist will have a thousand excuses not to present any, mostly that a conspiracy is in place around the globe to hide that evidence (but they don't present evidence of the conspiracy either, specially when it is realistically impossible for it to exist)
Nothing miraculous about it, every single human infection have done the same. The animal market is not minutes away from the laboratory and every infectious disease research involve gain of function, specially those where laboratories are put in areas where introduction is extremely common in the first place precisely to be where the diseases are.
But of course these arguments have been repeated endlessly to conspiracy theorists, and they have no counter argument, so they just repeat the false claims pretending they were not debunked many times before.
wallace
There is so much fake news and comments on the social networks.
Bad Haircut
This is the same attitude the Soviets took toward people who criticised communism. I mean, how dare they!
Sure, there are some silly theories that go around. But dismissing certain theories based on reason and evidence simply because you don't like them doesn't make them "crazy conspiracy theories".
Tokyo Guy
Stupid people go for conspiracy theories.
There are many, many, many stupid people in the world.
Thus, conspiracy theories will never fully go away.
Zaphod
virusrex
Wuhan is a developed city, and not some hotbed for infection. The bat viruses studied in the institute come from caves in south China and not from the modern city of Wuhan. The food market in question is a food market, selling mostly fish and vegetables, and not just an animal market. The first deaths appeared among researchers in the institute, which subsequently tried to erase their presence on their website. You might to do some fact checking before posting strong opinions.
Zaphod
Tokyo Guy
Sadly, intelligent ones too, especially if they live in an information bubble and are looking for clues to re-inforce the group dogma. Confirmation bias is a real thing.
True.
Non sequitur. Disregard all the stupid ones, and you still have both conspiracies and conspiracy theories. Some conspiracy theories are false, others are correct. To decide, you have to look at different angles and think independently. Which is difficult for many.
Zaphod
wallace
As opposed to in the legacy media??
Bad Haircut
The term "conspiracy theory" has become so loaded and abused as to be almost meaningless nowadays, anyway. So the lab-leak hypothesis is a "conspiracy theory" because it makes some rich and powerful people very uncomfortable. Hunter Biden's laptop was a "conspiracy theory" because it seriously threatened Biden's chances at becoming president, so the FBI tried to cover it up. Turns out it was true... But Russiagate wasn't a conspiracy theory because, well, it (allegedly) involved something bad Trump did, so it's OK for the mainstream media to propagate it and then act as if it never existed once shown to be complete bunkum.
wallace
Major media outlets verify their stories and posts. Social networks do not.
virusrex
On the opposite, the conspiracy theories are the ones that live in denial of the evidence, specially when it demonstrate their beliefs (and everything that allows a personal profit) are wrong. How dare the experts of the world demonstrate something you want to believe is wrong!
Nothing is dimissed because people don't like them, they are dismissed because of absolute lack of evidence to support them and the mountains of available evidence that refute them.
Wuhan is a city, not an "area" which is what I described, precisely because it is a developed city it can provide the infrastructure that allows both the existence of big research institutions AND the population to make outbreaks appear and become evident. Next time you are going to be surprised institutions that study Ebola (or Malaria, Hendra, etc.) are in the same area where outbreaks are being discovered.
So, you are surprised that an institution that is put in a regions with frequent introduction of coronaviruses to human populations have viruses not only local but also from other regions? are you imagining they have some kind of competition and sample end up only in the nearest lab?
Which in no way denies that the commerce of wild animals happens there, and that samples of the virus have been found in cages and remains from those animals, enough to prove there were two independent introductions to humans happening there.
What is the point of making these obviously false claims? the first deaths were NOT researchers, they were people inside the clusters of cases that could be traced to the animal market.
I mean, for rational people it becomes obvious how ridiculous an explanation becomes when you have to put three moore hoops to jump for each one you want to avoid in order for that explanation to hold even a bare minimum of congruency, specially so when you need also to make obviously false claims (without any evidence behind them, of course).
Again easy to see when they refuse to accept the scientific consensus and pretend their bubble is more likely to be correct than every institution of the field in the whole world.
As opposed to primary sources, like scientific reports that demonstrate the conspiracies are false.
It is an excuse for people to pretend their beliefs are real even if they have zero evidence to support them? is there also zero evidence to support the existance of that conspiracy? then there is no abuse, that is a perfectly valid way to use it "The moon is an hologram but all the scientists of the world are lying to protect the secret" "The world is only 6000 years old, biology is just a con to fool people and convince them of the opposite" "The pandemic was made in a laboratory but every research institution of the world is hiding the evidence to make money" They are all the same, just excuses to live in denial of what can be proved with objective evidence.
Raw Beer
Yeah, they verify their stories with the authorities that provide them with the desired narrative.
Those who believe in the wilder conspiracies are just as bad as those who believe all the mainstream narratives.
GBR48
@NCIS Reruns. I think we are already living in a post-teetering society.
quote: society's elites are promoting immigration in order to reduce the white population.
That made me laugh. British governments have spent the last decade trying to replace the immigrant workers they kicked out and priced out, with locals. They failed miserably and the economy is stuffed as a result.
The '666' stuff in the West is no longer known from the Bible so much as from 'The Omen' books and films.
The 'willing suspension of disbelief' allows us all to enjoy this in horror fiction and movies.
Despite the war on misinformation (targeting social media), good old fashioned TV media broadcasts paranormal 'documentaries' on a regular basis. Not sure why that is apparently OK, but social media 'misinformation' is dangerous. Maybe TV execs are easier for politicians to control than social media.
And then of course there are government approved organised religions. If they are government approved, they must surely be trustworthy. It is so disappointing that science classes at school don't explain miracles - water into wine, people into pillars of salt, appearance of angels. Maybe the science teachers just aren't good enough. Perhaps a pay cut is in order.
Jimizo
A bit cruel.
Conspiracy theorists are told they are perceptive and clever. Nobody told them this before ( for good reason ).
Aren’t we all susceptible to flattery to a degree? Maybe we shouldn’t judge them too harshly.
Bad Haircut
LOL. Learn some history and start thinking critically. Experts are always arguing among each other about results, data, and myriad other things. Sometimes they right, sometimes they're wrong. And the honest ones adjust their positions as credible new evidence comes to light. The arrogant, ego-driven ones spend their time defending turf and denouncing anyone who disagrees with them.
Again, you haven't been paying attention, including to your own words over the last few years.
Jimizo
What would you regard as the wilder ones?
Flat Earth? Holocaust denial? Faked moon landing?
Bad Haircut
These are dumb but don't get people killed.
Manufacturing disinformation to send people off to war and then telling opponents that they're "conspiracy theorists" for having the hide to call BS on it does.
Lying about certain substances to make sure you get your own substance approved, and then getting your media and political attack dogs to shout down anyone who questions it based on credible evidence, or get them banned/deregistered, does.
virusrex
Still a false argument, if the stories are congruent with the scientific consensus of the world it is irrelevant what the authorities think about them.
Much worse, it has been proved scientifically they have worse mental health and negative personality traits.
You make exactly zero arguments against the text you quote. That would make it you the one lacking critical thinking.
About details? sure, about things already included in the consensus, not at all. Those things are supported with huge amounts of information. Thinking a conspiracy is true because of the discussion on the details is like thinking the microbe theory of infection is false because doctors discuss about when exactly to finish antibiotic therapy for a patient.
By definition conspiracy theories come with absolute lack of evidence, this is why nobody has to change their position, anybody can make up a conspiracy theory, that is not an argument. What is arrogant is to pretend people should listen to a baseless conspiracy that is easily debunked by evidence
If an argument can't be refuted (and the person has to descend to personal attacks to keep "discussing") that clearly indicates who is the one that doesn't pay attention and instead tries to live in denial.
But they depend on the same excuses "global conspiracy to hide all evidence", people that believe the conspiracies that kill people are much worse, but use the same old excuse.
Jimizo
Conspiracy theorists tend to reside on the stupider side.
Many are stunted adults in my experience.
Tokyo Guy
A bit cruel.
Conspiracy theorists are told they are perceptive and clever. Nobody told them this before ( for good reason ).
Aren’t we all susceptible to flattery to a degree? Maybe we shouldn’t judge them too harshly.
My main issue with them isn't so much that they believe conspiracy theories, it's why they do: because they were ignored as kids, and jumping on a bandwagon while knowing nothing about the specifics, to be "part of something", is the act of a stupid person. It's entirely egotistical, and you can tell that it's being done in a cultish manner because they all use the same kinds of phrases. "Do your own research", "You are being lied to", "Look beyond the Official Narrative" (they just love the word "narrative"; that's usually what gives them away as being near the extreme left of the bell curve), "You're a sheeple", and so on.
If someone starts going on about a conspiracy, and they are shown how it can't possibly be true, their response to that tells us everything. The rare person will admit that they were wrong. The vast majority will refuse to drop the act because, like I said, that puts them "out" of the group.
Ironically, it is these people who are the most guilty of not thinking for themselves, while accusing everyone else of that precise thing.
Jimizo
Maybe, but a sense of belonging is still important.
They aren’t the sharpest and you can’t imagine them having successful careers or finding partners easily.
When the podcasts they watch tell them they are smart and perceptive, they understandably leap at it.
It’s quite childish - you often find the same types talking about liberal tears and cucks and things. It’s all a bit cringeworthy but these types have always been with us.
Don’t be too harsh on them.
Zaphod
wallace
LOL yes, we have seen how that works! Which one of the already mentioned is your favourite "verified" hoax?
They are not supposed to, at least not in the US, as they are only platforms under Communications Act Section 230. (China is a different matter... you prefer that?) However, some have "Community notes" which are much more useful than taking talking heads at MSNBC at face value.
Zaphod
Tokyo Guy
Ironically, I agree with you on that statement...
Wick's pencil
Then why are they so wrong?
Raw Beer
There was also a "consensus" among the intelligence agencies that Saddam was amassing WMDs and that Assad gassed his own people. Today we all know (we should know) that it was all disinformation. Same is true for most of the so called "scientific consensus" regarding Covid-19; the authorities come up with a narrative and everyone has to go along with it (media, journals, research funding...).
virusrex
So all "intelligence agencies" of the world agreed with that? and provided the arguments and evidence so anybody in the world could examine it and validate them (or disprove them)?
Because if not you are making no sense at all, scientific consensus is not like a bunch of politicians making a deal to support something in a meeting, it is something that rises from the lack of arguments against something that is being proved constantly with evidence all around the world. Your argument holds no value when you make this completely false equivalence between something decided in absence of evidence for political profit and something that professionals around the world agree with thanks to the presented evidence.
OssanAmerica
I'm actually surprised Toho didn't turn that into a kaiju.
starpunk
Absolutely. The wildest and craziest ideas abound now, stuff that nobody in their right mind would've even thought up 0 years ago.
Remember 'Pizzagate' from 2016? C'mon people! When a person is POTUS the media and the world have their eye on that person, always waiting to see him do or say something wrong or stupid. And that 'Pizzagate' rumor is definitely hogwash. We would've known that long ago if that were true. But some Americans bought it up.
There's the 'Flat Earth Society'. 'Faked moon landings', tin foil ideas, the New Age, Heaven's Gate. On and on.
I've seen some hateful channels on YouTube and reported them too. Islamophobia, homophobia, any type of '-phobia', it all leads to violence because it portrays 'others' as being less than human.
Holocaust denial does get people killed! 6 million dead Jews is no lie. Holocaust denial is a felony offense in many European nations, rightfully so.
In America a loudmouth governor who was negligent about enforcing the COVID lockdown screams about 'gays, trans and drags infecting our schools' in order to divert out attention away from his dereliction of duty. Next week a fascist pig who rapes and screams hatred towards 'invading hordes of Hispanics' is coming back to the WH and we all know what he's about and what he did before.
I could go on all day on this. The internet, TV, radio keeps on spoon-feeding the masses - telling them what to look like, what car to drive, what films to see, what music to listen to, even who or what to marry. The Information Age has revolutionized mankind, for better AND for worse. Some social and moral ideas that were frowned upon 30+ years ago are encouraged and demanded now from the obedient masses. And that's SAD.
Wabiwasabi
If you just read the news without thinking for yourself these days then you don't deserve any sympathy. The truth really is out there and if you think that mainstream media are giving it to you, least of all are on your side. Boy do I feel bad for you.
Bad Haircut
False argument. Holocaust denial isn't a conspiracy, it's just senseless denial of reality. I don't think denial of anything should be a crime, and making it so sets a dangerous precedent.
NCIS Reruns
From Wiki: Currently, 17 European countries, along with Canada and Israel, have laws in place that cover Holocaust denial as a punishable offence. Many countries also have broader laws that criminalise genocide denial as a whole, including that of the Holocaust. Among the countries that have banned Holocaust denial, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia have also banned Nazi symbols. Additionally, any expression of genocide justification is also a criminal offence in several countries, as is any attempt to portray Nazism in a positive light.
Bad Haircut
If they're going to do that, perhaps the should approach should apply to denying the 100 million+ deaths caused by socialism/communism. Far more people killed. This is not excusing Nazis, but the left gets a free ride when it comes to the horrors of their ideology.
Jimizo
What in the name of elites forcing people to eat insects, purple-haired woke EV drivers and WEF puppets are you talking about?
What cross-eyed podcaster told you that those on the left see communism as ‘their ideology’?
I haven’t heard something as bad as this regarding politics since some swivel-eyed podcaster told people that Reform were going to become the largest opposition party in the last UK general election.
Surely it involves conspiracy in that the crackpots who believe in it see a concerted misinformation campaign regarding its evidence.
Sven Asai
Sorry, but I disagree. Only practice and reality are causing and making 100% of the problems, not whatever conspiracy or the counterparts, widely accepted theories. Freedom of thoughts and speech therefore should be untouchable in all cases.
virusrex
The same as antivaxxers, flatearthers, etc. It is a senseless denial of reality that uses a conspiracy as the excuse to supposedly support the nonsense. Clear evidence proves the belief is wrong? that is because there is a global conspiracy that hides the "real" evidence that the person wants to believe.
This would depend on being in denial of reality, for example vaccines have proved beyond any reasonable doubt to be a hugely successful medical intervention that have saved millions of lives, safe and effective way to prevent disease and death. What makes people reject these safe and effective measures is not reality or practice but the disinformation being propagated by antivaxxer groups. Eliminating demonstrably false claims would solve the vaccine hesitancy problem without modifying vaccines in any way since the actual experts in the topic would still be working to improve them as usual.