A man confirmed to be 1970s leftist bomber Kirishima Satoshi died last year after evading police for almost 50 years. Now, authorities say Kirishima confessed to at least some of his crimes before his death.
Kirishima was a member of the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front (EAAJAF), a group that believed the modern civilization of Japan had to be destroyed to make way for a return to a form of “proto-Communism.” Leader Daidoji Masahi believed that, as recipients of the benefits of a corrupt system, most Japanese citizens were complicit in the country’s crimes – and thus fair targets for violence.
Kirishima belonged to the Scorpion cell of the EAAJAF. Authorities long credited him with detonating a bomb at The Research Institute for South Korean Economy and Industries building in Ginza in April of 1975. The group’s bombings killed eight people and injured 380. Combined with the violence of other leftist groups like the Japanese Red Army, the bombings helped turn the Japanese public against the student-led New Left.
A final confession
Wanted posters for Kirishima were a common site across Japan for decades. However, the bomber still somehow managed to evade police for 49 years.
Authorities only caught up with Kirishima when he checked himself into a hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture due to terminal stomach cancer, where he admitted his identity to authorities. He died shortly thereafter at age 70. Police later confirmed the man was indeed Kirishima Satoshi.
Now, according to NHK News, authorities say that before his death, Kirishima confessed to involvement in the bombing. According to police, Kirishima says he placed the bomb in an attempt to target nearby Hazama Corporation, a construction company. (The company is now known as Ando Hazama after a merger with ANDO Corporation in 2013.)
Authorities also say that, before checking in to a hospital in Kanagawa, he received an examination in the summer of 2023 elsewhere in the prefecture under Uchida Hiroshi. At the time, he refused treatment.
Police say they were unable to secure any additional testimony from Kirishima before his death, including his motivation for the crimes.
Two members of the EAAJAF were tried and sentenced to death for their crimes. Two additional members, Sasaki Norio and Daidoji Ayako, the wife of Daidoji Masashi, remained at large, with international warrants out in their names.
It’s not unheard of for criminals like Kirishima to remain at large without leaving Japan. In another famous case, Fukuda Kazuko nearly ran out the country’s previous 15-year statute of limitations on homicides that would carry a sentence of life imprisonment.
Correction: The first version of this article incorrectly stated Kirishima was 60 when he died.
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