Fugitive Appears and Dies

It must be memorized as a regrettable case in the history of Japanese police. A hospitalized man in Kanagawa Prefecture revealed his real identity as one of the members of former terrorist group, who had been wanted for forty-nine years with suspect of being involved in the bombings on a building downtown Tokyo in 1975. He died four days later, before the police reconfirmed his identity. It is unclear whether the police could hear about the details of the crime nearly a half century ago from the dying man. 

Satoshi Kirishima had been wanted as a suspect of exploding a hand-made bomb at the office of Institute for Research on Industry and Economy of Republic of Korea in Ginza, Tokyo. There were consecutive bombings against major corporations by leftist sects between 1974 and 1975, including one on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries which caused eight deaths and hundreds of injuries. East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front claimed responsibility on those events and Kirishima was regarded as affiliated to the organization.

 

The police arrested nine suspects related to the bombings, and some are on the run. Kirishima hid himself under a false name of Hiroshi Uchida for forty-nine years. The statute of limitation for Kirishima was suspended with reason of that other related suspects ran away to foreign countries. Some of the suspects of consecutive bombings were released from jail and fled overseas, as the exchange of hostages in the occupation of US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in 1975 or the hijacking an aircraft of Japan Air Line in Dacca in 1977.

 

According to news reports, Kirishima had been working as an employee of a building firm in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, for decades, living in a housing facility for employees of the company. He was hospitalized this month with diagnosis of stomach cancer in a terminal phase. Then he revealed his true identity to hospital staff, because he wanted to end his life with his true name. The police realized that the stories he told to police interview were coherent.

 

While the news organization have not shown Kirishima’s picture of current days, most people in Japan know his face, because every police station has been exhibiting his portrait as a wanted person for decades. A long-haired young man wearing glasses with a grin has been a symbol of old movement of the leftists in the era of high economic growth of post-war Japan. It is supposed that the 70-year-old fugitive looks totally different from the image the most people embrace.

 

The fact that the police could not find him until he revealed himself shows a limitation of capability for investigation. Kirishima might be making a boast of his life of running away. However, if he wanted to die with true name for his dignity, he should have explained about the cause of his ideology against the government of Japan and how he thought about the victims of their terrorist assaults.