The Anti-War Protests in Japan, 1968
Twenty years after that moment in 1945, the mushroom clouds and exploding sounds still appeared in her dreams. Nagoya Misao was only fifteen when the bomb landed two kilometers from her house. Fifteen years later, she gave birth to her second son, Fumiki, who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of five. He passed away two years later. “Fumiki is not only the child of Hiroshima,” his father wrote, “he is the child of us all.”
Fumiki’s death in 1968 raised concerns on the generic impact of the atomic bombs, and fueled anti-nuclear-and-anti-war sentiments in Japan. Student protest reached its peak by the end of 1960s, as more and more students felt ill-treated by the universities and were infuriated by U.S. military bases in Okinawa in support of the continuing wars in Vietnam. Having endured the battles in the Second World War and two atomic bombs, and witnessed “hot wars” during the Cold War Era, such as the Korean War, Japan knew the cruelty and traumatizing impact of warfare. And they tried to make their voices heard.
When the students found out that the Japanese Prime Minister was neglecting their voices and even allowed a US navy aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, to enter the port of Sasebo first before going to Vietnam, they decided to escalate the protesting violence. Waving their wooden staves and throwing around rocks, student protesters occupied the U.S. military base in Sasebo, January 1968, and confronted the fully-armed riot police. Bystanders and journalists were also involved involuntarily — some were severely beaten by the police.
As we think about our memory-building process on 1968, we might want to think from a global perspective. There were many countries which joined the wave of anti-war protests that time. Japan, which has been largely dependent on the United States since the 19th century, has its own fascinating stories, and a heart for peacemaking. Wrote on one protest helmet, “Only the people can stop the war!”
Works Cited
Marotti, William. “Japan 1968: The Performance of Violence and the Theater of Protest.” The American Historical Review, vol. 114, no. 1, 2009, pp. 97–135. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30223645.
Sonoko, Miyazaki. “Fifty Years After the Death of the Hiroshima Child.” Asahi Shinbun, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASL2M7VTXL2MPITB022.html?iref=pc_ss_date. Accessed April 11 2018.
Tran, John L.. “1968: The year Japan truly raised its voice.” The Japan Times, 19 Nov. 2017, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/11/19/arts/1968-year-japan-truly-raised-voice/#.WpiDuOjwbIU. Accessed April 11 2018.
有坂賢吾. 中核派全学連メット. ボリューム(E:)ブログ版, http://nagato-nagato-nagato.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2011/10/post-ffac.html. Accessed April 11 2018.
