Just yesterday, all major pages and media outlets of Yahoo Japan were occupied by a man, and he was Satoshi Kirishima.
You may not know his name, but if you've been to Japan, you've met him in the dark. Because he is wanted in conspicuous places at various stations in Japan, this post has been posted for nearly 50 years.
And just yesterday, this man who held the title of Japan's strongest fugitive, which made the Japanese government and police tremble, was arrested.
I thought it was the much-criticized Japanese police who finally raised their eyebrows, and they successfully chased the murderer for 50 years, but unexpectedly, this turned out to be Satoshi Kirishima's self-defeating net, just because he wanted to use his real name back at the age of 70.
What kind of legend did he have? Let's talk about it in detail.
Satoshi Kirishima was born on January 9, 1954 in Kamibe Town, Fukayasu County, Hiroshima Prefecture (now Fukuyama City).
In high school, he studied at Hiroshima Prefectural Onomichi-Kita High School, and after graduating, he was admitted to the Faculty of Law of Meiji Gakuin University with honors. The year was 1972, and it was the time when Japan's economy was in full swing.
As in the United States at that time, there were no worries about the economy, and ideas naturally flourished. A variety of new ideas are beginning to flourish in Japan.
There are new rightists like Yukio Mishima and the "Shield Society" who are shouting that they want to "live for the emperor again and burn the samurai soul of the Yamato nation" and commit suicide by breaking into the headquarters of the Self-Defense Forces, as well as leftists who oppose imperialism and move closer to international communism, mainly a large number of students and young people.
At Meiji Gakuin University, Satoshi Kirishima became acquainted with Yoshimasa Kurokawa, Kamisoshi Uga, and other classmates, and together they joined the squad codenamed "Scorpio" of the "East Asian Anti-Japanese Armed Front".
Founded in 1970, the East Asian Anti-Japanese Armed Front advocated the abolition of Japan's emperor system, and they also adhered to the anti-Japanese theory of the destruction of the country, because they were aware of the harm caused by Japan to China and other countries in World War II, and they demanded that the government take the initiative to take responsibility for waging wars of aggression.
Although they are only college students, they are not inferior in action. They first made a bomb out of steel and successfully blew up the Monument to the Seven Martyrs (a monument to seven Class-A war criminals). ）
Then, with the idea that the greatest culprit in waging the war of aggression was the emperor, they organized another assassination of the emperor. This time, Satoshi Kirishima's Scorpio squad is also involved.
They learned through news and reasoning that on August 14, 1974, the Emperor's train was going to pass through the Arakawa Bridge on the border between Saitama and Tokyo, and they planned to assassinate the Emperor by blowing up the bridge.
Unexpectedly, the matter was revealed, and the emperor changed his course. They could only recover the wires and explosives buried in the railway bridge the night before the operation, and the assassination of the emperor ended in failure.
Although the sense of responsibility and ideals of the anti-Japanese armed front in East Asia are very commendable, they have gone further and further down the road of violence.
After the failure of the assassination of the emperor, in less than half a month, they acted again. The target this time was Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, because Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a well-known military industrial enterprise, and it also provided weapons and ammunition for the U.S. military at that time.
On August 30, 1974, members of the East Asian anti-Japanese armed front planted explosives outside the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries building that had not been used to assassinate the emperor. Around noon, they called the building, saying that there was explosives outside the building that were about to explode, and that all personnel should be evacuated as soon as possible.
But at the time, the operator thought it was a joke and didn't care. A few minutes later, they continued to call another person in the building, hoping to evacuate as soon as possible, but received no response.
At 12:43, a loud explosion sounded outside the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries building, which killed five pedestrians on the spot, and finally caused a total of 8 deaths and 385 injuries.
After this incident, the Japanese police set up a special investigation team and began to focus on investigating the organization of the East Asian anti-Japanese armed front.
After Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, they did not stop and continued to carry out multiple bombing operations against the warehouses and construction sites of companies such as Taisei Construction, Kashima Construction, and Teijin Central Research Institute.
Eventually, on May 19, 1975, the Japanese police arrested several senior members of the group and dismantled the group's subsequent attacks, with only Uga Kamisuichi and Satoshi Kirishima successfully escaping.
After nearly 50 years on the run, Satoshi Kirishima has become the suspect who has been on the run for the longest time. Half a century later, 70-year-old Satoshi Kirishima, who uses a pseudonym in a hospital in Kanagawa, suddenly said his real name.
At this time, he was already suffering from terminal stomach cancer, and his physical condition was quite poor. The reason why Satoshi Kirishima chose to turn himself in was because he wanted to use his real name again at the end of his life.
During the investigation, it was also learned that Satoshi Kirishima had been working in a civil engineering shop for a living all these years.
Regarding the arrest of Satoshi Kirishima, Japanese netizens also have a lot of feelings.
My father, who died five years ago, worked for a company in the bombed building. My father happened to be in the basement of the building at the time of the explosion and escaped, but a colleague in the same department who was close to my father was caught up in the explosion and unfortunately died. It happened to be my 10th birthday, and I remember seeing my father come home safely in the evening, and my family was relieved.
can abscond for so long, there must be supporters behind it. The fact that this Kirishima suspect was exposed in this way shows that the public security police did not have the control of such an organization. However, he can also choose to die under a pseudonym, and I think it's a bit ironic that he exposed his real name and ended up being taken care of by the state.
The fact that he is working means that he is likely to obtain a pension booklet or health insurance card under a false name. This is because the reality is that before the 1990s, very few companies verified identity at the time of recruitment, applying for social security and making pension booklets or health insurance cards based solely on self-reported information. In this way, he can continue to act in society under a pseudonym for a long time afterward, without even having to impersonate someone else. But this was only before the 1990s, and now it's almost impossible.
I grew up seeing posters of wanted criminals in many places, including this man. I thought it was a fairy tale, not even a real thing in this world. Either way, I'm glad I found him.
Satoshi Kirishima's half-century escape finally gave everyone an explanation in this way, and the wanted criminal who was imprinted on the streets of Japan and grew up with a generation of Japanese came to an end.
No matter how correct the starting point and intention, if you pay for the bloodshed and violence of ordinary people, it will not win the hearts and minds of the people. After all, as long as innocent civilians are killed or injured, no matter how noble their ideals, they will become terrorists.