Inejirō Asanuma

“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!””

“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.”

“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.””

“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.””

“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.”

“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.”

“'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.”

“The masses believe in me. No one would try to kill me.”

“I am a socialist. It is not necessary.”

“Maa maa. (まあまあ。)”

“What? One bowl is enough for you guys?”

“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.”

“The basic way to correct politics is for the government itself to uphold the Constitution and conduct clean, honest governance.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.]”

“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.”

“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.”

“American military bases in Japan are like American enclaves. Japanese courts have no jurisdiction inside them. This is nothing less than extraterritoriality.”

“The stationing of foreign troops in Japan for twenty-five long years is an unnatural situation unprecedented since the founding of the country.”