Student Movement

Abstract

January 1960, I sat inside the police station at Manseibashi in Akihabara, Tokyo. Kandagawa River flowed below the steep embankment, and frigid air blew upward. I was thrown into the holding cell with a seasoned warehouse burglar, who intimidated the warden; and my interrogation was not by a gentle-seeming officer in charge of ideological offenses (Metropolitan Police Agency Public Security Section 2), but by a brawny detective in charge of labour movements (Public Security Section 1). It was a time when police were activated during intense confrontations between labour and management. His attitude was so overbearing that my mother, who had brought me a care package, was turned away, for the reason that my identity was unknown as I was refusing to answer any questions.