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Japan Civil Disturbances
The public and the government appear to tolerate
certain forms
of public disorder as inherent to a properly functioning
democracy.
Demonstrations usually follow established forms. Groups
receive
legal permits and keep to assigned routes and areas.
Placards and
bullhorns are used to express positions. Traffic is
sometimes
disrupted, and occasional shoving battles between police
and
protesters result. But arrests are rare and generally are
made only
in cases involving violence.
Political extremists have not hesitated to use violence
and are
held responsible for bombings in connection with popular
causes. In
January 1990, the mayor of Nagasaki was shot by a member
of the
right-wing Seikijuku (Sane Thinkers School), presumably
for a
statement he had made that was perceived as critical of
the late
Emperor Hirohito. That attack came two days after the
left-wing
Chukakuha (Middle Core Faction), opposed to the imperial
system,
claimed responsibility for firing a rocket onto the
grounds of the
residence of the late emperor's brother and a day before
the
government announced the events leading to the
enthronement of
Emperor Akihito in November 1990. The enthronement
ceremonies were
considered likely targets for extremist groups on the left
and the
right who saw the mysticism surrounding the emperor as
being
overemphasized or excessively reduced respectively, but no
serious
incidents took place. Although membership in these groups
represent
only a minute portion of the population and present no
serious
threat to the government, authorities are concerned about
the
example set by the groups' violence, as well as by the
particular
violent events. Violent protest by radicals also occur in
the name
of causes apparently isolated from public sentiments.
Occasional
clashes between leftist factions and between leftists and
rightists
have injured both participants and bystanders. Security
remains
heavy at New Tokyo International Airport at
Narita-Sanrizuka in
Chiba Prefecture, the scene of violent protests in the
1970s by
radical groups supporting local farmers opposed to
expropriation of
their land.
The most notorious extremists were the Japanese Red
Army, a
Marxist terrorist group
(see Political Extremists
, ch. 6).
This
group was responsible for an attack on Lod International
Airport in
Tel Aviv, Israel, in support of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine in 1972. It participated in an
attack on a
Shell Oil refinery in Singapore in 1974 and seized the
French
embassy in The Hague that same year and the United States
and
Swedish embassies in Kuala Lumpur in 1975. In 1977 the
Japanese Red
Army hijacked a Japan Airlines jet over India in a
successful
demand for a US$6 million ransom and the release of six
inmates in
Japanese prisons. Following heavy criticism at home and
abroad for
the government's "caving in" to terrorists' demands, the
authorities announced their intention to recall and
reissue
approximately 5.6 million valid Japanese passports to make
hijacking more difficult. A special police unit was formed
to keep
track of the terrorist group, and tight airport security
measures
were instigated. Despite issuing regular threats, the
Japanese Red
Army was relatively inactive in the 1980s. In 1990 its
members were
reported to be in North Korea and Lebanon undergoing
further
training and were available as mercenaries to promote
various
political causes.
Data as of January 1994
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