Numa-san

Dedicated to Inejirō Asanuma (1898–1960), chairman of the Japan Socialist Party. Human locomotive, tireless speaker for the people, martyr.

[inejiroasanuma]

Who was Inejirō Asanuma, the Japan Socialist Party chairman assassinated in 1960?

[inejiroasanuma]

"He's a good person, which makes it regrettable to deal with him"

Bin Akao, a pro-U.S. ultranationalist politician, speaking about Japan Socialist Party chairman Inejirō Asanuma. Akao was also a mentor to Otoya Yamaguchi, who would later assassinate Asanuma.

[inejiroasanuma]

"I was born in Hita, Kyushu. At 17 I married, but I could not adapt to the overly feudal family customs of my husband’s house, so I ran away to Tokyo."

Kyōko Asanuma reflecting on her first, brief marriage before meeting Inejirō Asanuma in the late 1920s. She married Inejirō in autumn 1928. Together with My Husband Inejirō Asanuma (夫・浅沼稲次郎とともに), published in Fujin Kōron, December 1960.

[inejiroasanuma]

"Japan has restored peace and exchanged ambassadors with the countries to which it caused trouble in the war. However, with China—to which it caused the greatest trouble from the Manchurian Incident until the end of the Second World War—diplomatic relations have not been restored. This is a mistake of the conservative party's policy. I find this extremely regrettable."

Inejirō Asanuma, speech at the Political Consultative Conference Hall, Beijing, 12 March 1959

[inejiroasanuma]

A photograph of Inejirō Asanuma, chairman of the Japan Socialist Party, delivering a speech in Kanoya just a few days before he was assassinated by an ultranationalist on 12 October 1960, along with a piece of calligraphy that he inscribed with the word "Liberation".

[inejiroasanuma]

During elections, they keep policies that would be unpopular with the public a secret, and then once they have won a majority in the election, they will... [push through anything using the power of the majority. What is the point of elections or a Diet if this is allowed? This is the majority party digging its own grave for parliamentary democracy.]

Inejirō Asanuma's last words before being assassinated on stage (and prepared continuation), 12 October 1960

[inejiroasanuma]

Inejirō Asanuma, Chairman of the Japan Socialist Party, at home with his cat, 1960.

He is mostly remembered as a great dog lover, but he was also fond of cats.

[inejiroasanuma]

Mourning the Death of Chairman Asanuma October 12, 1960 Numa-san did not fall — he was struck down, Suddenly, by a single blade. But nevertheless, The dream of justice that you pursued with your entire life through action — Numa-san, we will absolutely not let it die. Let that dream live on. Expose everything — everything that cut that dream short. For Japan’s present, For the future, For the new history that is yet to be born.

Poem by Kusano Shinpei, read aloud by actress Mochizuki Yūko at Inejirō Asanuma's funeral, 20 October 1960

[inejiroasanuma]

Kyōko Asanuma, widow of martyred Japan Socialist Party Chairman Inejirō Asanuma, talks about her memories while holding an album, Tokyo, Japan, 21 October 1978.

[inejiroasanuma]

Serialized "Gomen Ushoase" (Sorry to Bother You):

Inejirō Asanuma, Secretary-General of the Right Socialist Party, and Mariko Okada, actress, in conversation, December 1953; photo by Hiroshi Nakanishi.

[inejiroasanuma]

A statue of Inejirō Asanuma, the martyred chairman of the Japan Socialist Party, at the site of his birthplace on Miyake-jima.

[inejiroasanuma]

Japanese students and white-collar workers carry a large portrait of the assassinated Japan Socialist Party chairman, Inejirō Asanuma, as they parade past Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda's official residence in Tokyo, 13 October 1960.

[inejiroasanuma]

"We must recognize that if a nation’s security is guaranteed by another country’s military for a long period, independence will turn into subordination."

"There can be no national independence without economic self-reliance."

Inejirō Asanuma, Speech supporting the no-confidence motion against the Yoshida Cabinet, 14 March 1953

[inejiroasanuma]

Shidzue Katō, a socialist feminist and the first woman to be elected to the Diet, makes a speech while Inejirō Asanuma, secretary-general of the Right Socialist Party, smiles and applauds. 1952.

[inejiroasanuma]

"Not only is it subservient to this imperialism [American], but borrowing its power, it [the Kishi cabinet] is approaching Asia with a diplomacy that lacks reflection and is once again fatally mistaken. This is especially the dangerous move last year to revise and strengthen the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, which has the character of a military alliance, and furthermore to head toward strengthening a NEATO [Northeast Asia Treaty Organization] framework in the future. The revision of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and the unfortunate state of Japan-China relations are interconnected as the basic foreign policy of the Kishi cabinet—the two wheels of the America-following Kishi cabinet. This is clearly confirmed by Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke's own reckless statement to NBC reporter Brown at the end of last year. Unless these policies are fundamentally changed to build a peaceful system in Asia, there is no bright future for the Japanese people, and here too lies an urgent and common task for the peoples of Japan and China."

Inejirō Asanuma, speech at the Political Consultative Conference Hall, Beijing, 12 March 1959

[inejiroasanuma]

"I have pursued politics with the motto 'Always with the masses, always learning from the masses.' And I have deeply respected Inejirō Asanuma. Right after the war, I accompanied Asanuma on his Kyushu campaign tour. The sight of him in the scorching summer heat, sleeves rolled up, calling out to the people from the back of a truck, is still burned into my eyelids."

"We must clean up 'money in politics.' This is the Asanuma spirit."

Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama

[inejiroasanuma]

"We (the Socialist Party beat reporters) would pick arguments with Numa-san and chase him around. His large frame sitting in the small room of that rundown Dōjunkai apartment looked humorous, like a giant who had burst into a house of dwarves. Next to him was a large, shabby brown bag, bulging so much it looked ready to burst with documents. When we would say things like, 'This time Numa-san’s actions don’t seem consistent…' to provoke him, he would passionately reply in his dialect, 'You guys say that, but that’s not it, you know! That’s not it!' I miss that sight."

Yoshimura Katsumi (Sankei Shimbun), tribute in the memorial book Dashing Forward: Records of the Human Locomotive "Numa-san" (驀進 ―人間機関車ヌマさんの記録), June 1961