The Sound of Explosions in the Darkness of the City - The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Building Bombing, February 1975

The Sound of Explosions in the Darkness of the City - The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Building Bombing, February 1975

The August 30, 1974, bombing of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Building in Marunouchi, Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, was an unprecedented urban terrorist attack that shook Japanese society. The bomb, planted by the militant group "East Asian Anti-Japanese Armed Front," resulted in a catastrophe that killed eight people and injured 376 others. Targeting the buildings of major corporations that symbolized Japan's rapid economic growth, the shock of the violence that confronted Japan's postwar prosperity was deeply felt.

In the background were the pollution problems that had spread in the shadow of economic growth, the defense industry that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was responsible for, and international tensions over the Vietnam War. The attack on the nexus of heavy industry and capital was not merely a crime, but also a message of strong rebellion against the times.

After the incident, television and newspapers covered the news extensively day after day, and even the wide-ranging news shows switched from entertainment and health topics to follow-up coverage of the bombing. This incident, which showed the reality that anyone could be a victim in the middle of a city, amplified people's anxiety and visualized a new form of violence that Japan is facing.

The MHI bombing was also the beginning of a series of subsequent corporate bombings, an event that symbolized the shift of some of the radical factions derived from the student movement into armed struggle. In the midst of the shadow of rapid economic growth, distrust of politics, and international tensions, the sound of the bombing was a wake-up call that signaled the strains of the times themselves.