#zenkyoto

[anguraresearch]

Variation - 変奏曲 (1976)

dir. Nakahira Kou

[jewlwpet]

The Red Years: Theory, Politics, and Aesthetics in the Japanese ’68 is an extremely mixed bag. Normally, I wouldn't recommend a book, especially a nonfiction one, that I have such mixed feelings about. But it makes so many important points that are left out of the rest of the English-language literature about the Japanese postwar student movement, I can't not recommend it to anyone interested in the subject matter.

Ideologically, it is all over the place--from authors who do nothing but praise the postwar New Left student movement even when the praise isn't particularly warranted, to those who can actually approach it with appropriate nuance, to one who claims they had an "anarcho-fascist" character. Even in some of the chapters that I like, there are many cases where I disagree with the authors' framing. Factually, though, it's a reliable source.

Despite having major issues with it, I genuinely feel like if you haven't read this book then (unless you are reading sources in Japanese) your understanding of this movement and this period in Japanese history is probably incomplete.

For one thing, this is the only text in English I've encountered that adequately explains the position of the Japanese Communist Party (which the New Left groups who are the main subject of this book opposed) during this period. I thought I understood their point of view from reading Zengakuren: Japan's Revolutionary Students and various other texts, but I didn't. It's only since reading chapter 7 of this book that I can really understand what their POV actually was.

Additionally, the two chapters about the role of women in the movement were extremely informative and important--most texts overlook this entirely.

I don't mean to imply that these were the only chapters that say anything of value--most chapters have something valuable to say, even if I don't agree with the entire chapter. And, although I say that the book was ideologically all over the place, I can respect the editor's intention in wanting to compile essays that "think with" 1968 instead of relegating it to "trivia" as liberal authors have frequently done.

[anguraresearch]

Akuta Masahiko, collaborator of Terayama Shuji, featured in the documentary Mishima The Last Debate. He debated Mishima on revolutionary ideas at Todai in 1969 among other Zenkyoto students. Appearing with his child on stage, he takes a cigarette from Mishima, engages in the conversation for a while before getting bored and leaving. He has a youtube channel for his recent theatre work.

[anguraresearch]

Dry Lake - 乾いた湖 (1960)

dir. Shinoda Masahiro Written by Terayama Shuji

[anguraresearch]

Portrait of Che Guevara with the caption "Guevara Day, now and forever" - ゲバラの日よ、永遠なれ

Scan from leftist japanese zine Angura Art - あんぐらああと issue 1 (1969)

[anguraresearch]

Front and back covers of the leftist Zenkyoto zine project Angura Art - あんぐらああと (1969-70) issues 1, 2 and 3. The zine, under the direction of Ootani Kaoru, is a collection of comics, poems, and essays on art and cinema as well as politics and war by students of Wako University of liberal arts.

[anguraresearch]

Anpo: Art x War (2010)

dir. Linda Hoaglund

[anguraresearch]

Smiling and bleeding portraits of then japanese PM Sato Eisaku, whom student protesters hated for his support of the Japan-US treaty and the Vietnam war.

Scan from Angura Art - あんぐらああと issue 3 (1970)