Jan 30, 2021
One of the oft-cited entries in Mao Zedong’s famous red book of quotations begins, “A revolution is not a dinner party.”
Nor, would it appear, is a revolution a Mad Hatter’s costume ball. But one might not know it from the initial reactions in the Japanese media, which focused on the flamboyant garb of a certain individual who was part of the unruly mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
How did the Japanese media react to these acts of mass civil disobedience? Initially the coverage concentrated on the antics of a 33-year-old exhibitionist from Arizona, a self-described “QAnon Shaman,” who pranced into the U.S. Senate chamber and posed for photographs while on the raised platform in front of Vice President Mike Pence’s chair.