Asama-Sanso incident
Encyclopedia
The was a hostage crisis and police siege in a mountain lodge near Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture
, Japan that lasted from February 19, 1972 to February 28, 1972. The police rescue operation on the final day of the standoff was the first marathon live television broadcast in Japan, lasting 10 hours and 40 minutes.
The incident began when five members of the United Red Army
(URA), following a bloody purge that left 14 members of the group plus one bystander dead, broke into a holiday lodge below Mount Asama
, taking the wife of the lodge-keeper as a hostage. A standoff between police
and the URA radicals took place, lasting ten days. The lodge was a natural fortress, solidly constructed of thick concrete on a steep hillside with only one entrance, which, along with their guns, enabled the hostage-takers to keep police at a distance.
On February 28, the police stormed the lodge. Two police officers were killed in the assault, but the hostage was rescued and the URA radicals were taken into custody. The incident contributed to a decline in popularity of leftist movements in Japan.
during the winter of 1972.
In the second week of February 1972 at the compound, URA's chairman Tsuneo Mori
and vice-chairman Hiroko Nagata
(sometimes referred to as Yoko Nagata) initiated a violent purge
of the group's members. In the purge, Nagata and Mori directed the beating deaths of eight members and one non-member who happened to be present. Six other members were tied to trees outside where they froze to death in the frigid mountain winter air. On February 16, police arrested Mori, Nagata, and six other URA members at the compound or at a nearby village. Five others, armed with rifles and shotguns, managed to escape, fleeing on foot through the mountains towards Karuizawa in nearby Nagano prefecture. The five fugitives were Kunio Bandō, 25, a graduate of Kyoto University
, Masakuni Yoshino, 23, a senior at Yokohama National University
, Hiroshi Sakaguchi, 25, a dropout of Tokyo Suisan University
, Jirō Katō, 19, and his brother Saburō Katō, 16.
. The radicals entered the lodge and discovered Yasuko Muta, the 31-year old wife of the lodge's caretaker. She was the only person in the building, as her husband was walking the dog and the lodge's guests had gone ice skating. The radicals took Muta hostage at gunpoint and barricaded the building.
The lodge's structure made it a stronghold. The lodge, named after nearby Mount Asama, was a three-story wood and concrete edifice built into the side of the hill atop an exposed base of steel-reinforced concrete. The upper floor was slightly larger than the two below, giving the lodge a mushroom appearance. The building towered over the steep, snow-covered slopes below and the lodge's windows had heavy outer storm shutters. The building's maze-like floor plan and narrow staircases made it easy for the defenders to block off movement inside the building. The radicals would spend most of their time on the uppermost floor, which contained a kitchen, dining room, tatami
-mat sleeping room, and a commanding view of the surrounding valley and hills. The radicals placed large pieces of furniture and futon
bedding around the doors and windows and secured them in place with wire. When Muta's husband returned and saw the barricades he realized what had happened and quickly notified police. The police immediately set up roadblocks and surrounded the lodge to cut off any avenues of escape for the radicals inside.
The police decided to wait to see if the radicals would surrender on their own. After three days without a surrender offer from the hostage-takers, the police shut off the electricity to the lodge and set up loudspeakers from which the parents of several of the radicals implored them to surrender, to no avail. One of the participating parents' son had been killed in the purge incident, but both the police and the parent were unaware of this because the full extent of the purge had not yet become known.
On February 25, the police began to prepare to assault the lodge. A wrecking ball
crane with an armored driver's compartment was positioned near the building and police armed themselves with ladders, heavy mallets, and chainsaws. Muta's husband implored the radicals by loudspeaker to release his wife, but was ignored. On February 27, the police used a baseball pitching machine to bombard the building with rocks to keep the hostage-takers awake all night.
The police moved into position for the assault at 8 a.m. on February 28 and issued a final ultimatum an hour later, which went unheeded by the radicals. At 10 a.m. the wrecking-ball crane began to batter the lodge's walls. The police cautiously approached the building and began to break through the barricades. By noon, the police had occupied the two lower floors, isolating the radicals and Muta on the top floor.
The police experienced difficulty in breaching the radicals' defenses on the top floor and hours later had not made much headway. The police directed high-pressure water hoses at the top floor, gouging-out large holes in the building's walls and drenching the radicals and Muta with cold water. During this time, the radicals kept up continuous gunfire on the assaulting police and threw homemade bombs at them. Two policemen, Shigemitsu Takami, 42, and Hisataka Uchida, 47, were shot and killed and 15 other policemen were injured. A civilian observer who intruded into the area without police permission was also shot, reportedly by the radicals, and fatally wounded.
As darkness fell, the police breached the top floor's barricades and captured one of the Katō brothers. The remaining four radicals burrowed into a pile of futon bedding and refused to surrender. As the police approached them, Kunio Bandō shot one of the policemen, Masahiro Endō, in the eye. Endō lost the eye but survived. Eventually, at 6:15 p.m., 280 hours after the incident began, the remaining four radicals were taken into custody and Muta was rescued. Muta was cold but uninjured and told police that her captors had not mistreated her, although they had tied her to a bed during most of the standoff. That same evening, despondent over his son's behavior, Kunio Bandō's father hanged and killed himself in his home in Ōtsu
, a city near Kyoto
.
At 9:40 a.m. on February 28, public broadcaster NHK
began live, continuous coverage of the siege that lasted until 8:20 p.m. that night. Ratings for NHK's non-stop coverage averaged 50.8% and peaked at 89.7% at 6:26 p.m. Vehicle traffic was noticeably lighter throughout the day in Tokyo
.
s, one attempted murder, obstructing police in the execution of their duties, violation of the Swords and Firearms Control Law, and illegal confinement. Four were sentenced to long prison terms and Hiroshi Sakaguchi was sentenced to death. As of February 2011, Sakaguchi remained in prison awaiting execution.
On August 8, 1975 the Japanese government released Kunio Bandō and flew him to asylum in Libya
in response to demands from URA members who had stormed the American and Swedish embassies in Kuala Lumpur
, Malaysia and taken 53 hostages. Bandō later is believed to have assisted in the hijacking of Japan Airlines Flight 472
from Paris to Tokyo in 1977, forcing the jet to land in Dhaka
. Bandō remains at large and reportedly spent time between 1997 and 2007 in Russia, China, the Philippines
, and Japan.
Yasuko Muta remained in the Karuizawa area, working at another lodge. She refused to speak any further about her ordeal since her initial statements to the police and press after she was rescued.
The incident, along with the Lod Airport massacre
which occurred several months later, and several hijackings, contributed to an intense social backlash among the population of Japan against radical student leftist groups. After the incident, the leftist movement in Japan greatly decreased in numbers and enjoyed much less popular support. A 2007 film by Kōji Wakamatsu
about the incident titled Jitsuroku rengô sekigun: Asama sansô e no michi (United Red Army - The Path to Asama Mountain Lodge)
won the Japanese Eyes Best Picture award at the October 2007 Tokyo International Film Festival
.
Nagano Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...
, Japan that lasted from February 19, 1972 to February 28, 1972. The police rescue operation on the final day of the standoff was the first marathon live television broadcast in Japan, lasting 10 hours and 40 minutes.
The incident began when five members of the United Red Army
United Red Army
The was a Japanese revolutionary armed group, established on 15 July 1971. It united the Red Army Faction, led in 1971 by Tsuneo Mori and the Maoist Revolutionary Left Wing of the Japanese Communist Party, led by Hiroko Nagata...
(URA), following a bloody purge that left 14 members of the group plus one bystander dead, broke into a holiday lodge below Mount Asama
Mount Asama
is an active complex volcano in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The volcano is the most active on Honshū. The Japan Meteorological Agency classifies Mount Asama as rank A. It stands above sea level on the border of Gunma and Nagano prefectures...
, taking the wife of the lodge-keeper as a hostage. A standoff between police
National Police Agency (Japan)
The is an agency administered by the National Public Safety Commission of the Cabinet Office in the cabinet of Japan, and is the central coordinating agency of the Japanese police system....
and the URA radicals took place, lasting ten days. The lodge was a natural fortress, solidly constructed of thick concrete on a steep hillside with only one entrance, which, along with their guns, enabled the hostage-takers to keep police at a distance.
On February 28, the police stormed the lodge. Two police officers were killed in the assault, but the hostage was rescued and the URA radicals were taken into custody. The incident contributed to a decline in popularity of leftist movements in Japan.
Background
Japan's leftist student movement in the 1960s pervaded Japan's universities, and, by late in the decade, had become very factionalized, competitive, and violent. After a series of incidents in which leftist student groups attacked and injured or killed law enforcement officials and the general public, Japan's national police agency cracked down on the student groups, raiding their hideouts and arresting dozens in 1971 and 1972. Attempting to conceal themselves from the police, a core group of radicals from the URA retreated to a compound in Gunma PrefectureGunma Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the northwest corner of the Kantō region on Honshu island. Its capital is Maebashi.- History :The remains of a Paleolithic man were found at Iwajuku, Gunma Prefecture, in the early 20th century and there is a public museum there.Japan was without horses until...
during the winter of 1972.
In the second week of February 1972 at the compound, URA's chairman Tsuneo Mori
Tsuneo Mori
was a Japanese radical leftist. He was born in Osaka and entered the Osaka City University. After some members of the Red Army were arrested by the Japanese police while he escaped from them, several members of the group went to North Korea with Japan Airlines Flight 351 and some formed the...
and vice-chairman Hiroko Nagata
Hiroko Nagata
-Web:...
(sometimes referred to as Yoko Nagata) initiated a violent purge
Purge
In history, religion, and political science, a purge is the removal of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, from another organization, or from society as a whole. Purges can be peaceful or violent; many will end with the imprisonment or exile of those purged,...
of the group's members. In the purge, Nagata and Mori directed the beating deaths of eight members and one non-member who happened to be present. Six other members were tied to trees outside where they froze to death in the frigid mountain winter air. On February 16, police arrested Mori, Nagata, and six other URA members at the compound or at a nearby village. Five others, armed with rifles and shotguns, managed to escape, fleeing on foot through the mountains towards Karuizawa in nearby Nagano prefecture. The five fugitives were Kunio Bandō, 25, a graduate of Kyoto University
Kyoto University
, or is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university, and formerly one of Japan's Imperial Universities.- History :...
, Masakuni Yoshino, 23, a senior at Yokohama National University
Yokohama National University
, or is a national university in Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It offers Doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Chiba University. It is noted for its Business Administration program.-History:The predecessor...
, Hiroshi Sakaguchi, 25, a dropout of Tokyo Suisan University
Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology
is a national university in Japan. The main campus is located in Minato, Tokyo and another campus is in Koto, Tokyo.- History :...
, Jirō Katō, 19, and his brother Saburō Katō, 16.
Incident
Sighting the police pursuit near the community of Karuizawa on February 19, the five radicals took refuge in a vacation lodge called Asama Sansō (Asama Mountain Villa) owned by Kawai Musical Instruments ManufacturingKawai
The of Japan is best known for its grand and upright pianos, electronic keyboards and electronic synthesizers. The company was established in August 1927, and has its headquarters in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka.-Pianos:...
. The radicals entered the lodge and discovered Yasuko Muta, the 31-year old wife of the lodge's caretaker. She was the only person in the building, as her husband was walking the dog and the lodge's guests had gone ice skating. The radicals took Muta hostage at gunpoint and barricaded the building.
The lodge's structure made it a stronghold. The lodge, named after nearby Mount Asama, was a three-story wood and concrete edifice built into the side of the hill atop an exposed base of steel-reinforced concrete. The upper floor was slightly larger than the two below, giving the lodge a mushroom appearance. The building towered over the steep, snow-covered slopes below and the lodge's windows had heavy outer storm shutters. The building's maze-like floor plan and narrow staircases made it easy for the defenders to block off movement inside the building. The radicals would spend most of their time on the uppermost floor, which contained a kitchen, dining room, tatami
Tatami
A is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. Traditionally made of rice straw to form the core , with a covering of woven soft rush straw, tatami are made in standard sizes, with the length exactly twice the width...
-mat sleeping room, and a commanding view of the surrounding valley and hills. The radicals placed large pieces of furniture and futon
Futon
Futon is an English word derived from Japanese , a term generally referring to the traditional style of Japanese bedding consisting of padded mattresses and quilts pliable enough to be folded and stored away during the day, allowing the room to serve for purposes other than as a bedroom...
bedding around the doors and windows and secured them in place with wire. When Muta's husband returned and saw the barricades he realized what had happened and quickly notified police. The police immediately set up roadblocks and surrounded the lodge to cut off any avenues of escape for the radicals inside.
The police decided to wait to see if the radicals would surrender on their own. After three days without a surrender offer from the hostage-takers, the police shut off the electricity to the lodge and set up loudspeakers from which the parents of several of the radicals implored them to surrender, to no avail. One of the participating parents' son had been killed in the purge incident, but both the police and the parent were unaware of this because the full extent of the purge had not yet become known.
On February 25, the police began to prepare to assault the lodge. A wrecking ball
Wrecking ball
A wrecking ball is a heavy steel ball, usually hung from a crane, that is used for demolishing large buildings. It was most common during the 1950s and 1960s. Several wrecking companies claim to have invented the wrecking ball...
crane with an armored driver's compartment was positioned near the building and police armed themselves with ladders, heavy mallets, and chainsaws. Muta's husband implored the radicals by loudspeaker to release his wife, but was ignored. On February 27, the police used a baseball pitching machine to bombard the building with rocks to keep the hostage-takers awake all night.
The police moved into position for the assault at 8 a.m. on February 28 and issued a final ultimatum an hour later, which went unheeded by the radicals. At 10 a.m. the wrecking-ball crane began to batter the lodge's walls. The police cautiously approached the building and began to break through the barricades. By noon, the police had occupied the two lower floors, isolating the radicals and Muta on the top floor.
The police experienced difficulty in breaching the radicals' defenses on the top floor and hours later had not made much headway. The police directed high-pressure water hoses at the top floor, gouging-out large holes in the building's walls and drenching the radicals and Muta with cold water. During this time, the radicals kept up continuous gunfire on the assaulting police and threw homemade bombs at them. Two policemen, Shigemitsu Takami, 42, and Hisataka Uchida, 47, were shot and killed and 15 other policemen were injured. A civilian observer who intruded into the area without police permission was also shot, reportedly by the radicals, and fatally wounded.
As darkness fell, the police breached the top floor's barricades and captured one of the Katō brothers. The remaining four radicals burrowed into a pile of futon bedding and refused to surrender. As the police approached them, Kunio Bandō shot one of the policemen, Masahiro Endō, in the eye. Endō lost the eye but survived. Eventually, at 6:15 p.m., 280 hours after the incident began, the remaining four radicals were taken into custody and Muta was rescued. Muta was cold but uninjured and told police that her captors had not mistreated her, although they had tied her to a bed during most of the standoff. That same evening, despondent over his son's behavior, Kunio Bandō's father hanged and killed himself in his home in Ōtsu
Otsu, Shiga
is the capital city of Shiga, Japan. The city was founded on October 1, 1898. As of October 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 338,629 with an average age of 40.7 years and a population density of 905.28 persons per km²...
, a city near Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
.
Media coverage
Throughout the stand-off, the incident was extensively covered by Japanese broadcast media, which gave frequent reports and updates. Muta's photo was shown repeatedly on television.At 9:40 a.m. on February 28, public broadcaster NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
began live, continuous coverage of the siege that lasted until 8:20 p.m. that night. Ratings for NHK's non-stop coverage averaged 50.8% and peaked at 89.7% at 6:26 p.m. Vehicle traffic was noticeably lighter throughout the day in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
.
Aftermath
The five radicals were charged on six counts: two murderMurder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s, one attempted murder, obstructing police in the execution of their duties, violation of the Swords and Firearms Control Law, and illegal confinement. Four were sentenced to long prison terms and Hiroshi Sakaguchi was sentenced to death. As of February 2011, Sakaguchi remained in prison awaiting execution.
On August 8, 1975 the Japanese government released Kunio Bandō and flew him to asylum in Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
in response to demands from URA members who had stormed the American and Swedish embassies in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia and taken 53 hostages. Bandō later is believed to have assisted in the hijacking of Japan Airlines Flight 472
Japan Airlines Flight 472
Japan Airlines Flight 472 was an aircraft hijacking carried out by the Japanese Red Army on September 28, 1977.-Incident:The Douglas DC-8, en route from Paris to Haneda Airport in Tokyo with 156 people on board, stopped in Mumbai, India...
from Paris to Tokyo in 1977, forcing the jet to land in Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
. Bandō remains at large and reportedly spent time between 1997 and 2007 in Russia, China, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and Japan.
Yasuko Muta remained in the Karuizawa area, working at another lodge. She refused to speak any further about her ordeal since her initial statements to the police and press after she was rescued.
The incident, along with the Lod Airport massacre
Lod Airport massacre
The Lod Airport massacre was a terrorist attack that occurred on May 30, 1972, in which three members of the Japanese Red Army, on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine , killed 26 people and injured 80 others at Tel Aviv's Lod airport...
which occurred several months later, and several hijackings, contributed to an intense social backlash among the population of Japan against radical student leftist groups. After the incident, the leftist movement in Japan greatly decreased in numbers and enjoyed much less popular support. A 2007 film by Kōji Wakamatsu
Koji Wakamatsu
is a Japanese film director who directed such pinku eiga films as and . He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses...
about the incident titled Jitsuroku rengô sekigun: Asama sansô e no michi (United Red Army - The Path to Asama Mountain Lodge)
United Red Army (film)
is an award-winning 2007 film written, directed and produced by Kōji Wakamatsu. It stars Akie Namiki as Hiroko Nagata and Go Jibiki as Tsuneo Mori, the leaders of Japan's leftist paramilitary group the United Red Army...
won the Japanese Eyes Best Picture award at the October 2007 Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biannually from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter...
.
Japanese Wikipedia
- 坂口弘 Hiroshi Sakaguchi
- 永田洋子 Hiroko Nagata
- 森恒夫 Tsuneo Mori
- 坂東國男 Kunio Bandō