Afterglow of Asama Villa until the end of the youth season 1972-1974

Afterglow of Asama Villa until the end of the youth season 1972-1974

The Asama Sanso Incident was a symbolic incident in postwar society in February 1972, when a group of United Red Army members holed up in a lodge in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, and a shootout with the police ensued. The entire incident was broadcast live on television, bringing the reality of the violence directly into the living rooms of families, and politics and revolution, which had been talked about as ideals, suddenly appeared to people as reality with the weight of blood and snow. The incident decisively disrupted the ideals of the student and anti-war movements that flared up at the end of the 1960s and deeply cooled the political consciousness of the youth. Hopes for revolution were completely destroyed by the revelation of the purge at the mountain base and the shootout at Asama Sanso, and the ideals destroyed themselves before the violence of reality.

The year 1974 was a time when society was moving away from the political season, while the shock of this event was still fresh in its mind. Disillusionment with politics deepened as the United Red Army trial progressed and details of the violence were reported, and the oil shock of the previous year shook lives and turned people's attention to daily concerns. Young people were beginning to search for new forms of value, shifting their gaze from politics to personal life and culture. The name of the Asama Sanso Incident was not just another incident, but continued to cast a faint afterglow on society in 1974 as a symbol of the end of the political season.