The wanted posters at police substations and train stations around Japan will finally be coming down. Police claim to have confirmed the identity of a suspect as far-left activist Masaaki Ōsaka and re-arrested him on a murder charge.
A man believed to be Masaaki Ōsaka, a member of the far-left Chūkaku-ha (Central Core Faction), was arrested on May 18th in Hiroshima when police carried out a raid on an alleged base of the radical group to arrest another resident on a minor charge. The tactic paid off, as they were able to nab probably the most wanted man in Japan, who is accused of playing a leading role in the Shibuya Riot Incident in which a 21-year-old police officer was killed during a protest on November 14th, 1971 against the US-Japan Security Treat and the continued occupation of Okinawa.
Last month’s arrest of the far-left radical, who has been a fugitive since 1972 on a variety of charges including murder, was sensational enough in its own right but the announcement, delayed several days after the apprehension ostensibly for obstructing police duties, was fortuitous timing for the government as it pushed through its highly contentious conspiracy bill. It served as a reminder to the public that so-called terrorism and political militants exist in Japan, and that legislation is required to give police more power to ensure citizens’ safety during the 2020 Olympics. Naturally, the media had a ball with the news and has continued to run stories every few days related to the Ōsaka case. One aspect that was ignored, however, was the May 12th arrests of three unionists in Kansai associated with Chūkaku-ha on trespassing charges: the capture of Ōsaka is actually part of a wider, ongoing crackdown on the far-left group.
Masaaki Ōsaka on June 7th, 2017 as police transferred him to Tokyo. Image via Japan Today
Following days of speculation about how it would be possible to verify his identity, today police announced that the suspect had been re-arrested for murder and confirmed that he is indeed Ōsaka. Cross-checking DNA with relatives, including his late mother, did not disprove a match and Ōsaka’s sister additionally identified a photograph of the suspect as her brother. This is apparently enough to verify the man in custody as the 67-year-old Ōsaka.
He was then flown from a rainy Osaka, where he had been held since his arrest, to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. During his transfer he was overtly paraded for the cameras of the media, who were eager to get a shot of the fugitive long known only by the surly 1973 black-and-white photo that adorned thousands of wanted posters across Japan. Needless to say, this is surely the most startling perp walk for a political radical since Fusako Shigenobu was taken off a Shinkansen train in 2000, and has generated blanket coverage in the media.
Masaaki Ōsaka as he appeared on his police wanted poster for 45 years
Until now Ōsaka’s last official sighting was in 1973. Police had maintained the hunt for him by constant surveillance of Chūkaku-ha events and activities as well as periodically renewing the campaign with new posters and raiding Chūkaku-ha sites for clues as to his whereabouts. He was placed on the international wanted list in 2010 and a significant award also announced last year, resulting in a major spike in leads from the public.
Image via Sankei Shimbun
Image via Sankei Shimbun
Ever since the arrest, the man identified as Ōsaka has maintained complete silence in custody, as is typical for detained leftists in Japan. Chūkaku-ha has also denied that the suspect is Ōsaka, whose innocence activists have claimed in multiple articles and videos. The group also staged a protest in the morning of June 7th in front of Tokyo District Court.
The statute of limitations was removed for murder in 2010, meaning Ōsaka can be charged with the killing of police officer Tsuneo Nakamura, who was set upon by a mob of activists armed with pipes and Molotov cocktails. One of those previously arrested and tried for the death was Fumiaki Hoshino, though campaigners have long maintained that he is falsely imprisoned. Another Chūkaku-ha activist, Yukio Okumiyama, was also tried for the killing but proceedings were halted in 1981 due to mental illness, and he passed away earlier this year at the age of 68.
WILLIAM ANDREWS
Throw Out Your Books 
Holly shit! Those young boy and girl in the YouTube are CRAZY! Their leftist talk creeps me out.
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As Mr. Andrews noted last year, many of the core members of Chūkaku-ha live in an old communal dormitory. I highly recommend looking at the photos as they say at least a thousand words each.
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Thanks. I kinda knew it since I’m Japanese..I think I’ve watched a TV caverage or Video of the building. To me, they are no different from brainwashed cult like people…
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FIND IT! I found the video.
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A little belated reply, but I met the guy in Toru’s video at a Kyoto University struggle event this week. I did not ask him directly about the video, but talking to him clarified some things: he originally became a protester because he was outraged that Hosei U banned the distribution of political pamphlets on campus. He protested against the expulsions of various gakusei-undo members, and was subsequently expelled himself. The video seems to hint that he had still some differences with Chukaku-ha even after his expulsion (I didn’t ask him about that), but he is now a full-time Chukaku-ha member and is trying to organize the emerging precariat.
Unsurprisingly, with similar bans in effect at Kyoto U and the recent kyobozai law, the struggle event this week was avoided by students and cannot really be called a protest. It was a half dozen young guys, most of whom had already been expelled, sitting under a tent in the middle of campus hoping to talk to people. One or two besides me wandered over during the hour I was there. Chukaku-ha’s political views are really not extreme at all even by US standards, but I think their continued use of extreme praxis, and the brutal response by administrators, make students fairly scared to talk with them. I would say I wish them good luck in the face of the harsh crackdown, but really I wish them good luck only in the narrow sense of hoping they attract a broad audience unafraid to listen to their ideas and their mission.
Interesting thing I learned from him: the gakusei-undo is so small in the 21st century that they don’t even know if it is banned on most universities, because nobody has tested the newest regulations.
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@Avery
Thanks for sharing. Insightful comments, as always.
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