Hibiya Public Hall
Hibiya Public Hall in Hibiya Park, central Tokyo, is the site of one of the most infamous incidents in modern Japanese history. On October 12, 1960, Inejiro Asanuma, General Secretary of the Japan Socialist Party, was murdered/assassinated on stage and on camera by 17-year-old ultra-right wing nationalist Otoya Yamaguchi in front of a crowd of 2,500 of people during a televised political debate. Yamaguchi later killed himself in police custody.
The debate featured the highly contentious 1960 revision of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Featured speakers were Suehiro Nishio (1891 - 1981) of the Democratic Socialist Party, Inejirō Asanuma of the Japan Socialist Party, and Hayato Ikeda (1899 - 1965) of the Liberal Democratic Party. Asanuma was the second to speak, and took the stage at 3:00 p.m. At 3:05 p.m., Yamaguchi rushed onto the stage and made a deep thrust into Asanuma’s left flank with a 33-centimeter samurai short sword (“wakizashi”) he had stolen from his father. Yamaguchi then tried to turn the sword on himself, but was swarmed and detained by bystanders. Asanuma died within minutes from massive internal bleeding.
How does a 17-year-old boy become such a fanatical ideologue? I’d say he was probably brainwashed by his elders, in much the same way that anyone, young or old, is brainwashed. I feel angry at the kid’s stupidity, and even angrier at the adults in his environment who radicalized him.
The 1960 treaty, called the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), remains in effect today, and it is still very contentious among hard right-wing ideologues.
I’ve walked around the building photographing it many times, but I’ve never been inside.