In most countries, police officers and criminals are supposed to be on opposite sides of the law, especially the higher up the chain of command you go, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doesn't appear to think this is necessary.
Last month, photographs surfaced showing several members of Abe's new Cabinet socializing with members of an anti-Korean hate group known as Zainichi Tokken wo Yurusanai Shimin no Kai (more commonly known as Zaitokukai). The appearance of such images raises some disturbing issues.
Founded circa 2006, Zaitokukai is an ultranationalistic, right-wing group that seeks to eliminate the "special privileges" extended to non-Japanese who have been granted Special Foreign Resident status. These people are predominantly ethnic Koreans, many of whom were conscripted and brought to Japan as slave labor in the 1930s and '40s. Zaitokukai also hates other non-Japanese as well — it just has a special hatred for Koreans.
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