1968–1969 Japanese university protests
1968–1969 Japanese university protests | |||
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Part of the Japanese New Left | |||
Methods | Occupations of campus buildings | ||
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Students' rights |
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In 1968 and 1969, student protests at several Japanese universities ultimately forced the closure of campuses across Japan. Known as daigaku funsō (大学紛争, lit. 'university troubles')[1] or daigaku tōsō (大学闘争, 'university struggles'),[2] the protests were part of the worldwide protest cycle in 1968[3] and the late-1960s Japanese protest cycle, including the Anpo protests of 1970[4] and the struggle against the construction of Narita Airport.[5] Students demonstrated initially against practical issues in universities and eventually formed the Zenkyōtō in mid-1968 to organize themselves. The Act on Temporary Measures concerning University Management allowed for the dispersal of protesters in 1969.
Initially, demonstrations were organized to protest against unpaid internships at the
The students drew ideological inspiration from the works of Marxist theorists like Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky, French existentialist philosophers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, and the homegrown philosophy of the Japanese poet and critic Takaaki Yoshimoto.[8] Yoshimoto's interpretation of "autonomy" (jiritsusei) and "subjectivity" (shutaisei) were based on his critique of the progressive liberal interpretations of these ideas by other Japanese intellectuals such as Masao Maruyama, whom he denounced as hypocritical.[9] The students' devotion to shutaisei in particular would lead ultimately to the disintegration of their movement, as they focused increasingly on "self-negation" (jiko hitei) and "self-criticism" (hansei).[8]
The university troubles helped in the emergence of Mitsu Tanaka's Women's Liberation (Ūman Ribu) movement. While most disputes had settled down by the 1970s and many of the students had reintegrated into Japanese society, the protests' ideas entered the cultural sphere, inspiring writers like Haruki Murakami and Ryū Murakami. The students' political demands made education reform a priority for the Japanese government, which it tried to address through organizations such as the Central Council for Education. The protests have been the subject of modern popular media, such as Kōji Wakamatsu's 2007 film United Red Army.
Origins of student activism
The
Occupation authorities restructured the Japanese education system by repealing the Imperial Rescript on Education, decentralizing the administration of the education system, and introducing the American-based 6-3-3-4 school system (six years of primary school, three years of junior secondary school, three years of senior secondary school, and four years of tertiary education),[13][14] making at least nine years of education mandatory.[15] High school admission continued to be rare and competitive. The 1949 National School Establishment Law expanded the higher education system, leading to local higher education institutions being consolidated into national universities, ensuring the existence of state-supported universities in every prefecture.[16] This standardization later resulted in an increasing number of students ready to go on to high school, which led to the creation of more private high schools by the Ministry of Education (MoE). The number of high school graduates grew to 90% of students by the 1960s, putting pressure on higher education institutions to expand, and for secondary education institutions to extend into tertiary education.[17]
The rise of left-wing sympathies among students led to the creation of the Zengakuren, a socialist student organization formed in 1948. Zengakuren grew out of a 1947–48 protest against an increase in university fees led by student supporters of the JCP. With Zengakuren, the student movement had a banner to rally under.[18] In the 1950s, New Left movements that had evolved from Zengakuren, which were unaffiliated with the JCP, sprang up within the student movement. Some of Zengakuren's student leaders, for example, split from the JCP to form the Communist League, a Leninist group known as the "Bund" which took their name from the German name of the Communist League of Karl Marx's time. Groups that followed the theory of Leon Trotsky came together to form the Japan Revolutionary Communist League (Kakukyōdō), and less radical Zengakuren leaders within the Bund led the Student Socialist League (Shakai Gakusei Dōmei, shortened to Shagakudō).[19] These factions wrested control of Zengakuren from the JCP for the New Left.[20]
In 1960, a broad coalition of left-wing groups including the JCP, the JSP, Zengakuren, and the
By the late 1960s, the number of university students and universities reached an all-time high, with 52 universities in Tokyo providing a haven for New Left radicals. The lack of post-war publication censorship,[10] the printing of affordable Marxist texts and the abundance of free time at university led to the radicalization of many more students. The generation born in the postwar baby boom had reached university and universities had accommodated this change by opening up thousands of additional spaces. Tensions had already risen, and the student movement had been mostly dormant since the Anpo protests. The situation in the universities had become increasingly unstable, leading to the 1968 protests.[26]
Initial skirmishes
Student unrest reemerged with protests at
The protests by the University of Tokyo medical students spilled over to other universities. One of the first was Nihon University (known commonly as Nichidai), which saw 10,000 of its 86,000 students demonstrating in May 1968 over the suspicious use of two billion yen of funds by the university's board of directors.[32] Students accused the board of "money-making" in a "mass-production university".[33] Although the political ideologies of the universities were different, the University of Tokyo was an elite school whose students had left-wing sympathies, while Nihon University was more conservative and repressive. The protests used similar tactics, such as the occupation of important university buildings, whose use later allowed for the formation of Zenkyōtō groups in different universities.[34]
Zenkyōtō and spread of the movement
In July 1968, the University of Tokyo Zenkyōtō,[note 1] or All-Campus Joint Struggle Committee was formed to coordinate protests at different universities across the country. Non-sectarian postgraduate student Yoshitaka Yamamoto was elected leader of this Zenkyōtō.[31] Although it had previously existed, the University of Tokyo popularized the Zenkyōtō model. This served as the mainstream interpretation of the model after this point.[27] The Zenkyōtō brought the actions of non-sectarian activists –[note 2] people who did not follow any set path to revolution and were unaffiliated with either Zengakuren or the JCP – to light. This contrasted with the pre-Zenkyōtō situation, where activists were split into 39 groups affiliated with Zengakuren and opposed to the JCP and one group that was pro-JCP. The Zenkyōtō helped to expand the scope of protestors. Whereas only undergraduate students protested against Anpo in 1960, the Zenkyōtō included graduate students and some members of staff.[37] The Zenkyōtō at Nihon University helped students push back against conservative influence on the student movement.[38]
In July 1968, the Zenkyōtō at the University of Tokyo demanded that all senior medical staff at the university resign. This led to the resignations of the director of the University of Tokyo Hospital and the dean of the Faculty of Medicine on August 10.
In the meantime, protests spread across many universities in Japan. Students at different universities protested different things. At
Violence escalated in the autumn of 1968. Until then, police viewed students as part of the widespread anti-Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) movement that included opposition parties and labor unions. However, increasing violence, which resulted in less public support for the students, led the police to single out student radicals.[49] The students fought with staves made of wood or bamboo known as Gewalt Staves, or gebaruto-bō in Japanese (abbreviated as geba-bō).[50] The word Gewalt means "violence" or "force" in German, to students a valid means towards achieving political goals.[51]
Decline and fall
There is silence in the midst of battle,
Peace in the midst of war and
Order in the midst of struggle.
Unknown author, translated poem found on the walls of Yasuda Hall[52]
At the beginning of 1969, the students were hopeful they would hold out against the police. As violence continued, the government canceled the spring 1969 university entrance exams.[53] The situation was hectic on the University of Tokyo campus. Minsei, the pro-JCP clique of Zengakuren, was winning, which pressured the University of Tokyo Zenkyōtō to call in student reinforcements from Nihon University and Chuo University. The students became disillusioned, resulting in many of them voting to stop the strikes at the University of Tokyo. The hardliners, however, holed up in buildings like Yasuda Hall, readied themselves for a siege.[54]
On 18 January 1969, thousands of police moved onto the University of Tokyo campus. Nationalist writer Yukio Mishima was so alarmed by the siege that he contacted the police to tell them to be careful. Conflict continued among the disparate Zengakuren cliques and Zenkyōtō, although their power had been greatly reduced. Despite the conviction of the groups in Yasuda Hall that they would win the conflict, the weekend ended with police in control of the roof of Yasuda Hall, the final holdout of the University of Tokyo student movement.[55] This fight was a low point for the student movement – the number of occupied university campuses had declined to 33.[53] Following the siege, Mishima addressed the students, criticizing them for not believing strongly enough to die for their cause.[56] The television broadcasts of the fighting in Yasuda Hall only increased the fervor of student activists elsewhere.[57]
The explosion of student unrest following the Yasuda Hall siege led to the number of occupied campuses skyrocketing from 33 to 77 by March
In late 1968, Prime Minister
By the end of 1969, the students had been broken. Many barricades had been dismantled, and violence slowly dissipated.[67] The National Zenkyōtō, formed in 1969, whose activity peaked in September with a rally held in Hibiya Park,[68] fractured from infighting. Movements became isolated.[69] Despite the destruction of any unity between Zenkyōtō, students continued to riot in the streets, with more of their attention turned to concerns like the war in Vietnam and the upcoming renewal of the Anpo treaty.[70] In 1970, the situation on campuses returned to normal.[71]
Factions
Infighting between Anti-
This chart shows the relationships between various factions within the Japanese New Left. However, it is an oversimplification of these relations, with many details not shown.
Kakukyōdō (Revolutionary Communist League) | Japanese Communist Party | Japan Socialist Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kakukyōdō (National Committee) | Minsei Dōmei | Kyosandō (Bund) | Shaseidō Kaihō-ha | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kakumaru-ha | Shagakudō | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Marx-Leninist -ha | Many others | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Second Bund | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Senki-ha | Many others | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kakumei Saha | Sekigun-ha (Red Army Faction) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Yodogō Group | Nihon Sekigun (Japanese Red Army) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Philosophy
Their interpretation of the idea of shutaisei greatly influenced the students. Once started, the protests became a way for students to oppose the progressives for abandoning shutaisei during the Anpo Protests of 1960.[80] The students wished to have a sense of personal self-hood or agency and wanted to join with other people looking for shutaisei to affirm this through fighting.[81] Some of the most popular books within the student population of Japan at the time were existentialist works such as Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and Camus's The Stranger.[82]
Japanese New Left scholar William Andrews likens the students' interpretation of shutaisei to Jean-Paul Sartre's theory of good and bad faith – it was personal conviction and student agency that the students thought would bring about change, not following any party line. This led to an emphasis on self-criticism and self-negation (jikohihan) as a way of becoming more revolutionary.[81]
When University of Tokyo students were asked what they were fighting for, most of them claimed they were fighting either for "asserting the self" or "self-transformation". The students rejected anything they deemed "reformism", such as concrete reform goals. Their goals overall were very vague; one Zenkyōtō member claimed to be fighting "for the battle itself"[83] and some students simply wanted to join in on the fighting.[84] The students, especially those within the Bund, interpreted shutaisei through Takaaki Yoshimoto's simplified interpretation. Their idea of shutaisei led to their demise – they wanted to have the agency to negate their own selves.[40]
Critics of this interpretation like then-dean of the Literature Facility of the University of Tokyo, Kentaro Hayashi, who had been taken hostage by the students during the protests, denounced the students' ideas as "the hypocrisy of self-denigration" – despite all of their talk about denying "the University of Tokyo within us", the students were hypocritically keeping their privileges as University of Tokyo students.[85] Yoshimoto himself, seen as a "prophet" by the students, was critical of them for being wrapped up in a "communal illusion".[86]
Legacy
The late-1960s protest cycle caused the Japanese left to lose public support – in the 1969 Japanese general election, the JSP lost 51 seats. The waning influence, power and public image of the left, as well as increased police scrutiny, led to the failure of the 1970 Anpo protests.[67]
Within the psyche of the 1968 generation, the defeat of the protests generated an identity crisis. This lack of understanding towards the self was one of the main inspirations for writer Haruki Murakami[87] – some of his books deal directly with the aftermath of the protests in the 1970s, like Hear the Wind Sing.[88] Other famous books inspired by the protests include the 1977 Zenkyōtō novel Boku tte nani by Masahiro Mita (ja), and 69 by Ryū Murakami (further adapted into a 2004 film).[89] The events at Yasuda Hall eventually led to the creation of a new genre of literature named Zenkyōtō bungaku (Zenkyōtō literature), which comprises books published in the 1970s and 1980s that are set during the protests. These works include intense imagery of strong emotions, disappointment, confusion, and failure.[90] Philosopher and semiotician Roland Barthes even dedicated a section of his book Empire of Signs to the Zengakuren students.[91]
The student protests did not spawn any reformist political movements, like the
The aftermath of the protests also led to the rise of Japanese feminism. Women were constrained in their ability to protest during the movement, especially in Japanese society, where women's roles were more traditional. Importantly, female students were given an opportunity and agency for public action.[96] The failure of female students to be treated equally during the protests led to a greater awareness among women of gender inequality on campus. This new awareness led feminist intellectual Mitsu Tanaka to write her 1970 work No More Toilets, a seminal work in the Ūman ribu movement.[97] Tanaka criticized the infighting within the New Left groups as overly masculine and capitalistic.[98]
Explanatory notes
- ^ Zenkyōtō (Japanese: 全共闘) is short for Zengaku kyōtō kaigi (Japanese: 全学共闘会議).[35]
- ^ These activists were referred to as nonpori, short for "non-political".[36]
- ^ The Anti-Yoyogi tendency was named so because the JCP was headquartered in Yoyogi.[72]
- ^ This chart is based on Andrews's simplified chart. He notes that dozens of political groups are not shown, and that mergers and some connections have been omitted.[78]
References
Citations
- ^ Schoppa 2002, p. 46.
- ^ Shiozawa 2017, p. 545.
- ^ Evans 2009, p. 334.
- ^ Weiss & Aspinall 2012, p. 66.
- ^ Kapur 2018, p. 152.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 75.
- ^ Tsuzuki 1970, p. 515.
- ^ a b c Kapur 2018, p. 151.
- ^ Kapur 2018, p. 151, 166–167.
- ^ a b Harris et al. 1964, p. 536.
- ^ a b Weiss & Aspinall 2012, p. 59.
- ^ Weiss & Aspinall 2012, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Shibata 2005, pp. 83–87.
- ^ Weiss & Aspinall 2012, p. 60.
- ^ Leestma et al. 1987, p. 5.
- ^ Anderson 1959, p. 56.
- ^ Weiss & Aspinall 2012, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Weiss & Aspinall 2012, pp. 63–64.
- ^ Schieder 2021, p. 25.
- ^ Kapur 2018, p. 19.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 41.
- ^ Kersten 2009, pp. 232–34.
- ^ Jesty 2018, pp. 29–30.
- ^ Kersten 2009, p. 234.
- ^ Weiss & Aspinall 2012, pp. 67–69.
- ^ a b Shigematsu 2012, p. 213.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 83.
- ^ Tsurumi 1970, p. 104.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, p. 137.
- ^ a b Andrews 2016, p. 85.
- ^ Tsurumi 1970, pp. 107–108.
- ^ Tsuzuki 1970, p. 517.
- ^ Sunada 1969, pp. 469–70.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. xxi.
- ^ Marotti 2009, p. 98.
- ^ a b Tsurumi 1970, p. 108.
- ^ Sunada 1969, p. 470.
- ^ a b Fuse 1969, p. 332.
- ^ a b Kersten 2009, p. 240.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, pp. 148–50.
- ^ Andrews 2016, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, p. 135.
- ^ Marotti 2009, p. 130.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, p. 134.
- ^ Oguma 2015, p. 3.
- ^ Andrews 2016, pp. 113.
- ^ Marotti 2009, p. 134.
- ^ Weiss & Aspinall 2012, p. 70.
- ^ Schieder 2021, p. 99.
- ^ Marotti 2009, p. 131.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, p. 160.
- ^ a b Beer 2009, p. 114.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 87.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 88.
- ^ Shigematsu 2012, p. 53.
- ^ a b Sunada 1969, p. 472.
- ^ Sunada 1969, p. 473.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, p. 169.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, p. 170.
- ^ Andrews 2016, pp. 114–15.
- ^ Schoppa 2002, p. 81.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, p. 171.
- ^ Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, pp. 174–75.
- ^ Daliot-Bul 2014, p. 52.
- ^ Tsuzuki 1970, p. 521.
- ^ a b Oguma 2015, p. 5.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 92.
- ^ a b Andrews 2016, p. 123.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 113-14.
- ^ a b Andrews 2016, p. 94.
- ^ Tsuzuki 1970, p. 508.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 148.
- ^ a b Dowsey & Ikeda 2012, pp. 142–43.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 152.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 149.
- ^ Kapur 2018, p. 153.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. xv.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. xix.
- ^ Kersten 2009, p. 235.
- ^ a b Andrews 2016, pp. 70–71.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 71.
- ^ Oguma 2015, p. 13.
- ^ Daliot-Bul 2014, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Kersten 2009, p. 241.
- ^ Kapur 2018, p. 158.
- ^ Strecher 1999, p. 264.
- ^ Strecher 1999, p. 266.
- ^ Andrews 2016, pp. 73–74.
- ^ Steinhoff 2013, p. 150.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 76.
- ^ Oguma 2015, pp. 20–22.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 127.
- ^ Andrews 2016, pp. 141–42.
- ^ Andrews 2016, p. 138.
- ^ Evans 2009, p. 338.
- ^ Evans 2009, p. 344.
- ^ Shigematsu 2012, pp. 53–54.
Bibliography
Books
- Anderson, Ronald Stone (1959). Japan, Three Epochs of Modern Education. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education.
- Andrews, William (2016-08-15). Dissenting Japan: A History of Japanese Radicalism and Counterculture from 1945 to Fukushima. ISBN 978-1-84904-919-1.
- Beer, Lawrence W. (2009-05-01). Human Rights Constitutionalism in Japan and Asia: The Writings of Lawrence W. Beer. ISBN 978-90-04-21303-6.
- Dowsey, Stuart J.; Ikeda, Kazuo (October 2012). Zengakuren: Japan's Revolutionary Students. Ishi Press International. ISBN 978-4-87187-050-4.
- Harris, George L.; Liebow, Elliot; Muhlenberg, Frederica; Rakowska-Harmstone, Teresa; Rintz, Frances Chadwick; Smith, Harvey H.; Suda, Frances K.; Uyehara, Hilary Mitsuo (1964). U.S. Army Area Handbook for Japan. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- Jesty, Justin (2018-09-15). Art and Engagement in Early Postwar Japan. ISBN 978-1-5017-1506-8.
- Kapur, Nick (2018). Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo. Cambridge, MA: ISBN 978-0674984424.
- Leestma, Robert; August, Robert L.; George, Betty; Peak, Lois; Shimahara, Nobuo; Cummings, William K.; Stacey, Nevzer G. (1987). A Report from the U.S. Study of Education in Japan. U.S. Department of Education.
- Schieder, Chelsea Szendi (2021-01-22). Coed Revolution: The Female Student in the Japanese New Left. ISBN 978-1-4780-1297-9.
- Schoppa, Leonard James (2002-03-11). Education Reform in Japan: A Case of Immobilist Politics. ISBN 978-1-134-86516-1.
- Shibata, Masako (2005). Japan and Germany Under the U.S. Occupation: A Comparative Analysis of Post-war Education Reform. ISBN 978-0-7391-1149-9.
- Shigematsu, Setsu (2012). Scream from the Shadows: The Women's Liberation Movement in Japan. ISBN 978-0-8166-6758-1.
- Weiss, Meredith Leigh; Aspinall, Edward (2012). Student Activism in Asia: Between Protest and Powerlessness. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-7969-0.
Journal articles
- Daliot-Bul, Michal (2014). "The Formation of 'Youth' as a Social Category in Pre-1970s Japan: A Forgotten Chapter of Japanese Postwar Youth Countercultures". JSTOR 43920418. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
- Evans, Sara M. (2009). "Sons, Daughters, and Patriarchy: Gender and the 1968 Generation". JSTOR 30223782.
- Fuse, Toyomasa (October 1969). "Student Radicalism in Japan: A 'Cultural Revolution'?". S2CID 145243868. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
- Kersten, Rikki (September 2009). "The Intellectual Culture of Postwar Japan and the 1968-1969 University of Tokyo Struggles: Repositioning the Self in Postwar Thought". Social Science Japan Journal. 12 (2): 227–245. JSTOR 40649684. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
- Marotti, William (February 2009). "Japan 1968: The Performance of Violence and the Theater of Protest". The American Historical Review. 114 (1): 97–135. . Retrieved 2021-04-26.
- Oguma, Eiji (2015). "Japan's 1968: A Collective Reaction to Rapid Economic Growth in an Age of Turmoil". The Asia-Pacific Journal. 13 (12): 1–27. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
- Shiozawa, Yoshinori (2017). "Professor Aoki when he was interested in dynamic processes in the market economy". Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review. 14 (2): 541–554. S2CID 158246477. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
- Steinhoff, Patricia G. (2013). "Memories of New Left protest". .
- Strecher, Matthew C. (1999). "Magical Realism and the Search for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki". JSTOR 133313. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
- Sunada, Ichiro (1969). "The Thought and Behavior of Zengakuren: Trends in the Japanese Student Movement". JSTOR 2642436. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
- Tsurumi, Kazuko (1970). "Some Comments on the Japanese Student Movement in the Sixties". S2CID 154567251. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
- Tsuzuki, Chushichi (1970). "Anarchism in Japan". S2CID 144716648. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
Further reading
- OCLC 823709000. Writer Manabu Miyazaki's autobiography; he participated in the protests at the University of Tokyo and describes them in detail.
- ISBN 9784788511637. Sociologist Eiji Oguma's account of the university struggles.