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Inejirō Asanuma

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I went to prison only twice: once when I was thrown into Ichigaya Prison during the Great Earthquake, and once during the Ashio Incident. On the other hand, the number of times I was thrown into the police detention cell is too many to count. If I refused to obey an order to stop a speech meeting, I would be taken away. If I participated in a demonstration during a labor dispute, I would be detained. These days, when I travel to the countryside, I sometimes meet former police officers who used to detain me. They say things like, 'I used to arrest you all the time back in the day, but nowadays I think the Socialist Party is the best. I'm a Socialist Party fan now.'

Inejirō Asanuma (27 December, 1898 – 12 October, 1960) was a Japanese politician and chairman of the Japan Socialist Party. He was assassinated on live television during a political debate on 12 October 1960, by 17-year-old ultranationalist Otoya Yamaguchi.

Quotes

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1920s

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  • Isn't my life somewhat slackened right now? I must be on guard.
    • Same personal reading notebook, estimated 1925–1927

1939

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  • Cars are like geta. For the Mongols, horses are geta; for Japan, bicycles are geta. Petroleum civilization: one automobile for every four people.
    • July 1939 (during travel in the Seattle/Portland area), Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • America has social order, but it feels as though the sense of nation is thin.
    • July 1939 (during travel in the United States), Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • World history is revolving around the Danzig and Tianjin questions. … I feel that the gears of world history are accelerating still further.
    • 6 August 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • At ten o'clock Hitler's oratory comes through the radio. Everyone gathers at the well-side. I do not understand German, but Hitler's powerful voice and the thunderous applause that arises at every pause make me feel he is truly an orator.
    • 1 September 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • "It is a divine wind [kamikaze] for Japan," I said, and raised a glass. I immediately went to Kita's room and told him; he too sincerely rejoiced that, for the sake of the nation, this would allow us to advance even more vigorously in the construction of the New Order in East Asia. … From today the great European war will fully unfold. For Japan it is truly a divine wind. At this opportunity we must devote all our strength to completing the New Order in East Asia.
    • 3 September 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • Today I am again reading Kita's Shina Kakumei Gaishi [An Informal History of the Chinese Revolution].
    • c. mid-September 1939 (Copenhagen), Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • Reading Kita Ikki's Shina Kakumei Gaishi while discussing it with Kita Reikichi.
    • mid-September 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • The whole world cannot be solved by ideology or theory. It feels as though everything moves with reality at the center.
    • 22 September 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • Some think of Europe's war as a heaven-sent blessing for Japan, and it is indeed a blessing, but we must prepare now for what comes next. Should we not cultivate our own autonomous and independent strength? Should not ethnic totalitarianism evolve into supra-ethnic regionalism?
    • 26 September 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • Finished reading Ōkawa Shūmei's Nihon Nisenroppyakunen Shi [History of Japan's 2,600 Years]. I gained much from it. Especially where he passionately advocates the need for renewal while burning with patriotic fervor—it feels as though it is permeating my own body.
    • 27 September 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • In reality, America has abrogated the commercial treaty, and Germany, whom we regarded as a brother, has somewhat betrayed us. Japan has truly taken on an independent stance. When standing alone, it is opposed to every country.
    • September 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • When we consider the new order in the East amid all the circumstances of the world, is this not precisely the time for a new Sonnō Jōi [Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians] theory to rise? Is not the true construction of a new order in East Asia precisely the practice of a new Sonnō Jōi centered on the realm of the East? Just as the loyalist shishi of the Bakumatsu period rose up upon seeing the arrival of Perry and the black ships, is this not the time, after surveying the state of the world, to expel all foreign domination from the East and construct a new order? Whether it is called the East Asian League theory, the New Order in East Asia, or the East Asian Cooperative Body—is it not a new Sonnō Jōi theory? It is by no means so-called imperialism. It is the establishment of a new Eastern spirit and a new order upon the foundation of Nationalism and Nationalism. Chiang Kai-shek has not awakened to this Eastern spirit; his error lies in allying with Britain and Russia and standing in opposition to our Japan. Wang Jingwei has awakened to it and is cooperating with our country with an anti-communist spirit in order to revive the spirit of the Chinese revolution.
    • 30 September 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)
  • Having finally decided to return by crossing the continent, there are many points I felt during this trip. I will summarize them later, but what I feel most keenly is that Japanese people need to know foreign political conditions and circumstances much better. Even though Japanese politics can no longer be discussed apart from world political trends, are we not far too ignorant of them? However, this by no means means imitating the West, copying it, or falling into Westernization. Japan possesses things that surpass those of other countries. We must make great efforts to bring these superior qualities to life. Yet this must not be a narrow, old-fashioned way of thinking, but rather a position of assimilating and digesting everything that is most excellent in Japanese-ism and giving direction to everything.
    • 30 September 1939, Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation Travel Diary to the U.S. and Europe — 30 June to 2 October 1939 — Transcription and Commentary, trans. from Japanese. In Dōshisha Hōgaku (Doshisha Law Review), Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)

1940

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  • The Incident has already lasted three full years. Under the august virtue of the Emperor, the valiant efforts of the officers and men of the Imperial Army have produced remarkable military results. We have seen the construction of a regenerated China centered on Wang Jingwei, and the building of the New Order in East Asia has begun. As one of the Japanese people I cannot help feeling profound gratitude and emotion. Last September the outbreak of the second European upheaval and the overwhelming victories of Germany and Italy have replaced the old European order with a new one, and world history is about to undergo a special transformation. The progress of the European situation is also repeatedly presenting divine opportunities for the construction of the New Order in East Asia. Now is the time for Japan to demand the withdrawal from Asia of all forces that obstruct the building of the New Order in East Asia, and to advance vigorously toward the establishment of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

1945

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  • Tennō Heika Banzai!
    • Chanted three times at the founding convention of the Japan Socialist Party; led by Toyohiko Kagawa and joined by Asanuma, prompting a mix of compliance and protests from the delegates.

1947

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  • Even if the electoral districts are small and the number of winners are limited, if a party gathers a large number of votes nationwide, it should naturally be able to participate in politics through that support. Therefore, a system that respects political parties must emerge. That is why adopting a policy of carving up the electoral districts into tiny pieces is clearly an act of repression against smaller parties. And if it is repression, the end result will be the obstruction of Japanese democracy. This is a point that we simply cannot accept.

1948

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1950

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  • I entered Waseda in September of Taishō 6 (or 7), the year of the school disturbances when professors like Nagai Ryūtarō and Ōyama Ikuo resigned. I was drawn to Waseda because it was founded by Marquis Ōkuma Shigenobu as a free academy aiming for the independence of learning and freedom of research in opposition to the bureaucratic military clique of the time.
  • From the standpoint of students, we began researching democracy and socialism, but influenced by external socialist and labor movements, two currents emerged among the students: those pursuing it ideologically and those focusing on practical action.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950)
  • Five or six thousand students gathered in front of the statue of Marquis Ōkuma. [...] It ended in a great student brawl, with people like Tokano Takeshi falling from the top of the Ōkuma statue and being injured. Since the day happened to be a Friday, we students called it 'Bloody Friday' and greatly raised our spirits.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950) (recounting the violent clash over the military research group at Waseda)
  • After that, there was ongoing confrontation between the Cultural Alliance and the vertically and horizontally aligned club [Yoko-Ou Club], a group of right-leaning students who were the main perpetrators of the violence. We were in a state where it was dangerous to walk around in ordinary student attire because we would be beaten if caught. We tried our best to avoid clashes, but about four or five days or a week after the brawl, while walking behind the school, I finally ran into members of the Yoko-Ou Club. 'Come with us for a moment,' they said, and I was taken to their club office. A large group of judo club members surrounded me and said, 'You were incited by socialists to hold that meeting, weren't you? That's outrageous—write an apology letter.' I replied, 'I wasn't incited by any socialists. As a Waseda student, I acted from a pure standpoint, driven by student passion to protect the founding spirit of Waseda—which Marquis Ōkuma Shigenobu established as a free academy in opposition to the bureaucratic military clique—for the independence of learning and freedom of research. So I cannot write one.' After that, they beat and kicked me, and I fell into a near-death state. But in the end, without writing the apology letter, I endured until morning and finally made it to a friend's house with a face covered in lumps, limping.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950) (recounting being ambushed and severely beaten by right-wing students a few days after the Bloody Friday rally against the Waseda Military Research Group)
  • I went to prison only twice: once when I was thrown into Ichigaya Prison during the Great Earthquake, and once during the Ashio Incident. On the other hand, the number of times I was thrown into the police detention cell is too many to count. If I refused to obey an order to stop a speech meeting, I would be taken away. If I participated in a demonstration during a labor dispute, I would be detained. These days, when I travel to the countryside, I sometimes meet former police officers who used to detain me. They say things like, 'I used to arrest you all the time back in the day, but nowadays I think the Socialist Party is the best. I'm a Socialist Party fan now.'
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950)
  • America also has people who have come to terms with the war and those who have not. The same can be said of Japan. Those who have come to terms with the war welcomed us very warmly and have come to understand Japan very well.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950) (reflections after a visit to the United States as part of a parliamentary delegation)
  • Nevertheless, America is more than twenty times the size of Japan and possesses extremely abundant resources. Of course there are unemployed and various contradictions of capitalism, yet people in general enjoy life. Japan, by contrast, is living a life-or-death existence. At least in the economic sphere the difference is as great as heaven and earth, and we must always keep this in mind. To transplant the American pattern as it stands to Japan is somewhat unreasonable. Japan’s present condition more closely resembles that of Britain.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950)
  • I have lived for twenty years in a small apartment in Fukagawa consisting of three rooms: a six-mat room, a four-and-a-half-mat room, and a three-mat room. It is cramped, and I receive many visitors, so I cannot rest properly. Sometimes I think about moving, but after living in one place for so long, I cannot bring myself to decide to leave. The neighbors tell me not to go, and I myself, even though things have improved a little, do not feel like leaving this apartment. Moreover, I serve as the head of the local cooperative here. The cooperative runs the bathhouse, fish shop, and vegetable shop, so I am, so to speak, the fishmonger boss, the greengrocer boss, and the bathhouse boss. This makes me even closer to everyone in the neighborhood, and because of these human ties, I find it hard to move.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950)
  • In last January’s general election the Communists jumped from four to thirty-five seats and the Liberals won an absolute majority of 270, yet Japan’s working class did not choose the victorious Communists; they chose the defeated Socialists.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950)
People often call me 'Maa-Maa Koji' or say I am indecisive, timid, passive, etc. But in a mass organization, once a policy is decided at a congress, if everyone abides by it, there will be neither conflict nor split.
  • People often call me 'Maa-Maa Koji' or say I am indecisive, timid, passive, etc. But in a mass organization, once a policy is decided at a congress, if everyone abides by it, there will be neither conflict nor split.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950)
  • No matter how many different arguments may arise, I think it is fine to bring things together where they need to be brought together. In a mass organization like the Socialist Party, there should be someone who can be called a unifier.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950)
  • As I said during the recent party self-criticism, everyone must adopt the attitude of being a pure Socialist Party member — that is, 'I am a Socialist Party member. Neither right nor left, just a Socialist Party member.'
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950)
  • The Socialist Party is a mass party, so when discussing things, it is natural that there will sometimes be left-leaning arguments and right-leaning arguments. What we must guard against is fixing 'left' and 'right' and turning them into factions.
    • Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950)

1953

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  • Since graduating from Waseda, for over thirty years I have devoted myself to social movements, sacrificing myself to serve the masses, and have done what little I can, believing it to be my historical mission to fight for the realization of socialism [..] This inevitably means sacrificing family life. [...] From a human perspective, social activism can sometimes seem cruel. I sometimes think: what is social activism without the liberation and establishment of family life?
  • The Yoshida Cabinet has driven post-independence Japanese politics into confusion and wandering. The people, having won independence six years after the end of the war, have regained the national awareness that was lost under occupation and are burning with enthusiasm to rebuild as a democratic nation. Yet the Yoshida Cabinet fails entirely to respond to this passion of the people. Instead, it blindly follows America in foreign policy while racing full speed ahead on a reactionary and reverse course in domestic policy. This is raising the specter of fascist reactionary politics that drives progressive citizens to despair, while on the other hand giving the Communist Party room to run wild, opening the path to totalitarianism of both the left and right, and placing the homeland and democracy in crisis.
  • 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.
    • Speech supporting the no-confidence motion against the Yoshida Cabinet, 14 March 1953
  • If one country has its security guaranteed by another country's military forces, and if that period becomes long, independence inevitably turns into subservience, we must recognize this. The fact that Japanese courts have no jurisdiction over those residing in Japan [U.S. forces and dependents] constitutes a form of extraterritoriality, and cannot be called complete independence.
    • Speech supporting the no-confidence motion against the Yoshida Cabinet, 14 March 1953
  • Moreover, when we look at the territorial issue: while it may be unavoidable that territories acquired by Japan during its period of expansion are returned to their respective countries, we have lost sovereignty over South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The Habomai and Shikotan Islands, which administratively belong to Hokkaido, are occupied by the Soviet Union. Amami Ōshima, the Okinawa islands, the Ogasawara Islands, Iwo Jima, and others remain under continued special military occupation, with over a million compatriots living outside Japanese administration. This must truly be called a national tragedy. Moreover, these compatriots fervently desire an early return to Japan.
    • Speech supporting the no-confidence motion against the Yoshida Cabinet, 14 March 1953
  • Japan must develop an independent foreign policy based on the great principle of never intervening in war, aiming to become a bridge for peace connecting free Asia with the West.
    • Speech supporting the no-confidence motion against the Yoshida Cabinet, 14 March 1953
  • There can be no national independence without economic self-reliance.
    • Speech supporting the no-confidence motion against the Yoshida Cabinet, 14 March 1953
  • The Yoshida Cabinet’s agricultural policy suppresses rice prices through controls while selling fertilizer freely—selling expensive fertilizer to Japanese farmers, buying rice cheaply from them, and importing expensive rice while selling cheap fertilizer abroad. One wonders for whose sake this agricultural policy exists.
    • Speech supporting the no-confidence motion against the Yoshida Cabinet, 14 March 1953
  • A Prime Minister who arbitrarily interprets the Constitution and ignores its provisions is behaving like a despot.
    • Speech supporting the no-confidence motion against the Yoshida Cabinet, 14 March 1953

1956

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On the one hand, while engaging in such student activism, I also rowed boats, wrestled sumo, and was active as a member of athletic clubs. In the inter-department boat races, I competed as a representative of the Political Economy Department and won. Still in my rowing outfit right after the boat race, I met Marquis Ōkuma. He patted my body and said, 'What a fine physique you have.' That impression remains with me even now.
  • When people ask about my ancestors, I reply, ‘Most likely descendants of exiles.’ [...] Among these exiled notables, the greatest hero is undoubtedly Minamoto no Tametomo. My friend, the local historian Asanuma Eitarō, once told me, ‘The reason you are fighting so hard in the Diet is because you carry the blood of Tametomo.’ Being compared to the modern Tametomo felt a bit ticklish.
  • The most memorable episode from my time on Miyake-jima was, I think, when I was in the fifth or sixth grade of elementary school, crossing a toi (wooden water trough) suspended over a cliff and being scolded by my mother. [...] Terrified, I ran outside, and later when I returned home, I hid inside a straw sack.
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).
  • In Taishō 5 [1916], after graduating from the Prefectural Third Middle School, I told my father, ‘I want to enter Waseda University and become a politician,’ but he scolded me severely. [...] My desire to attend Waseda only grew stronger, and in September of the same year I took the entrance examination for the second semester and entered Waseda University.
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).
  • We named this day ‘Bloody Friday.’ [...] Even after the incident, I was seized by members of the Yoko-Ou Club, taken to their lodging, and held captive all night where I was beaten, kicked, and punched until I was nearly unconscious from the lynching.
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).
  • On the one hand, while engaging in such student activism, I also rowed boats, wrestled sumo, and was active as a member of athletic clubs. In the inter-department boat races, I competed as a representative of the Political Economy Department and won. Still in my rowing outfit right after the boat race, I met Marquis Ōkuma. He patted my body and said, 'What a fine physique you have.' That impression remains with me even now.
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).
  • I was cornered to the limit, which instead heightened my rebellious spirit. When a guard passed by on patrol, I requested, 'I'm bored, so please let me read a book.' The guard curtly refused, saying 'I'm busy,' but I persistently demanded it anyway. That seems to have been a mistake. Around 9 p.m., I was dragged to the guards' station and told, 'Say what you said earlier again.' When I replied, 'I just said to lend me a book,' he said, 'You were being cheeky with that mouth,' and jammed two fingers into my mouth, yanked me up, threw me to the floor, and they all beat, kicked, and pummeled me. On top of that, when I was returned to my cell, I was handcuffed behind my back with leather handcuffs. The leather handcuffs lasted about a week, and it was so painful I could barely sleep or eat. However, I was told this was still on the lighter side, which shows how brutal it was under the earthquake emergency. After the leather handcuffs were removed, I was ordered to polish the handcuffs. There is no greater irony than being made to polish the handcuffs that would be put on one's own hands. About a month later I was released, but it was not family or friends who greeted me, it was the special higher police from Waseda Police Station. Having no choice, I went to Waseda Police Station, where I was told, 'Go back to the countryside and behave yourself, or you’ll be detained.' Thus, I dejectedly returned to my hometown on Miyake-jima. Miyake-jima was once an island where exiles were sent, it was truly a 'Taishō-era exile to the islands.'
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).
  • This happened just three hours after the party was founded. [...] There is the old saying of a ‘three-day shogun,’ but the Farmer-Labor Party was a three-hour shogun, and accordingly my first term as secretary-general lasted only three hours.
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).
  • If I gave a speech it was ‘Warning, Stop, Detention.’ If I was at the front of a demonstration it was ‘Detention.’ Among the social activists of that time, it seems I held the top record for number of detentions.
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).
  • However, my voice was not always this rattling voice. From my student days, I trained it by shouting against the waves on the banks of the Edo River or the shores of Miyake Island, doing cold training in the fields at midnight in winter, and studying Noh chanting in the Kanze school. [...] Thanks to this training, even now I can speak for two or three hours without drinking water.
  • Truly, speech was my only weapon of struggle throughout more than thirty years of mass movements.
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).
  • I heard the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War in a remaining apartment room in Fukagawa. I can never forget the feeling I had at that moment. [...] I felt that I must offer this extra life granted to me for the sake of Japan’s future.
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).
  • I am called the ‘Maa-Maa Koji.’ [...] In fact, at meetings of the Central Executive Committee and so on, I do not take votes. [...] I am not good at sitting solemnly as the weight of the party. [...] For me, who is not a theoretician, action is my only weapon, and I believe it is the way to serve the party.
    • My Resume (私の履歴書), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1956 (book form: 1957).

1959

[edit]
Looking at the current world situation, the global situation has changed since our delegation visited China two years ago in April 1957. Chairman Mao Zedong has expressed this with the apt phrase, 'the East Wind is prevailing over the West Wind,' and today this phrase has become known not only in China but around the world. In the world today, the growing strength of forces seeking peace and democracy — particularly the decisive upsurge of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements in Asia and Africa — clearly shows the overall trend. The colonial systems of the imperialist powers are already collapsing.
  • You are the greatest Marxist of our era. May I ask, what is communism?
  • Looking at the current world situation, the global situation has changed since our delegation visited China two years ago in April 1957. Chairman Mao Zedong has expressed this with the apt phrase, 'the East Wind is prevailing over the West Wind,' and today this phrase has become known not only in China but around the world. In the world today, the growing strength of forces seeking peace and democracy — particularly the decisive upsurge of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements in Asia and Africa — clearly shows the overall trend. The colonial systems of the imperialist powers are already collapsing.
  • The stationing of American military bases in Japan and Okinawa, which are gradually being fortified with nuclear weapons of all sizes, poses a serious threat. The peoples of Japan and China share the important common task of achieving a nuclear-free Asia and the withdrawal of foreign military bases.
    • Speech at the Political Consultative Conference Hall, Beijing, 12 March 1959
  • Taiwan is part of China and Okinawa is part of Japan. Nevertheless, the fact that both are separated from their respective mainlands is due to American imperialism. We must regard American imperialism as our common enemy and fight against it.
    • Speech at the Political Consultative Conference Hall, Beijing, 12 March 1959
  • We, the Japan Socialist Party, earnestly hope for the normalization of diplomatic relations with China at the earliest possible date. When we consider where the failures of Japanese diplomacy have always lain, they have consistently come from tying itself to distant countries while turning its back on its neighbors. In the Meiji era, Japan concluded the Anglo-Japanese Alliance with distant Britain and played the role of a watchdog in Asia. During the Second World War, it again formed a military alliance with distant Germany and Italy, turned its back on China and the countries of Southeast Asia, attempted military invasion, and pursued imperialist expansion — this, I believe, must be called a great failure. Now again, by tying itself to America, it is attempting to play a mediating role in America’s imperialist expansion into Southeast Asia. We strongly warn the government of this and demand a change of course. Our Socialist Party opposes such a diplomatic policy. In other words, we believe Japan should shift from the ‘distant alliance, nearby attack’ policy to a policy of good-neighbor friendship.
    • Speech at the Political Consultative Conference Hall, Beijing, 12 March 1959
  • There can be no national independence without economic independence. Japan must break free from dependence on the United States.
    • Speech at the Political Consultative Conference Hall, Beijing, 12 March 1959
  • I believe that the true nature of humanity is not one of conflict between people, nor of class against class, nor of nations fighting and shedding blood. I believe the true nature of humanity lies in resolving these problems as quickly as possible and mobilizing all our strength to struggle against great Nature. This struggle cannot be carried out without the practice of socialism. China has now resolved all its contradictions and is concentrating its struggle on great Nature. Here we can see what the advance of a socialist state looks like. I earnestly wish for victory in this struggle.
    • Speech at the Political Consultative Conference Hall, Beijing, 12 March 1959
  • Long live the advancing socialism of China! Long live the restoration of diplomatic relations between China and Japan! Long live peace in Asia and the world!
    • Closing cheers, Beijing, 12 March 1959

1960

[edit]
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.]
  • There is no need to retract. This is not an attack on the American people; fighting imperialist policy is natural for the Socialist Party.
    • Response to U.S. Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II, who demanded he retract the statement "U.S. imperialism is the common enemy of the Japanese and Chinese peoples." (May 1960, after the forced passage of the revised U.S.-Japan Security Treaty)
  • Nichinichi kore kōnichi (日日是好日 / Every day is a good day)
    • Calligraphy performed during a public lecture at Kinryū-ji Temple, Azumino, Nagano Prefecture, 4 September 1960, a stone monument reproducing his calligraphy was later erected at the temple by attendees as a memorial
  • Gentlemen, I believe the essence of politics is to straighten what is crooked in the nation and society, to correct what is unjust, and to restore what is unnatural to its natural state. However, in our country today, there are many crooked things, unjust things, and unnatural things.
  • The stationing of foreign troops in Japan for twenty-five long years is an unnatural situation unprecedented since the founding of the country.
    • Final speech at Hibiya Public Hall, 12 October 1960
  • Nehru of India has said, ‘We do not like foreign bases. The existence of foreign bases within a country means that foreign powers have entered into its very heart, and they always carry the scent of war.’ We, too, are deeply struck by exactly the same feeling.
    • Final speech at Hibiya Public Hall, 12 October 1960
  • American military bases in Japan are like American enclaves. Japanese courts have no jurisdiction inside them. This is nothing less than extraterritoriality.
    • Final speech at Hibiya Public Hall, 12 October 1960
  • Moreover, to expand these bases, Japanese are forced to shed blood against Japanese. For example, Tachikawa Air Base is currently an American base. To expand this American base, they try to seize the land of farmers in Sunagawa. The Sunagawa farmers resist. Then the Procurement Agency officials call in the police to suppress them. Behind the farmers stand the people who seek complete independence for Japan and support them. In this way, they glare at each other and shed blood. It is no exaggeration to say that this ‘independence’ is a contradictory independence in which Japanese blood must be spilled in order to expand American enclaves.
    • Final speech at Hibiya Public Hall, 12 October 1960
  • In any case, I believe that at this time we should sever our military relationship with the United States. At the same time, we should demand the severing of the military relations with Japan maintained by China and the Soviet Union. Then, with Japan, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China—so to speak, the four countries spanning the two camps—at the center, we must establish a new security system. I maintain that this must be the basis of Japanese diplomacy.
    • Final speech at Hibiya Public Hall, 12 October 1960
  • We should respect each other's independence and territories, not interfere in internal affairs, not commit aggression, and stand on the basis of reciprocity and equality. On this basis, I believe that a new security system should naturally be established.
    • Final speech at Hibiya Public Hall, 12 October 1960
  • 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.]
    • Last words before being assassinated on stage (and prepared continuation), 12 October 1960
  • Finally, I must say that today’s Japanese politics is money politics — it is plutocracy. This injustice must be corrected. In our country’s politics, enormous sums of money are spent on elections. Once elected, politicians scramble for vested interests to recover that money. Sometimes this even leads to the exercise of command authority. The person who collects the most money becomes party president, and the party president becomes Prime Minister. That is the mechanism we have today.
    • Prepared continuation of the final speech (undelivered portion), Hibiya Public Hall, 12 October 1960
  • As a result of politics moving by money in this way, a mood of ‘anything goes if you have money’ fills society. Hope and ideals disappear, and a hand-to-mouth, live-for-the-day attitude prevails. The number of crimes has risen more than tenfold compared to prewar times, and juvenile problems in particular have become a source of worry for parents with children of that age. The government talks about moral education or revising the Fundamental Law of Education, but what is really needed is to correct the fundamental distortion in politics.
    • Prepared continuation of the final speech, Hibiya Public Hall, 12 October 1960
  • The basic way to correct politics is for the government itself to uphold the Constitution and conduct clean, honest governance.
    • Prepared continuation of the final speech, 12 October 1960

Attributed / In conversation

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  • There’s a rumor that the Zengakuren is going to set the building on fire, so all the honorable Diet members seem to have disappeared. I'll be running in Shinjuku next election, so I’m counting on your support.
  • What? Is one enough for you guys?
    • On a campaign tour when a reporter saw many katsudon bowls prepared for the press and asked if others were coming. Asanuma then ate two full bowls with miso soup and pickles. This anecdote is well-known for illustrating his enormous appetite and down-to-earth character. Recounted by journalist Shigezō Hayasaka, who frequently accompanied him.
  • Maa maa. (まあまあ。)
    • His habitual soothing phrase ("There, there" / "Calm down, calm down") used during heated factional meetings in the Japan Socialist Party. This mannerism earned him the affectionate nickname "Maa-Maa Koji" (まあまあ居士).
  • I am a socialist. It is not necessary.
    • Refusing a bodyguard suggested by aides amid threats from right-wing groups, recounted by a close aide, 1960
  • The masses believe in me. No one would try to kill me.
    • Asanuma expressing confidence when declining protection, testimony of close associates, 1960

Quotes about Asanuma

[edit]
You were content with a life of honest poverty and continued to live modestly for thirty years in a small apartment in downtown Tokyo. You would take your beloved dog for walks in the neighborhood, and this was your daily pleasure. The people felt boundless affection for your down-to-earth appearance, even as they listened to your powerful oratory.
  • 'Numa truly is a speech-making everyman
    With his soiled clothes and tattered briefcase;
    Today in this public hall,
    Tomorrow at a roadside temple in Kyoto.
    • Poem written by his friend Tadokoro Teruaki around the time of the Japan Labour-Farmer Party founding (circa 1925–1926), later quoted by Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda in his memorial speech
  • What has especially strengthened my resolve to accept this heavy responsibility is the fact that Secretary-General Asanuma Inejirō, who, in the absence of a chairman, steadfastly upheld the three principles of peace settlement decided at the fifth and sixth conventions amid the storm arising from the Korean question, will continue to cooperate with me as Secretary-General.
    • Mosaburō Suzuki, inaugural address upon assuming the chairmanship of the Left Socialist Party of Japan (“Youth, Do Not Take Up Arms Again” / 青年よ再び銃をとるな　委員長就任挨拶), 21 January 1951
  • Socialist Secretary-General Inajiro Asanuma told of how he would be arrested, questioned and then released at one station, only to be picked up and questioned again at another.
    • Time, JAPAN: Policemen's Lot, 3 November 1958
  • The Great Wall is very high, yet you took off your leather shoes and climbed it!
    • Mao Zedong, upon meeting Asanuma the day after his barefoot climb of the Great Wall (March 1959). This humorous remark surprised Asanuma, who wondered how Mao had heard about it so quickly. Everyone present laughed.
  • The greatest difference between Inejirō Asanuma and the party he leads, and the social democratic parties of Europe, is that your party opposes American imperialism.
    • Mao Zedong, during a meeting in Beijing, March 1959
  • Orchestrating the demonstrations was Socialist Party Secretary-General Inejiro Asanuma, the burly former union organizer who has been chummy with the Chinese Communists ever since his Peking trip last year. Backed by three loudspeaker trucks and hundreds of followers, he strode up to the U.S. embassy and handed Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II a truculent letter. It declared that President Eisenhower’s impending visit to Japan, scheduled for June 19, “will only provoke the Japanese people, already infuriated by the passing of the security pact.” Mac-Arthur retorted with a demand that Asa numa retract his widely ballyhooed statements that “the U.S. is the common enemy of China and Japan.” “Not the American people,” cried Asanuma. “American imperialism!” What was the difference? “Mr. Asanuma was unable to make any clear distinction,” observed MacArthur in a public statement after the meeting. As for Asanuma’s prediction that Ike’s trip would bring disturbances, MacArthur noted that “he presumably is in a position not only to predict but to organize disorders if he so chooses.”
    • Time, JAPAN: The Anti-Kishi Riots, 6 June 1960
  • Two on TV. Next day Asanuma showed up on TV to cry for the Premier’s resignation. At his side sat Nobusuke Kishi, coldly angry. “Why should I dissolve the Diet and hold elections because of a small minority demonstrating in the streets of Tokyo?” he declared. “There have been three elections since I became Premier, and my government has won a majority in all of them. Therefore, I believe I have a mandate from the people.”
    • Time, JAPAN: The Anti-Kishi Riots, 6 June 1960
  • Independent newspapers, sharply hostile to the government earlier in the week, were critical of Asanuma’s antics at the embassy. Snorted Asahi: “Asanuma behaved like Nikita Khrushchev.”
    • Time, JAPAN: The Anti-Kishi Riots, 6 June 1960
  • Inejiro Asanuma, the tough 205- pounder who plays a major role in the current agitation against the United States- Japanese mutual security treaty, has been discribed by a critic as a man whose “body is too big for his brain.” On the other hand, he has won renown in Leftist circles for his frequent successes in mediating the innumerable quarrels that have kept the Japanese Socialist movement in turmoil. Mr. Asanuma's nickname, “Mah-mah koji," tells the story of much of his life. It has been his custom to intervene in stormy Socialist party sessions with a familiar Japanese exclamation, "Mah, mah," which is the equivalent of the English "Well, now." The word "koji” means “mediator.”
    • The New York Times, Tough Tokyo Leftist; Inejiro Asanuma, 8 June 1960
  • Inejiro Ascmuma, 63, chairman of the Socialist Party. A gravel-voiced orator as round as he is tall (weight: 225 Ibs.), Asanuma is admiringly called “the man locomotive.” Thick-headed as well as hamhanded, Asanuma graduated from W’aseda University and promptly became a labor agitator. When a minority group of moderates bolted the party last November because of disgust with the Socialist leadership’s parroting of the Communist line, Asanuma was elected chairman of the remainder.
    • Time, Foreign News: THE MEN BEHIND THE MOBS, 27 June 1960
    • The original article contains the typographical error “Ascmuma” (for Asanuma) and incorrectly states his age as 63; he was 61 at the time.
  • An indefatigable speechmaker of the shirt-sleeve-and-galluses school, Asanuma seems seriously to believe that Japan is a U.S. colony. When he is with his friends, Asanuma bursts into violent denunciations of U.S. imperialism as the “common enemy” of Japan and Red China. But with Americans he sweatily protests he is not anti-U.S. The growing violence in the streets and the cancellation of Eisenhower’s visit appear to Asanuma as an augury of total victory. He boasts: “We are now on top!”
    • Time, Foreign News: THE MEN BEHIND THE MOBS, 27 June 1960
  • He's a good person, which makes it all the more regrettable to deal with him.
    • Bin Akao, personal evaluation of Inejirō Asanuma
    • This remark is believed by some historians to have influenced Otoya Yamaguchi, the young right-wing activist who assassinated Asanuma in October 1960.
  • You idiot! Even if he was a Socialist, he was someone who wanted to make the country better! How could I not go?
    • Kakuei Tanaka, according to his son Kyō Tanaka, recalling Tanaka's reaction to the assassination of Inejirō Asanuma, 12 October 1960; reported in Bessatsu Takarajima
  • We firmly believe that the Japanese people’s struggle for independence, democracy, peace, neutrality, and the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations will certainly achieve final victory; Mr. Asanuma’s unfinished cause will certainly be realized along with the victory of the Japanese people’s struggle.
    • Zhou Enlai, condolence telegram, 13 October 1960
  • The streak of violence that continues to lurk behind the façade of Japanese democracy has been revealed again in the assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of Japan's Socialist party and one of the leaders in the riots that forced a cancellation of President Eisenhower's visit to Japan four months ago. He was stabbed to death by an ultra-Rightist teen-age student in the presence of Premier Ikeda while denouncing the latter on the issue of the American-Japanese security treaty at a three-party rally. The assassination casts a pall over both American-Japanese relations and the impending Japanese national election scheduled for Nov. 23. [...] The assassination has now provided the Left-Wing elements with a martyr, and the popular reaction to this development remains to be seen. Most of all, however, the new act of violence casts a pall over Japan's own still uncertain democracy. For though this is the first assassination of a major political figure in Japan since the days of "Government by Assassination" in the Thirties, it has been preceded not only by the Left-Wing mob outbreaks but also by physical attacks on Socialist and Conservative leaders, including former Premier Kishi. It thus raises the specter of a new reign of terror by Leftist and Rightist extremists who are building up rival "storm troop" organizations for that purpose.
    • The New York Times, Assassination in Japan, 13 October 1960
  • Both the pro-United States party of the Japanese Government and the pro-Communist Socialist party have been thrown off balance by the assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, Socialist leader. The Socialists have favored rejection of the security treaty between Japan and the United States concluded by the Government of Premier Hayato Ikeda, Mr. Asanuma had once said "American imperialism" was Japan's principal enemy. Mr. Asanuma was stabbed to death at a political rally Wednesday by a 17-year-old boy identified as Otoya Yamaguchi, son of a colonel in the Japanese Army. [...] Japanese national leaders have deplored the slaying of Mr. Asanuma. They have called it evidence of spiritual decay in Japan. Leading newspapers have called the assassination evidence of an inherent weakness in Japan's accommodation to democracy of the Western kind. Socialist and pro-Communist leaders seemed uncertain how to best exploit the sudden gift of a national martyr in the days immediately preceding a national election. A street demonstration planned for tonight fizzled, but more such activity appeared to be in prospect. Thousands View Body Thousands stood in line to view Mr. Asanuma's body as it lay in state at Socialist headquarters yesterday. Authorities estimated that about 15,000 unionists and students assembled for a rally at Hibiya Park, near the scene of the assassination.
    • The New York Times, SLAYING CONFUSES POLITICS IN JAPAN; Death of Socialist Leader Leaves 2 Major Parties Uncertain of Course, 14 October 1960
  • Just now, as I stand on this rostrum facing all of you, I clearly perceive one empty seat in this chamber. It is the seat of a worthy rival with whom I secretly vowed to debate policy from this very rostrum in the Diet, and with whom I pledged to engage in policy debates across the country during the upcoming general election. Once I heard a voice coming from here at Socialist Party conventions, and sometimes at the head of the masses. Now that person is gone, and that voice has fallen silent. To whom should I direct my debates? Yet if I listen carefully with a clear mind, I seem to hear a voice crying out from there: "Do not let what happened to me happen to others," and "Violence is the common enemy of all democratic politicians."
    • Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda, memorial address in the Diet, 18 October 1960
  • You were content with a life of honest poverty and continued to live modestly for thirty years in a small apartment in downtown Tokyo. You would take your beloved dog for walks in the neighborhood, and this was your daily pleasure. The people felt boundless affection for your down-to-earth appearance, even as they listened to your powerful oratory.
    • Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda, memorial address in the Diet, 18 October 1960
  • The 59-year-old sovereign's statement, made in a speech opening a special session of the Diet (Parliament), alluded to the assassination last Wednesday of Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of the Socialist party, and the disruptive political atmosphere since then. This was regarded as the nearest approach to direct intervention by the Emperor in a situation of grave national concern since he renounced the divinity of the sovereign in January, 1946. [...] "At this moment, when the internal situation is grave," Hirohito declared at a joint session of the two-house parliament today, "I think it is very important for the people to esteem the principle of obeying the laws, to cooperate with each other, and to make the utmost efforts for promoting the national fortune in accordance with the principles of democracy." The slightly built, bespectacled Emperior, reading from a scroll, declared that observance of the principles he outlined would “increase the trust of the world” in Japan. Premier Ikeda, delivering a eulogy in the Diet today to his assassinated Socialist rival, pledged that he and his colleagues would take steps to eliminate violent activities from the national political fabric.
    • The New York Times, HIROHITO APPEALS FOR PUBLIC ORDER; Emperor, in Speech to Diet, Urges Japanese to Shun Violence as Voting Nears, 19 October 1960
  • 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.
  • Mr. Asanuma not only devoted himself to the cause of Sino-Japanese friendship, but also made positive contributions to defending peace in the Far East and the world, and to developing the unity of the peoples of Asia and Africa.
  • The first speaker was bull-necked Asanuma, who lumbered to the rostrum a few moments after 3 p.m., and in a deep, rasping voice began denouncing Japan’s much-debated security pact with the U.S. Hecklers of a Nazi-style group called the Great Japan Patriots’ Party showered the stage with leaflets and shouted “Shut up, Communist” and “Banzai the U.S.A.” Asanuma ignored them. As he went on speaking, a youth leaped onto the stage. He was wearing boots, a student’s high-collared black uniform and a thick jacket. He clutched a slightly curved sword with a bayonet-like blade a foot long. Catching sight of the youth racing toward him, Asanuma raised his left hand, almost as in a benediction. Then his eyes widened and his mouth opened in horror when he turned his head and saw the sword. Holding the sword in a two-handed samurai-style grip, the youth rammed into Asanuma like a blocking back, plunging the blade deep into Asanuma’s 225-lb. bulk. It pierced his lower abdomen and liver. The thudding collision sent Asanuma’s speech notes sailing through the air, jarred off the student’s glasses. Then, in a kind of macabre dance, dying politician and youthful assassin fell away from each other.
    • Time, JAPAN: By the Sword, 24 October 1960
  • Asanuma stumbled, his huge face contorted in agony. The youth whirled, took a fresh grip on the sword, and made a second thrust into the left side of Asanuma’s chest. As horrified onlookers grabbed the assassin, Asanuma wobbled, then collapsed. He was rushed in a police car to a nearby hospital, but he was dead on arrival.
    • Time, JAPAN: By the Sword, 24 October 1960
  • Ironically, Asanuma was largely responsible for creating the atmosphere of violence that has recently plagued Japanese politics. A rabble-rouser who never tired of praising Red China, or of calling the U.S. “the common enemy of China and Japan,” Asanuma organized the snake-dancing demonstrations that kept President Eisenhower away from Japan last June. Since then, ex-Premier Nobusuke Kishi and Socialist Jotaro Kawakami have both been stabbed by fanatics. This did not deter the Socialists from launching further violent demonstrations. Crying “Down with Ikeda,” left-wing Zengakuren students charged police barricades at the Diet, began their ritualistic snake dance before the Premier’s official residence.
    • Time, JAPAN: By the Sword, 24 October 1960
  • At police headquarters, the assassin calmly identified himself as Otoya Yamaguchi, 17, told detectives his only regret was failing to kill Communist Sanzo Nosaka and Japan Teachers’ Union Chairman Takeshi Kobayashi as well as Asanuma.
    • Time, JAPAN: By the Sword, 24 October 1960
  • Great Japan Patriots’ Party Leader Bin Akao, whose hero is Hitler, praised young Yamaguchi as “a paragon of Japanese virtue,” and called Asanuma’s end a “heaven-sent punishment.” Hundreds of mourners burned incense before a shrine set up in the yard of Asanuma’s Tokyo home, and the Socialists plainly hope to use his murder to gain them votes in the election.
    • Time, JAPAN: By the Sword, 24 October 1960
  • Chairman Asanuma grasped the essence of the problem, grasped the essence of Japan-U.S. relations, and also grasped the fundamental problems of the peoples of China, Japan, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and also Europe, North America and Canada, and other countries of the whole world. I once told Chairman Asanuma: 'Those who agree with this view may sometimes be fewer, sometimes more, but in the future it will certainly develop in the direction of becoming more numerous.'
  • The news that Chairman Asanuma had been struck down by the blade of a right-wing youth reached the Japan Socialist Party press club inside the National Diet about one minute after the incident occurred. Only about one reporter per company had been sent to cover the three-party leaders' debate at Hibiya Public Hall, as most thought 'nothing much will happen.' At that moment, most of the press club members were glued to the live television broadcast of the Japan Series between the Taiyo Whales and the Mainichi Orions. But as soon as this tragic report came in, almost everyone prayed 'I hope it's nothing serious' while racing at full speed toward Hibiya in their cars.
  • When Numa-san turned 60, more than 200 Tokyo-based reporters and cameramen held a 60th birthday celebration for him at the Chinzan-so in Koishikawa, Tokyo. This was the first time such an event had ever been held in the history of Japanese journalism.
  • This man could not tell a lie. It seems his belief was that one must not deceive the public. However, precisely because he could not lie, he was terribly troubled by malicious questions from newspaper reporters. When he was cornered, he would always shrink his large body awkwardly and begin fidgeting with the document box beside him. We knew that if we got that reaction from him, our article would be accurate.
  • Numa-san was not only a devoted husband but also a feminist who deeply respected women. If his wife Kyōko happened to be out when he returned home, he would say, 'Where’s Kaa-chan…?' and might even open the closet doors looking for her. Late at night when reporters were leaving his home, if there were dried fish sent from his hometown on Miyake Island or fruits from local fans, he would always wrap three or four of them roughly in whatever newspaper was at hand and press them on us, saying, 'Give these to Kaa-chan…' It is certain that these gifts from Numa-san delighted the reporters’ wives.
    • Sakai Yukio (Yomiuri 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
  • 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
  • At the hand of a despicable fascist murderer, a hireling of the imperialists, Comrade Inejirō Asanuma, chairman of the Socialist Party of Japan, a prominent public figure and fighter for peace and democracy, has perished.
  • Inspired by the spirit of Asanuma, the Japanese people will surely intensify their patriotic struggle against U.S. imperialism and drive it out of Japan.
    • Liu Ning-I, opening address at the public meeting in Peking commemorating the fourth anniversary of Inejirō Asanuma’s death, 12 October 1964; reported in Peking Review, Vol. 7, No. 42 (16 October 1964).
  • I feel that Asanuma's spirit is alive and has become the common possession of the Japanese and Chinese peoples.
    • Kyōko Asanuma, speech at the same meeting, 12 October 1964; reported in ''Peking Review'', Vol. 7, No. 42 (16 October 1964).
  • The people of the whole world must unite to overthrow imperialism. This is the lofty mission of mankind.
    • Isamu Yuyama (head of the Japanese Socialist Party’s Council Against the "Security Treaty" delegation), speech at the same meeting, 12 October 1964; reported in Peking Review, Vol. 7, No. 42 (16 October 1964).
  • [Asanuma was] a great fighter in the just struggle against U.S. imperialism and an outstanding hero in the defence of Asian and world peace.
    • Chang Hsi-jo, President of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, speech at the same meeting, 12 October 1964; reported in Peking Review, Vol. 7, No. 42 (16 October 1964).
  • The U.S.-Japanese reactionaries instigated the fascist bandits to assassinate Asanuma. Their purpose was to sabotage, split up and suppress the Japanese people’s just, patriotic struggle against U.S. imperialism. But the heroic Japanese people have not been intimidated. They have stood up courageously and are carrying on that struggle.
    • Chang Hsi-jo, same speech, 12 October 1964; reported in Peking Review, Vol. 7, No. 42 (16 October 1964).
  • U.S. imperialism is the common enemy of the Chinese and Japanese peoples. It is an objective reality which, with his political acumen, Inejiro Asanuma spoke about five years ago.
    • Chang Hsi-jo, same speech, 12 October 1964; reported in Peking Review, Vol. 7, No. 42 (16 October 1964).
  • The spirit of Asanuma cannot be effaced. Inejiro Asanuma has died, but others in the Japanese Socialist Party will carry on his unfinished work.
    • Chang Hsi-jo, same speech, 12 October 1964; reported in Peking Review, Vol. 7, No. 42 (16 October 1964).
  • He loved the masses, and the masses loved him in return. The fighter for liberation, Inejirō Asanuma, still lives among us today. Until the reactionary blade ended his sixty-one-year life, he never stopped fighting. If you listen carefully, you can still hear today his cries and the roar of the masses.
  • Born December Meiji 31 on Miyake-jima — Died October 12, Showa 35 at the hands of a thug
  • I am opposed to it. Asanuma and I were on good terms. We often drank together. Asanuma personally was a fine person. That's why I said, 'Why did they do such a foolish thing? With this, they have eliminated the forum for dialogue between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Socialist Party.' Shortly afterwards, the Chūō Kōron incident occurred. At that time, I wrote in a newspaper, 'You mustn't do things like this. This is not the true form of the national movement,' and someone scolded me for it.
    • Yoshio Kodama, in a dialogue with Shūsaku Endō, Ware kaku tatakaeri, p. 283 (1975)
  • 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.
  • Asanuma, who visited China and greeted with 'U.S. imperialism is the common enemy of the Japanese and Chinese peoples,' causing controversy at home and abroad, was affectionately called by the masses 'Numa the speech-making everyman'. There were not a few people who felt a historical sense of loss at the sudden death of that man.
  • I regard this photograph as a 'lucky scoop,' but it was also a heavy one. It was a scoop obtained through the death of Asanuma. My feeling of regret toward Asanuma has not changed even now, 50 years later.
    • Yoshitake Takayoshi (Tokyo Shimbun photographer), in his testimony for Chūnichi Shimbun Alumni Association 50-Year History (『中日新聞社友会五十年史』), 2011


See also

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