ABSTRACT

Tracing Japanese Leftist Political Activism (1957–2017) tells the story of the Japanese Red Army (JRA), a militant left-wing group founded in 1971 which was involved in numerous terrorist attacks.

It traces the origins of the group in the Japanese New Left in the 1960s and looks at Red Army groups of the early 1970s in Japan, such as the Red Army Faction, and the United Red Army which became infamous for murdering its own members. The book also examines the JRA's trans- and international links with other militant groups including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as the networks of intellectuals and fellow activists who supported them.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of terrorism, radicalism, and Japanese social history.

part One|175 pages

Tokyo (1957–1973)

chapter |9 pages

Introduction

The Boomerang Flying Transnational

section Secition One|66 pages

The rise and fall of student radicalism

chapter 1|8 pages

The Birth of the Japanese New Left

chapter 2|4 pages

The First Bund

chapter 3|9 pages

Ampo

chapter 4|7 pages

Zengakuren's Gangster Shōgun?

chapter 5|5 pages

Profiling Zengakuren

chapter 6|10 pages

The Return of Ikki Kita

chapter 7|8 pages

Icarus Falling – the Second Bund

section Section Two|60 pages

Beheiren

chapter 9|10 pages

The Riddle of Shunsuke Tsurumi

chapter 10|13 pages

Voiceless Voices – the Rise of Beheiren

chapter 11|12 pages

The Intrepid Four

chapter 12|14 pages

Beheiren's War

chapter 13|9 pages

“Destroy from within”

section Section Three|37 pages

Red Army

chapter 14|12 pages

Sekigun!

chapter 15|4 pages

The Yodogō Hijack

chapter 16|13 pages

Sixteen Gravestones – Rengō Sekigun

chapter 17|6 pages

Tsuneo Umenai Declares War

part Two|105 pages

Going transnational (1972–2017)

section Section Four|72 pages

Arab and Japanese Red Army

chapter 18|17 pages

Slaughter at the Airport

chapter 19|13 pages

Paris Underground

chapter 20|10 pages

Takahashi in the Curiel Network

chapter 21|5 pages

Pyongyang Calling

chapter 22|5 pages

The Hague

chapter 23|7 pages

The Stockholm Arrests

chapter 24|7 pages

Crisis in Kuala Lumpur

chapter 25|4 pages

Trapping Takahashi

section Section Five|28 pages

Return to Japan

chapter 26|7 pages

After Dhaka

chapter 27|13 pages

O! Japan

chapter 28|6 pages

Station to Station

chapter |3 pages

Conclusion

Man of ghosts