Anniversary of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima's suicide

On November 25, 1970, in Japan, author Yukio Mishima and two compatriots committed ritualistic suicide after an unsuccessful coup attempt. From the article:

"Japanese nationalists gather today to mark the 30th anniversary of the ritual suicide of the country's most famous postwar novelist, Yukio Mishima, whose extremist views - dismissed as crackpot at the time - are increasingly common currency in the political establishment.
After a failed coup attempt at Japan's military headquarters on November 25, 1970 Mishima, the homosexual author of Forbidden Colours, sliced open his belly with a sword and then ordered his followers to decapitate him.

This act of seppuku - the ritual suicide of a samurai warrior - did not go to plan. Mishima failed to disembowel himself cleanly and his cohort's hands were shaking so much that he could not chop off his master's head in one blow. The author, who had been tipped for a Nobel prize, died an agonising death.

According to the media and politicians of the time, the suicide was also pointless: at best, an artistic performance by a showman and, at worst, a futile gesture by a deranged extremist.

Today, however, Mishima's supporters say this ultimate act of self-sacrifice is at last being proved to be an important political milestone because many of the ideas that drove him to such a violent end are starting to enter the mainstream of public debate in Japan.

"Rightwing politicians distanced themselves from Mishima after his suicide by saying it was the act of a madman, but in certain nationalist circles he is held up as a god," said Henry Scott-Stokes, the author of a biography of Mishima. "He showed sincerity in a way that cannot be denied. He stuck a knife into the heart of today's Japan."

Mishima was a hardcore nationalist, who wanted to restore the divinity of the emperor, strengthen Japan's army and discard the country's pacifist constitution. He felt western values were invading and weakening Japan like a cancer.

In his final years, he formed a personal militia that won support from senior politicians in the conservative Liberal Democratic party and he was allowed to train with the army.

On the day of his suicide, Mishima made an impassioned speech to army troops, calling on them to rise up and "restore the emperor". As his suicide notes later revealed, he expected to fail, but hoped that his seppuku would transform Japan.

The mixture of shock and derision that this act provoked in 1970 has long since faded. Today, most young Japanese have little or no interest in Mishima or his novels, but politicians are recycling many of his ideas.

Earlier this year, the prime minister, Yoshiro Mori, caused an outcry when he described Japan as "a nation of gods centring on the emperor". Moves are under way to upgrade the defence establishment and parliament has begun debate on revising the constitution - a subject that was taboo until last year.

"People used to treat Mishima like a monster who was totally out of touch with reality. But since the end of the cold war, there is a growing movement to recapture our national spirit - in education, in the military, in constitutional debate," said Jushu Miura, one of the organisers of today's memorial service. "It is just as he foresaw. All the points that Mishima raised with his suicide 30 years ago are starting to be discussed."

The event is expected to attract about 1,000 people. The fairly small size of the crowd is an indication that Mishima, the man, remains a fringe figure. "I guess he was ahead of his time in terms of his beliefs," said a young member of the defence agency, who declined to give his name. "But the act of ritual suicide is very hard to understand for someone of my generation."

Others who knew Mishima said the political significance of his action was only now starting to be appreciated."