Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

World Service,27 Aug 2022,25 mins

The strange story of QAnon in Japan

Trending

Available for over a year

How did a bizarre US-based conspiracy theory about Donald Trump being the saviour of the world, lead to people protesting in the streets of Tokyo and Osaka accusing police of being reptiles? From its obscure online beginnings only a few years ago, the QAnon movement in Japan has morphed through several different phases, becoming ever more extreme in the process. Its latest incarnation is a group called Yamato Q, which embraces a series of wild and false claims. Its members believe they have different genes from the rest of the population and that Covid-19 does not exist. Some have even attempted to disrupt vaccination centres. So should wider society be concerned? Presenters: Jonathan Griffin and Shayan Sardarizadeh Producer: Jonathan Griffin Editor: Ed Main

Programme Website
More episodes