Former ambassador Yamagami Shingo is again shaping Australian political debate. His nationalist commentary, partisan interventions and revisionist views deserve scrutiny before his attacks are treated as the voice of Japan.

Yamagami Shingo, once Japanese Ambassador to Australia and now energetic right-wing vlogger, must be laughing up his sleeve. That’s the sleeve where, as he reveals in a recent podcast, he wears a cufflink decorated with the Japanese military flag. Yamagami describes this as a wonderful symbol, to be worn with pride. His enthusiasm for the rising-sun-flag-with-rays reflects his denial of historical events such as the Nanjing Massacre and his repeated denunciations of the postwar Tokyo Trials. The former diplomat wants the Japanese government to convince the rest of the world that the story of a massacre in Nanjing was just wartime propaganda invented to ‘demonise’ Japan, and that the war crimes trials were nothing more than victor’s revenge.

Since leaving Canberra unexpectedly early in 2023, Yamagami has used his credentials as an ‘Australia expert’ to boost his career as influencer, reflected in a new series of ten-minute Youtube vodcasts.  The videos, recorded against the stirring musical background of Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’, reveal an almost obsessive fascination with Australia, combining lyrical reflections on the beauties of life in Canberra with recurrent attacks on selected........

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