was a Japanese

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...

extremist, author, and ecologist. His name is spelled "Ryu Ohta" as well.

Biography

He was born Tōichi Kurihara (栗原登一) in Toyohara,

Karafuto Prefecture Karafuto Prefecture ( ja, 樺太庁, ''Karafuto-chō''; russian: Префектура Карафуто, Prefektura Karafuto), commonly known as South Sakhalin, was a prefecture of Japan located in Sakhalin from 1907 to 1949. Karafuto became ter ...

. In October 1945, he joined the

Democratic Youth League of Japan The , abbreviated DYLJ or , is a political youth organisation in Japan. It is the youth wing of the Japanese Communist Party, as well as an organisational body of Zengakuren. Minsei describes itself as a "voluntary youth organisation in respon ...

. In 1947, he joined the

Japanese Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

. In 1953, he left the

. In 1955, he and Kanichi Kuroda established the

Japan Revolutionary Communist League The is a Trotskyist group in Japan. History Several small groups split from the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. They attended a congress in 1957 and agreed to unite as the JRCL. Although Japan had no h ...

, thus becoming leader of the

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of wor ...

in Japan. In 1957, he established the Japanese Trotskyist League (日本トロツキスト連盟 ''Nihon Trotskyist Renmei''). In 1970, he was sentenced to death by his former fellow members for leaving the Japanese Trotskyist League. He spearheaded

Ainu Revolution Theory Ainu Revolution Theory ( ja, アイヌ革命論, ''Ainu Kakumeiron'') is a left-wing political idea in Japan that was active in the 1970s. It was a variant of Proletarian Revolution Theory that came to light shortly after the revision of the Tre ...

, grouping the Ainu within the

lumpenproletariat In Marxist theory, the ''Lumpenproletariat'' () is the underclass devoid of class consciousness. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels coined the word in the 1840s and used it to refer to the unthinking lower strata of society exploited by reactionary a ...

. In 1971 he attempted to start an

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

revolution but failed. He and the leader of the

Ainu Liberation League Ainu or Aynu may refer to: * Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East * Ainu languages, a family of languages ** Ainu language of Hokkaido ** Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands ** Sakhalin Ai ...

were both arrested for inciting a riot and they continuously blamed each other. In 1986, he established the Japanese Green Party, but it immediately split into two separate parties and both failed. In 1986, he authored a book called ''Japan Ecologist Proclamation'', in which he proclaimed that "we must overthrow all human dictatorship! Free the cockroaches, free the rats, free the earthworms!" Since 1986, he was a candidate in three elections. In the 1990s he became known as one of the principal publishers of

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

materials and

Jewish conspiracy Belief in an international Jewish conspiracy or world Jewish conspiracy has been described as "the most widespread and durable conspiracy theory of the twentieth century" and "one of the most widespread and long-running conspiracy theories". Alt ...

theories in Japan, as well as controversial writings on the destructive effects of Westernisation, including the aesthetic and moral superiority of Japanese women over Western women. He was also a self-styled Buddhist philosopher.

Affiliations

He was the leader of the following associations: *The Natural Life Academy (天寿学会, ''Tenju Gakkai'') *The Civilization Critic Academy (文明批判学会, ''Bunmei Hihan Gakkai'') *The Institute for Historical Verification (歴史修正研究所, ''Rekishi Shūsei Kenkyūjo'') *The Institute for Universal Strategy (宇宙戦略研究所, ''Uchū Senryaku Kenkyūjo'') *The Earth Restoration League (地球維新連盟, ''Chukyū Ishin Renmei'') He was also the author of ''UFO Theory and Space Civilization: Prospects for 21st Century Science.''

Notes

External links

English Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ota, Ryu 1930 births 2009 deaths Ainu politics Antisemitism in Japan Former Marxists Japanese Buddhists Japanese conspiracy theorists Japanese environmentalists People from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Tokyo University of Science alumni