Shūsuke Nomura (, 14 February 1935 – 20 October 1993) was a Japanese

ethnic nationalist Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentrism , ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocracy, ethnocratic) ...

activist. He is best remembered for his suicide in the offices of the newspaper ''

Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...

''.

Life and career

In 1963 Nomura burned down the home of politician

Ichirō Kōno was a postwar Japanese politician and a member of the National Diet. In the 1950s and 1960s, he was the head of the powerful "Konō Faction" within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. Konō aspired to become prime minister, but alth ...

, for which he served 12 years in prison. On 3 March 1977, in what came to be known as the Keidanren incident, he and three others entered the

Japan Federation of Economic Organizations The is an economic organization founded in May 2002 by amalgamation of Keidanren (, Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, established 1946; name sometimes used alone as abbreviation for whole organization) and Nikkeiren (, Japan Federatio ...

headquarters with pistols, hunting rifles and Japanese swords, initially taking 12 staff members hostage and confining them in the chairman's office for about 11 hours. The four called themselves the "Youth Alliance to Overthrow the YP Yalta-Potsdam.html"_;"title="Yalta_Conference.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Yalta_Conference">Yalta-Potsdam">Yalta_Conference.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Yalta_Conference">Yalta-PotsdamSystem"_and_had_the_stated_goal_of_"throwing_a_hammer_against_the_deception_of_the_post-_war_system"._After_Yoko_Sugiyama_( Yalta-Potsdam.html"_;"title="Yalta_Conference.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Yalta_Conference">Yalta-Potsdam">Yalta_Conference.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Yalta_Conference">Yalta-PotsdamSystem"_and_had_the_stated_goal_of_"throwing_a_hammer_against_the_deception_of_the_post-_war_system"._After_Yoko_Sugiyama_(Yukio_Mishima">Yukio_Mishima's_wife)_decided_to_intervene_by_imploring_them_to_release_the_hostages,_the_group_gave_in_to_her_demand,_due_to_the_respect_they_had_for_Mishima._Nomura_then_served_another_6_years_in_prison._He_continued_to_maintain_that_circumstances_sometimes_justified_such_violence. Nomura_and_his_Kaze_no_Kai_(,_"Wind_Party")_ran_in_the_1992_Japanese_House_of_Councillors_election.html" ;"title="Yukio_Mishima.html" ;"title="Yalta_Conference">Yalta-Potsdam.html" ;"title="Yalta_Conference.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Yalta Conference">Yalta-Potsdam">Yalta_Conference.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Yalta Conference">Yalta-PotsdamSystem" and had the stated goal of "throwing a hammer against the deception of the post- war system". After Yoko Sugiyama (Yukio Mishima">Yukio Mishima's wife) decided to intervene by imploring them to release the hostages, the group gave in to her demand, due to the respect they had for Mishima. Nomura then served another 6 years in prison. He continued to maintain that circumstances sometimes justified such violence. Nomura and his Kaze no Kai (, "Wind Party") ran in the 1992 Japanese House of Councillors election">1992 Upper House election. The party was behind in the polls when the ''

'' published a cartoon in its weekly magazine in which the character for "lice" () replaced the character for "wind" () in "Kaze no Tō". In reaction, Nomura entered the offices of ''Asahi'' dressed in a kimono, proclaimed "" (, "''Asahi'' and I will die upon each other's swords"), and bowed in the direction of the Imperial Palace. He then shot himself with two pistols and died shortly after in the hospital. Media criticized Nomura's act as an attack on freedom of the press.

Legacy

In October 2013 NHK board member distributed an essay at a memorial for Nomura in which she said that Emperor Akihito became a "living god" again when Nomura shot himself, "whatever [the postwar] Constitution might say". Before Japan's loss in World War II, Japanese emperors had been deified, but the postwar constitution demoted the emperor to a symbolic, human role.

References

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nomura, Shusuke 1935 births 1993 deaths Suicides by firearm in Japan Japanese criminals Japanese activists Japanese nationalists Japanese prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Japan