Between Love and Revolution: Half a Century of Toshio Fujimoto and Tokiko Kato, 1970s-2000s

Between Love and Revolution: Half a Century of Toshio Fujimoto and Tokiko Kato, 1970s-2000s

In the 1970s, amid the storm of the student movement, Toshio Fujimoto threw himself into the anti-war and anti-establishment struggle as the leader of the Core Faction. His convictions were manifested in his actions as he faced up to the contradictions of the times and truly desired change. During his imprisonment, he was supported by the singer Tokiko Kato. She was attracted to Fujimoto's ideas and life as an expressive person who sang about society and the individual, and they were "married in prison" in Nakano Prison in 1972.

After his release from prison, Fujimoto found his way into organic farming as an extension of his social activism. He established "Daichi wo Mamoru Kai" and "Kamogawa Shizen Oukoku," aiming to reconnect the urban and rural areas, the economy and the environment. His philosophy was a gentle revolution based on symbiosis with nature, and he aimed for "a society where everyone can be involved in agriculture.

Meanwhile, Tokiko Kato also continued to deliver a voice that resonated with the times. In the 1990s, she was a voice actress and singer in Studio Ghibli's "Red Pig," and her expression spread beyond generations. After Fujimoto passed away in 2002, Kato continued to share his philosophy through her songs. Their lives together are a record of another era in which love and thought became one.