Osaka-born Aoi Horiuchi is the deputy director of THINK Lobby, the advocacy and research division of the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC), and a member of the Asia Democracy Network (ADN). In 2018, he co-founded the Japan NGO Action Network for Civic Space (NANCiS), a coalition of NGOs working toward the protection and expansion of civil society spaces in Japan.

He recently spoke to Asia Democracy Chronicles about his work and advocacy, sharing insights on pro-democracy work in Japan and elsewhere.

Growing up in Osaka, I became deeply convinced of the need for social justice. It was a different experience compared to, say, growing up in the capital Tokyo, which represents the establishment.

Osaka, the second largest city in Japan, is a sprawling conglomerate with a long history encompassing the country’s human rights record. It hosts many small non-government organizations committed to freedom and activism.

In school, we studied about the discrimination faced by Japan’s Burakumin people whose collective struggle of being classified as an underclass remains a social undercurrent. This community has its roots in Osaka and the Kansai region. Back then I was stirred by the movement to protect the rights of the weak. As a university student, I also participated in trade union negotiations demanding the protection of the rights of ordinary workers who dealt with arduous or dangerous work.

Thus, from a young age, the prospect of achieving a world without violence targeting the vulnerable and where justice reigns became an enormous draw personally. This is the main reason I decided to join civic organizations promoting democracy and human rights.

Another influence has been Japan’s racist policies toward its ethnic Korean population, considered the largest minority group in Japan who is treated unequally compared to the Japanese.

Osaka and its vicinities have for centuries played host to exchanges between Japan and the Korean peninsula given their proximity. Relations between the two countries date back to the 3rd century B.C., which was marked by the arrival of Korean artists and the onset of Japanese invasions. Currently, Japan’s Korean population, called Zainichi-Korian (Koreans living in Japan), stands at around 290,000. They are mostly descendants of wartime Koreans who suffered from forced labor policies during Japanese colonization between 1930 and 1945. They have long lobbied for the recognition of their Korean identity and language.

We Osakans are also viewed as a people who are unafraid to ask questions or pursue their individuality. We are characterized as being vocal, which runs counter to the common Japanese image of being silent and serious. I could say then that the hidden core of my activism stems from the spirit of Osaka.

As my journey continues, my human rights work keeps expanding. My chosen path now set its sights on both domestic and international issues, which have helped me gain a wider  understanding of the democratic struggle.

For example, I gained more insights in 2013 when I joined the Asia Development Alliance (ADA), a network of Asian NGOs focusing on promoting sustainable development, environmental protection, and human rights. We discussed how equitable development could be achieved through multi-stakeholder partnership and mutual collaboration within civil society. We organized side events during U.N. conferences and invited representatives from Asian governments, published critical reports on the roles of governments and civil society.

Before joining ADA, I conducted surveys on people’s water rights. The study opened my eyes to the situation in countries such as Mexico, India, and Indonesia, where we learned that the privatization of water use blatantly disregarded the rights of poor communities. Villages had become victims of policies that enabled rich and powerful corporations to re-route water resources for their projects such as luxury hotels and factories. Our data supported activists demanding equal access to water and sanitation by exposing issues such as health problems and loss of income among farmers.

This experience opened the door to my own pursuit of reforms. My understanding of global challenges further deepened as I listened to the voices of marginalized groups and witnessed their activism firsthand — a source of knowledge that has empowered me.

Currently I am involved in several civic organizations. One of these is THINK Lobby, which was launched in 2022 as a think tank seeking to strengthen democracy in Asia. It is also part of the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC). We are also members of the Asia Democracy Network (ADN), which champions democracy and monitors human rights violations in the region.

In 2018, ADN organized the Busan Democracy Forum, together with the Community of Democracies (CoD). I now lead the linked Tokyo Democracy Forum. In April 2023, we reported on the progress of democracy in Asia, covering India, Mongolia, Nepal, and Pakistan, thanks to our partnership with the Voluntary Action Network India (VANI), Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) in Mongolia, NGO Federation of Nepal (NFN), Pakistan Development Alliance (PDA), Asia Centre, and Inhured International. We focused on issues such as protecting girls’ education and ending the harassment of local civic organizations, freedom of expression, and promoting Sustainable Development Goal No. 16, which aims to promote peace, justice, and strong institutions.

Additionally, we have liaisons with our Southeast Asian counterparts that are pushing back against newly enacted laws in their countries that restrict international support for democracy and human rights. In 2023 we released a report titled “Foreign Interference Laws in Southeast Asia: Deepening the Shrinkage of Civic Space,” which highlighted regulations in authoritarian countries that sought to curb cross-border collaborations and partnerships, and block donor funding that was crucial for local efforts to protect civic space. We are advocating together for the repeal of these laws.

At JANIC we provide capacity development for Asian NGOs through training programs covering topics such as policy coherence on sustainable development and climate finance. In 2016 JANIC decided to concentrate on SDG Goal 16 and Goal 17, which seeks to revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. Our agenda is to promote democracy, civil rights, and corporate social justice. We also tackle corruption that curtails development in those countries. I remember participating in a peace conference in Cambodia and being moved by the discussions that took place. We need these types of exchanges, I thought.

Although my work has brought me to other parts of Asia, where I stand in solidarity with kindred spirits as we pursue our shared goals, I still try to stay abreast of what’s happening in my home country. My growing concern about domestic issues like the declining public awareness of human rights and the shrinking civic space in Japan, along with the apparent lack of action and apathy toward these issues, has galvanized my resolve to pursue my commitment to helping address these challenges.

In 2018, I launched NANCiS – short for Japan NGO Action Network for Civic Space, of which JANIC is also a steering member – to address the lack of attention to domestic human rights violations. NANCiS calls attention to diverse issues such as the risks posed to civilians by U.S. military facilities stationed in Okinawa.

We have also turned the spotlight on the state control of information. We see this, for example, when activists requesting official documentation receive documents with large sections redacted. This is frustrating.

Still part of our advocacy is our call for public taxes to fund community spaces equally compared to the construction of expensive infrastructure. We are also concerned about nonprofits in Japan that struggle with the lack of funding support and membership.

Labor issues are viewed through the lens of consumer rights. Online harassment is rampant and ugly, especially against women who stand up for their rights.

I trace this low public awareness to the average Japanese lifestyle. People are too busy dealing with everyday issues to spend time on protests. As a result, the government can pass laws unchallenged — look at Japan’s expanding defense budget as an example. The decision by the Japanese government to raise the national defense budget last year sparked controversy with more than half the public expressing reservation about it in media polls. And yet protest movements were weak and sporadic.

It’s regrettable that dialogue between government and civil society organizations is often limited to a formal exchange instead of seeking to genuinely institute major reforms.

As I reflect on these challenges, I’m nonetheless encouraged to know that there are pockets of young people in Japan who have banded together in pursuit of change. One such group is youth-led Fridays for Future Japan.

The fight for gender equality and the rights of LGBTQ people is also making headway as more local governments are beginning to accept diversity.

And so, while more efforts are definitely needed domestically and globally to support protest movements against worsening human right situations, I am definitely not losing hope. The demands of everyday life may be creating an apathetic youth who ignore issues like discrimination, but there must be a way to make Japan, which, until recently, was the world’s third largest economy, also a leader in protecting human rights. ◉