Introduction

February 1972. Five youngsters barricaded themselves in the Asama mountain lodge in Nagano prefecture, and engaged in gun battles with the police. They were the soldiers of the United Red Army who placed everything on the line of the revolution. As it became known that they purged some of their own comrades, the student activism in Japan stalled completely. 1960s saw the world surge. The student activism in Japan was also gaining momentum towards social change, having been joined by farmers and laborers. While arrests of activists continued, the United Red Army was created by the radical youngsters. What cornered those youngsters to that extent? What made them lay hands on their own partisans? What was occurring at that time? The prodigy Koji Wakamatsu portrays the outcry of the time.