Fusako Shigenobu
Fusako Shigenobu (重信 房子, Shigenobu Fusako, born 28 September 1945) is a Japanese communist and the former leader and founder of the now disbanded Japanese Red Army (JRA).[1]
Fusako Shigenobu | |
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重信 房子 | |
 Kōzō Okamoto (left) and Fusako Shigenobu (right) at a press conference | |
| Born | September 28, 1945 Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Education | Bachelor of Arts |
| Alma mater | Meiji University |
| Years active | 1971–2001 |
| Organization | Japanese Red Army |
| Movement | Communism |
| Criminal charge(s) | 2 counts of passport forgery |
| Criminal penalty | 20 years imprisonment from 8 March 2006 |
| Criminal status | In custody |
| Children | Mei Shigenobu (daughter) |
Early life
Shigenobu was born on 28 September 1945 in the Setagaya ward of Tokyo.[2] Her father was a teacher at a terakoya or temple school (寺子屋 terakoya) open for poor village children at temples in the south Japanese Kyushu region after World War I. He later became a major in the Imperial Japanese Army dispatched to Manchukuo.
After high school, she went to work for the Kikkoman corporation, and took college courses at night at Meiji University.[3]
Involvement in the student movement
Shigenobu received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy and in History from Meiji University. While there, she joined the student movement that was protesting the increase of tuition fees, and this led her to activism in the general leftist student movement of the 1960s. She rose up the ranks of the movement to become one of its top leaders.
Japanese Red Army
In February 1971, she and Tsuyoshi Okudaira went to the Middle East to create international branches of the Japanese Red Army. Upon arrival, she soon split with the Red Army Faction in Japan due to both geographical and ideological distance, as well as a personal conflict with the new leader, Tsuneo Mori.[4] The Red Army went on to link up with the Maoist Revolutionary Left Wing of the Japanese Communist Party to form the United Red Army. Upon hearing about the internal purge the United Red Army carried out in the winter of 1971–1972, Shigenobu recalls her shock and sorrow. She and Okudaira wrote My Love, My Revolution (わが愛わが革命) as a response.[5]
Shigenobu remained in the Middle East for more than 30 years. Her move was part of International Revolutionary Solidarity, with the idea that revolutionary movements should cooperate and eventually lead to a global socialist revolution. Her destination was Lebanon, and her aim was to support the Palestinian cause. She originally joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as a volunteer, but eventually the JRA became an independent group.[6] She mentions in several of her books "The mission's purpose was to consolidate the international revolutionary alliance against the imperialists of the world."[7]
Shigenobu was listed as a wanted person by the INTERPOL in 1974 after the French embassy hostage-taking in Hague in which she was believed to be involved.
Connection with "Operation to extinguish Japanese ethnicity" by Anti-Japaneseism
The Japanese Red Army is related in the part of the scenario of “Operation to extinguish Japanese ethnicity“ by Anti-Japaneseism theory as following :
“Using the network of the Japanese Red Army, it will prevent the export of crude oil to Japan by the Arab countries, and the "Anti-Japan siege network" surrounds Japan like the former ABCD line which was extraordinary economic sunction imposed against Japan taking the initials of foreign nations, including America, Britain, China, and the Dutch in 1940. [8] [9].
After "the destruction of Japan", most of the Japanese people will be sentenced to death regardless of age or sex, since the majority of them are "Japanese Empire nationals.
It is a scenario in which only comrades (World Revolution Ronin) who have abandoned ethnic and national consciousness and fought the anti-Japanese struggle are acquitted, and extinguish the Japanese ethnicity from the earth [10].“
This Anti-Japaneseism ideology has provided the basis for several ongoing leftist protests as well as Tokyo subway sarin attack by Aum Shinrikyo on three lines of the Tokyo Metro (then part of the Tokyo subway) during rush hour, killing 12 people,severely injuring 50, and causing temporary vision problems for nearly 1,000 others. [11]
Financing strategy by Hostage, Robbery,Terror inside Japan
In the early days, the organization's goals were to obtain weapons, make money and kidnap important people. These plans can be summed up in three letters: "P" (for "people"), "B" (for "buki", the Japanese term for weapons), "M" (for "money") .
Plan P called for taking the Japanese Prime Minister hostage to free all members of the faction, then fleeing to Maoist China to make it the revolutionary base.
Plan B called for a series of terrorist assault on the Japanese and American centers of power.
Plan M, the only one carried out, consisted of carrying out a series of heists against banks in Japan to raise funds in order to carry out both plans P and B [12].
Process to arrest
Shigenobu continued to escape although she was internationally arranged for her involvement in the 1974 French Embassy attack in The Hague.
According to the materials seized by Shigenobu when she was arrested and the newspapers that reported it, she illegally entered Japan using a forged passport that she illegally obtained by impersonating herself as another person.
She repeatedly entered and left People's Republic of China 16 times from Kansai International Airport since December 1997 to September 2000.
Since 1991, she established the "People's Revolutionary Party" for the purpose of "Armed revolution" in Japan and the masked organization "The 21st Century of Hope" in charge of its public activity department.
It is also said that she used it as a foothold to plan cooperation with the Japanese Socialist Party.
After that, she was hiding in an apartment in Nishinari Ward, Osaka for a while.
In 2000, Osaka Prefecture Security Guard Public Safety Section 3 was inspecting the supporters of the Japanese Red Army and began to investigate the person who was in contact with a woman similar to Shigenobu.
Shigenobu was characterized by nevus, but she had hidden her nevus on her face with makeup.
However, her fingerprints were collected from the coffee cup used by the woman similar to Shigenobu.
Her way of smoking was similar to Shigenobu and she drank at a certain place.
The third security department found that it matched Shigenobu's fingerprint.
26 years after the 1974 French Embassy attack in The Hague, Shigenobu was arrested on November 8 in Takatsuki City, Osaka, where she was hiding.
In addition, the Tokaido Shinkansen was used for her transfer from Osaka to the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo, and a private room of the “green car“ was used to prevent escape.
She was taken in for questioning from a hotel in Takatsuki, near Osaka, in November of that year.[13][14] Japanese citizens were startled to see a handcuffed middle-aged woman emerge from a train arriving in Tokyo. When Shigenobu spotted the waiting cameras, she raised her hands and gave the thumbs-up, shouting at reporters: "I'll fight on!"[7]
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison on 8 March 2006,[15][16] and received a final verdict from the Japanese Supreme Court in 2010 with the same terms. The prosecution charged her on three counts, the use of forged passport, aiding another member in the JRA in obtaining a forged passport, and attempted manslaughter by planning and commanding the 1974 occupation and hostage taking at the French embassy in The Hague, the Netherlands. Shigenobu pleaded guilty to the first two charges, but not guilty to the charge linking her to the 1974 embassy hostage taking. Among the witnesses that appeared in her court for the defense was Leila Khaled, known for the 1969 hijacking of TWA Flight 840, and currently a member of the Palestinian National Council. In his final verdict, the judge stated that there was no conclusive evidence of her involvement in the armed occupation of the embassy that resulted in the injury of two policemen, or in the intention of attempted manslaughter, but sentenced her for possibly conspiring with members of her group to occupy the embassy.
Hague Trial
Prosecution
Shigenobu was arrested for involvement in French embassy hostage-taking that took place in The Hague,Netherlands, in order to recapture (Yoshiaki Yamada) of the Japanese Red Army arrested by the French authorities on September 13, 1974.
Shigenobu was prosecuted for conspiracy joint conviction for illegal arrest and imprisonment, and attempted murder.
Prosecutors said the Japanese Red Army issued a crime statement the day after the execution and requested Palestinian Liberation People's Front (PFLP) from other Japanese Red Army publications to coordinate with the country that accepts arms procurement and released fellows.
Based on evidence from former members who said that Shigenobu remarked for lack of preparation at the meeting after the incident, accused him of leading the crime as a mastermind in the French embassy hostage-taking and sentenced her to life imprisonment.
In response to this, the defense side said, "At the time of the French embassy hostage-taking, the Japanese Red Army did not have an organizational structure and was not in a position to be instructed by Shigenobu because it was a PFLP operation and she was in Libya and has an alibi“.
The Tokyo District Court found on February 23, 2006, "Defense Shigenobu played an important role in asking PFLP to coordinate arms procurement and countries accepting freed fellows."
"The details, time, and place of the conspiracy are not clear, but the defendant is conspiring with the criminal through a cooperating organization in the Arab countries, and it cannot be established as an alibi."
The sentence was "Selfish offense that absolutely regards one's principles and claims and does not care about the dangers to many lives and bodies, and no serious remorse is seen".
But on the other hand, "Haruo Wako, the executing offender has decided on the important matters of the crime, and it cannot be asserted that the defendant had a core position but took the lead in the crime“.
Then rejected the life imprisonment sentenced by the prosecution and sentenced to 20 years in prison[17].
imprisonment
On the other hand, Shigenobu's daughter Mei Shigenobu and chief attorney Kyoko Otani filed an appeal on the same day.
In the appeals court, both the defense and the prosecution received terrorist "Carlos" prison sentences in France in the 1970s and 1980s, as in Shigenobu, causing terrorist attacks in many countries around the world, slaughtering a large number of civilians.
Obtained a testimony about the command system of the French embassy hostage-taking and the history of the provision of arms, and submitted it to the court.
On December 20, 2007, the Tokyo High Court upheld the first-instance decision and dismissed the appeal [18].
Shigenobu filed an appeal, but on July 15, 2010, the decision was made to reject it and the sentence was confirmed[19].
Shigenobu filed an objection to the decision to reject the appeal, but on August 4, 2010, the Supreme Court No. 2 Small Court (Yukio Takeuchi, Chief Justice) decided to reject the decision, and the first and second trial sentences with 20 years in prison were finalized.
Shigenobu later served.
However, due to the inclusion of three years of detention for 810 days into prison, it was actually 17 years and Shigenobu's planned source was 2027.
After dissolution
Haruo Wakō, who left the Japanese Red Army in 1979 and was involved in 1974 French Embassy attack in The Hague , criticized Japanese Red Army as follws in response that former member Mariko Yamamoto was arrested for shoplifting shredded dried squid products in 2005 .
"This case shows the actual situation and reality of the Japanese Red Army.
For organizations that have attempted to abduct commercial employees in Europe, occupied the embassy, airplane hijacking, etc., they had the anti-social and anti-people character[20]“.
Since then, he has published a critical work on the past internal circumstances of the Japanese Red Army[21].
In 2001,Fusako Shigenobu announced the dissolution of the Japanese Red Army, which had been virtually collapsed as an organization from prison.
Shigenobu still endorses the same cause, unapologetically claiming that the verdict is only the start of a stronger movement, remaining convinced that she should not have been convicted, claiming that since her group's activities were politically motivated, she should have been offered a "political way out of the situation".
At a press conference before the sentence in February 2006, her lawyers read a haiku she had composed: "The verdict is not the end. It is only the beginning. Strong will shall keep spreading."[22]
In December 2008, she was diagnosed with colon and intestinal cancer and has had three operations to remove them. She is currently detained in International Law Center.[23]
In June 2009, she said for the first time in response to the interview of Sankei Shimbun "I was conceited to change the world" about past activities.
On the other hand, she said "I ran into armed struggle when the movement was stalled.
Although Student activism was thriving in the world, there were places where I returned to my hometown and continued to actrvity. We may have had different results if we went back home and continued to the activity".[24].
Every year on May 30, the meeting to commemorate “Lod airport massacre“ is being held in Japan and Lebanon.
The similar appeal is being made on the anniversary of the members.
Fusako Shigenobu, founder and leader of Japanese Red Army also sends the support message and the statement of “thorough do or die resistance“ against Israel and others[25][26].
Personal life
Fusako Shigenobu is the mother of the journalist Mei Shigenobu, who was born in 1973 in Beirut, Lebanon.[23]
In popular culture
- Eileen MacDonald's 1991 book Shoot the Women First mistakenly conflates Shigenobu with Hiroko Nagata, attributing to her the actions of Nagata at the United Red Army purge of 1971–72.[27]
- Japanese rock singer and longtime Shigenobu friend PANTA has released his album Oriibu no Ki no shitade in 2007. Shigenobu wrote some of the lyrics of the album's songs.
- The actress Anri Ban portrayed her in the Kōji Wakamatsu film United Red Army (2007).
- In 2008, artist Anicka Yi and architect Maggie Peng created a perfume dedicated to Shigenobu, called Shigenobu Twilight.[28][1]
- In 2010, Shigenobu and her daughter Mei were featured in the documentary Children of the Revolution, which premiered at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam.
Publications
- 1974: My Love, My Revolution『わが愛わが革命』 Kodansha.[29]
- 1983: 『十年目の眼差から』 話の特集、ISBN 4826400667
- 1984: If You Put Your Ear to the Earth, You Can Hear the Sound of Japan: Lessons from The Japanese Communist Movement 『大地に耳をつければ日本の音がする 日本共産主義運動の教訓』ウニタ書舗、ISBN 4750584096
- 1984: Beirut, Summer 1982 『ベイルート1982年夏』話の特集、ISBN 4826400829
- 1985: Materials: Reports from the Middle East 1 『資料・中東レポート』1（日本赤軍との共編著）、ウニタ書舗、[30]
- 1986: Materials: Reports from the Middle East 2 『資料・中東レポート』2（日本赤軍との共編著）、ウニタ書舗、[31]
- 2001: I Decided to Give Birth to You Under an Apple Tree 『りんごの木の下であなたを産もうと決めた』幻冬舎、ISBN 434400082X
- 2005: Jasmine in the Muzzle of a Gun: Collected Poems of Shigenobu Fusako 『ジャスミンを銃口に 重信房子歌集』幻冬舎、ISBN 4344010159
- 2009: A Personal History of the Japanese Red Army: Together with Palestine 『日本赤軍私史 パレスチナと共に』河出書房新社、ISBN 978-4309244662
- 2012: Season of the Revolution: From the Battlefield in Palestine 『革命の季節 パレスチナの戦場から』幻冬舎、ISBN 9784344023147
References
- Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine
- Shigenobu Fusako. りんごの木の下であなたを産もうと決めた. ("I Decided to Give Birth to You Under an Apple Tree"). Tokyo: Gentosha, 2001. p. 15
- Shigenobu Fusako. りんごの木の下であなたを産もうと決めた. ("I Decided to Give Birth to You Under an Apple Tree"). Tokyo: Gentosha, 2001. p. 36
- https://unseenjapan.com/united-red-army-japan/
- Shigenobu Fusako. 日本赤軍私史：パレスチナと共に ("A Personal History of the Japanese Red Army: Together with Palestine") Tokyo: Kawade, 2009.
- Shigenobu. "A Personal History of the Japanese Red Army".
- Fusako Shigenobu Biography, enotes.com
- 竹中労・平岡正明『水滸伝-窮民革命のための序説』より梅内恒夫「共産同赤軍派より日帝打倒を志すすべての人々へ」三一書房、1973年 Takenaka and Masaaki Hiraoka "Suikoden-Introduction to the Revolution of the Poverty" Tsuneo Umeuchi "From the Communist Red Army to all those who want to overthrow the Japanese Empire" Sanichi Shobo, 1973
- 太田竜『辺境最深部に向かって退却せよ!』三一書房、1971年 Ryu Ota "Retreat to the deepest part of the frontier!" Sanichi Shobo, 1971
- 太田竜『革命・情報・認識（よみかきのしかた）』現代書館、1974年 Ryu Ota "Revolution, Information, Recognition (How to Read and Write)" Gendai Shokan, 1974
- 原田実『幻想の荒覇吐（アラハバキ）秘史-「東日流外三郡誌」の泥濘』批評社、1999年
- (Gallagher 2003).
- "Japanese Red Army leader arrested". BBC. November 8, 2000. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- Fighel, Jonathan (Col. Ret.) (November 9, 2000) Japanese Red Army Founder Arrested in Japan, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Retrieved January 16, 2016
- Japanese Red Army Leader Gets 20 Years in Prison Archived 2011-08-24 at the Wayback Machine, Palestine Press, February 23, 2007
- http://www.moj.go.jp/psia/ITH/organizations/ES_E-asia_oce/nihon-seki-gun.html
- ハーグ事件 重信房子被告に懲役２０年 東京地裁判決 [The Hague Case Fusako Shigenobu is sentenced to 20 years in prison Tokyo District Court Decision]. People's Daily. February 23, 2006.
- 重信被告、2審も懲役20年＝「凶悪な国際テロ」－日本赤軍ハーグ事件・東京高裁 [Shigenobu Defendant, 2nd trial 20 years in prison = "Brutal international terrorism"-Japanese Red Army Hague case, Tokyo High Court]. 2007-12-20.
- 重信被告の懲役20年が確定へ 日本赤軍元最高幹部 最高裁が上告棄却 [Shigenobu defends 20 years in prison Former Supreme Executive of the Japanese Red Army Supreme Court rejected appeal]. Nikkei Shinbun. July 16, 2010.
- {{Cite web|url=http://kiyoumohannich.web.fc2.com/wakou/wakou268.html | publisher=Homepage for information on eastern Asian anti-Japanese armed fronts | title=Supporting News No.268 “The Wako Trial is a trial trial” |author=Wako Haruo |author link=Wako Haruo |accessdate=2012-02-23} }
- "What was the Japanese Red Army-about its early days?" Sairyusha.
- Colin Joyce (February 24, 2006) Japan's Red Army founder is jailed, telegraph.co.uk, Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- McNeill, David (July 4, 2014). "Mei Shigenobu's words continue the fight for her mother's cause". The Japan Times. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- Kawai Takashi (2009-06-25). "[Farewell Revolutionary Generation] Extra Edition Ask the Defendant, Fusako Shigenobu of the Terrorist". Sankei Shimbun. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
- Hinomori and Maruoka
- -asia_oce/nihon-seki-gun.html Japanese Red Army Public Security Investigation Agency
- MacDonald, Eileen. "Shoot the Women First." 1991. pp. xx-xxi.
- "Shigenobu Twilight". Shigenobu Twilight. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
- "わが愛わが革命 - Webcat Plus" (in Japanese). Webcatplus-equal.nii.ac.jp. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
- "資料・中東レポート - Webcat Plus" (in Japanese). Webcatplus-equal.nii.ac.jp. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
- "Webcat Plus" (in Japanese). Webcatplus-equal.nii.ac.jp. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
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