Assassination month continues....

Idolized by ghouls ranging from the Japanese far-right to failfash Gavin McGuinness, the televised murder of Japanese Socialist Party leader Asanuma Ineijiro is known worldwide as the perfect depiction of a fanatically determined individual 'taking out' a leftist. We unpack the story of not just the assassination itself (which is stranger than it would appear...but also the historic collision of "everyman" Asanuma, at the head of mass Japanese coalition that wanted the US bases out, against a slimy and cash-flush overground network of war criminals, yakuza, and cult-like mini-militias, including one of the creepier figures we've encountered: "Master" Akao Bin. 

Your friendly co-host commanders then take a dive into how well this assassination tracked the CIA's "Study of Assassination" manual how-to on a proper by-the-book "lost" assassination.

Special thanks to Junkyard Shaman for the songs "幸せ ‐ Shiawase" (opening) and 決裂 ‐ Ketsuretsu (Akao Bin Interlude). Thanks as always to Komakino for our opening/closing theme and to all our Patreon subscribers.

As sources for this episode we used primarily Eiko Mariko Siniawer's Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists: The Violent Politics of Modern Japan 1860-1960 and Nick Kapur's Japan at the Crossroads.

The Documents, Folks (Available on Patreon): 1) NYTimes article criticizing our favorite tough-tubby-tokyo-leftist Asanuma. 

2) Screen cap of the audience at Hibiya hall during the assassination

3) Screen cap of the left side of stage at Hibiya

4) Screen cap of stage right side of the stage at Hibiya

5) The assassin and his weapon

6) Kishi Nobosuke with future PM Abe Shinzo on his lap

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