Episode 466 – Rebels Without a Cause, Part 2

December 23, 2022

This week, for the final episode of 2022: the Zenkyoto movement arrives at Japan’s largest private school. Plus: how did a movement that grew so big so quickly fall apart just as fast?

Sources

Andrews, William. Dissenting Japan: A History of Japanese Radicalism and Counterculture from 1945 to Fukushima.

Eiji, Oguma. “Japan’s 1968: A Collective Reaction to Rapid Economic Growth in an Age of Turmoil.” The Asia-Pacific Journal 13, No 12 (March, 2015)

Kapur, Nick. Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo. 

Images

Zenkyoto activists on the Nihon University grounds.
Akita Akehiro, the leader of the Nihon University Zenkyoto.
Nihon University students doing the ‘snake dance’; the movement is intended to clog streets and make it impossible for police to clear the area given the press of people.
An overhead view of a mass Zenkyoto meeting at Nihon University.

These two documentaries provide an account of the events of the Zenkyoto at Nihon University, put together by former Zenkyoto activists. It’s in Japanese, but some of the footage is worth a look even if you don’t know the language.