Even in peacetime, nationalism in east Asia is not an abstract concept but a matter of flesh and blood. Take Hiroshi Kawahara. So fiercely does he support Japan's claim to the disputed Takeshima islands, which are controlled by South Korea and known there as the Dokdo, that he recently cut off one of his little fingers to make his point to Roh Moo-hyun, the South Korean president, and Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister.

"I sent one joint by airmail to the presidential office in South Korea and the other to Mr Koizumi," says Mr Kawahara, who heads a Japanese rightwing pressure group called Doketsusha ("Same Blood Organisation"). He bemoans what he sees as the westernisation of Japan and the loss of national pride since its defeat in the second world war. He yearns for a return to the days when the emperor was regarded as divine.