In my blog of 29 May 2014 ‘Australia-Japan – friends should be frank’, I referred to the tipping point in Japanese domestic politics with the growing ultra nationalism being promoted by Prime Minister Abe. Sir Hugh Cortazzi, who served as Britain’s ambassador to Japan from 1980 to 1984 has expressed similar concerns about trends in Japan. In an opinion piece in the Japan Times on 3 November, he asked the question ‘Does right-wing extremism threaten Japan’s democracy?’ The link to this article is below. John Menadue.