Xenophobes unite!

Not swivel-eyed. Not knuckle-dragging. Not beetle-browed. And not,repeat not,xenophobic....

Not swivel-eyed. Not knuckle-dragging. Not beetle-browed. And not,repeat not,xenophobic. Around 90 members of European and Japanese far-right and nationalist groups arriving in Tokyo for a meeting taking place between August 12th and 15th were keen to dispel stereotypes about their values and habits. We will come under the umbrella of international nationalism, insists Adam Walker of the British National Party BNP. He lived in Japan for six years in the 1990s,teaching martial arts.

The main unifier is a sense of persecution. We are facing the same enemies,using the same methods,for the same purpose,serving the same interests, explains Bruno Gollnisch of Frances National Front. He is a Japan expert at the University of Lyon and married to a Japanese. Mitsuhiro Kimura,the president of Issuikai,a Japanese far-right group that is playing host,says the aim is to discuss respect for different cultures and traditions,and then,how to build common activities.

That may be difficult. The days of xenophobic samurai,killing non-Japanese Christians to preserve the purity of Nipponese culture,are long gone. But three delegates from a far-right party in Ukraine failed to get Japanese visas. And a big theme for European far-right parties is Muslim-bashing. Mr Kimura was friends with Saddam Husseins son,Uday,and believes that the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001 were justified.

Another tricky point is his groups denial of Japans wartime atrocities. That may go down oddly with BNP supporters who venerate Britains wartime glory days. Given Japanese treatment of prisoners of war,participants from some European countries may not have relished one of the bonding experiences organised by the hosts: a visit to the Yasukuni shrine,the resting place for the souls of some of Japans worst war criminals. But Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front says he has no hesitation in taking part. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were war crimes too,but by the wars victors,he says.

Even the achingly respectable agenda contains pitfalls. One session is entitled resisting globalisation. That may chime with the strongly protectionist views of the participants. The BNP likes Japanese-style immigration controls and rote learning in schools,but strongly dislikes the import of Japanese cars and motorcycles. But it may be harder going for those who see exports as a sign of national virility.

Doctrines of racial superiority are off the agenda too,at least in the lavish confines of Tokyos Four Seasons hotel whether the chummy mood would extend to foreigners visiting the gritty heartlands of the European far right is another question. Lots of people think that because we are nationalists we dont talk with people from other cultures and religions, laments Mr Walker. Its pure ignorance.

The Economist Newspaper Limited 2010