The Afterglow of a Revolution Across the Sea: Fusako Shigenobu and the Japanese Red Army, 1971–2022

In 1971, as the All-Japan Student Struggle Council movement began to wane, Fusako Shigenobu traveled to Lebanon, made contact with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and organized the Arab branch of the Red Army Faction. In 1972, three members, including Kōzō Okamoto, carried out an attack on Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, resulting in numerous casualties. Subsequently, the organization adopted the name “Japanese Red Army” and waged armed struggles abroad, including the Hague Incident and the Kuala Lumpur Incident. According to the National Police Agency, Shigenobu was arrested in Osaka Prefecture in 2000 and declared the dissolution of the Japanese Red Army from prison in 2001. Shigenobu received a final sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment for his involvement in the Hague Incident and other crimes, and was released from prison in May 2022 after serving his sentence. The history of the Zengakuren generation, as recounted in the attached materials, includes the turning point when, following the failure of the university protests, some activists shifted from domestic activism to armed struggle abroad. The process by which a political movement founded on ideals crossed national borders and transformed into an organization characterized by violence and numerous casualties poses a weighty historical question for considering the trajectory of the movement that has continued since the late 1960s.