Japanese Red Army

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Fusako Shigenobu

The definition of Army would be a military force that fights for their nation. But this certain army fights against numerous nations, including theirs. February, 1971, was the marking of a horrifying beginning. For almost two decades, our nations dealt with attacks worldwide. Fusako Shigenobu was the founder and leader of the left wing international terrorist group, Japanese Red Army (JRA). Their location was said to be unknown but some say that they’re located in Japan, Syrian and controlled parts of Lebanon. They targeted about 20 countries including; Israel, Singapore, Netherlands, Malaysia, Japan, Canada and the U.S.

JRA attacks their victims by hijacking, bombing and shooting. Their first attack was on March 31, 1970. JRA hijacked an airplane in Japan that was flown to Korea where hostages were released. A year later, on May 1972, JRA had a mass shooting at Lod Airport in Tel Aviv. 3 terrorists shot and used grenades that killed 26 and injured 78. Two of the terrorists were killed. Several years later, on August 1976, at Istanbul’s Airport JRA had another mass shooting. 20 were injured and 4 were killed. 1 year later, On September 1977, JRA hijacked a JAL plane over India and was forced to land in Dhaka, Bagladesh. The Japanese government let out 6 incarcerated members of the group and payed a ransom of $6 million. Throughout the years, JRA started attacking other nations, luckily never killing or injuring anyone. Their last recorded attack was on April 1988. JRA members bombed the USO club that killed 5 people, including a US servicewoman in Naples, Italy.

JRA was created behind the idea of overthrowing the Japanese government and starting a world revolution, Shigenobu stopped at nothing to lead JRA. But being a leftist group, JRA would attack only to accomplish their goal, not to hurt people. But because JRA can’t control who their weapons hurt, it’s caused many mishaps. Throughout the years, JRA has killed and injured almost 900 people from 20 different countries. With a numberless amount of supporters, JRA continued to try and overthrow their government. JRA has made countless bombs, rockets and deals for them to be succesful.

JRA has attacked many times within the two decades. One of them being in Japan at the Asama Mountain Lodge in Karuizawa Resort. Five members of JRA had a gun battle with police for a hostage in 1972. Police have often fought against JRA to protect their citizens, coordinating amongst the law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The police have made quite a few arrests of members in Romaina, Peru, Bolivia and other countries. In March 2000, four JRA members were deported from Lebanon to Korea and then arrested and imprisoned. After the years, police are still searching for the JRA members.

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Four members were arrested once deported to Japan

Numerous members have been arrested around the world in the recent years. Including the JRA operative on April 1988, Yu Kikumura. Who was arrested on the New Jersey Turnpike with explosives coinciding with the bombing of a USO club. He was then sent to the U.S along with Tsutomu Shirosaki to serve time in prison. In March, 1995, a JRA activist, Ekita Yukiko was arrested in Romania and subsequently being exiled to Japan. Shigenobu was arrested in November 2000 and charged with terrorism and passport fraud. She later said, “I regret some aspects of the armed struggle ... the fact that innocent people were harmed and hostages were taken, but my faction never killed a single person. We always strived to achieve our aims without bloodshed.” In April 2001, during her trial hearing, she stated that she was disbanding JRA. One of the leaders for JRA, Osamu Maruoka, was sentenced to life in prison and passed away at the age of 60, 2 months ago. One of the members, Hiroko Nagata had nearly 40 years in a solitary cell on death row. While she was in the cell, she reflected on her actions and realized that, “Back then, it didn’t matter what you believed just as long as you believed it absolutely.”

Sites:
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rpt/fto/2801.htm
http://www.japan-101.com/government/japanese_red_army.htm
http://www.towson.edu/polsci/ppp/sp97/terror/groups.html
http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu/Volume_18/issue_2/asai.pdf
http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Terrorist.html#JRA
http://www.terrorismfiles.org/organisations/japanese_red_army.html
http://www.majiroxnews.com/2011/02/09/red-army-boss-dead-few-notice/
http://www.npa.go.jp/keibi/kokutero1/en glish/0301.html
http://www.tokyotimes.jp/post/en/1910/Japanese+Red+Army+leader+die
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/13/japan-fusako-shigenobu-red-army
+in+prison.html

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXENjhmbii8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_jOGF6Da14&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKAsLcA_WmM

Pictures:
http://paintingzombies.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/img007_600.jpg?w=498&h=600
http://diversejapan.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/fusako-shigenobu.jpg
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bt.avistaz.com/imagehost/images/6516666e2b45f8b6f18808d79fc22585f5e09c.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.avistaz.com/movies/2009/the-red-army-japanese-2007.html&usg=__2xEwx6QXDPgfyVXekfeqk9tJWhk=&h=784&w=550&sz=288&hl=en&&zoom=1&tbnid=QuW5E_2uB-sAsM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=81&ei=cRVYTsnGCObjiALQnvzMCQ&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=380&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0&tx=56&ty=74&biw=1096&bih=668
http://www.carto.net/neumann/travelling/japan_2004_09/07_shiretoko_2004_09_17-20/42_japanese_flag.jpg
http://www.npa.go.jp/keibi/kokutero1/english/img/0301_01.jpg