69 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
69 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
The **Sunagawa Struggle** was an effort by farmers, leftists and
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students in [Japan](Japan "wikilink") to stop the construction of a [US
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military base](Timeline_of_US_Imperialism "wikilink") in western Tokyo
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in [1955 and
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1957](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Eastern_Asia "wikilink").
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## Background
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The Tachikawa Air Force Base (AFB) was a US airfield in western Tokyo.
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The US military and the Japanese government planned to use this airfield
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for transporting nuclear weapons. In order to accommodate for the larger
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aircraft needed to transport these weapons, the Tachikawa AFB needed to
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expand and lengthen the runway for longer landing and takeoff distances.
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However, that meant that the government would need to use the
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surrounding farmland for the expansion. The US military announced the
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plans for expansion in 1955.
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In response, farmers, villagers, students, unionists, and Buddhist
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priests in Sunagawa, the small village adjacent to the Tachikawa AFB,
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began a campaign of nonviolent interjection and occupation of their own
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farmland in order to physically prevent officials from surveying and
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taking their land.
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Protests began in October 1956. Any actions the protestors took before
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1956 are not currently known. On October 12, police beat villagers and
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demonstrators with clubs, injuring 260 people. The next day, four
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thousand people including Diet (Japanese Parliament) members from the
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Socialist party, the Councilor of the Communist Party, and First
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Secretary Sanzo Nosaka created a human barricade against the surveyors.
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The crowd came within 150 yards of the base when police began to
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physically remove, trample, kick, and poke at the eyes of picketers as
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authorities forcibly tried to take land by driving stakes into the
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ground. Members of the Diet led the protest by linking arms and forming
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a human blockade while Buddhist priests in white robes beat incessantly
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on drums, the sound of which competed with the drone of the planes
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overhead and became an audio symbol of the movement. A total of 730
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people including medical units, reporters, and cameramen were injured
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that day.
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That same day, fifty leading men of culture including ex-Premier Tetsu
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Katayama, ex-Justice Minister Akira Kazami, ex-Foreign Minister Hachire
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Arita, and prominent lawyer Shinkichi Unno launched the Defend Sunagawa
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Campaign. They declared that expansion of the base was undesirable and
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that the survey and plans to launch nuclear attacks violated the
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Japanese Constitution, which protects the rights of the Japanese people
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and forbids all kinds of warfare. They also argued that the expansion
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program was never ratified by the Diet.
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A few days later, a policeman committed suicide in protest against the
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government policy.
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By October 15, ten thousand people were involved in the protest, a
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thousand had been injured, and another thousand had been arrested. The
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tension culminated in the “Sunagawa Riots”, which took place on July 8,
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1957. That day, protestors managed to break past the police and into the
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base possibly through sheer numbers. Twenty-three people were arrested
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and seven were indicted on criminal trespassing charges. Although the
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events that day were called the “Sunagawa Riots,” the extent of violence
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or nonviolence that occurred is unknown. Any actions taken between
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October and July are also unknown.
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The US military cancelled the expansion program in 1957 in response to
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the Sunagawa protests. The farmers’ successful campaign also inspired
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farmers in Narita in their protest against the construction of the
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Narita Airport (1966-78). The Tachikawa AFB land was later returned to
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the Japanese government and turned into the Showa Commemorative National
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Government Park.
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## References |