NHK’s “Unsolved Cases” is a new documentary series. I’ve enjoyed a few episodes and was looking forward to watching the one about the Japanese Red Army.
You can imagine my shock when the documentary failed to explain what the Japanese Red Army even was—and in many moments, it felt like the director was trying to whitewash their crimes.
The documentary started with the student uprisings and the formation of revolutionary communist groups. It then focused on Fusako Shigenobu, the formation of the Japanese Red Army, and its history.
As a reminder: The Japanese Red Army was designated a terrorist organization that carried out attacks in Japan and around the world. One of their earliest and deadliest attacks was at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, killing 26 people and injuring about 80. Many of the victims were Christian pilgrims. The Red Army continued to kidnap, demand ransoms, and kill—and in one case, they demanded the release of a criminal from a Japanese jail who had been convicted of murder. He wasn’t even related to the Japanese Red Army; he was just a murderous criminal.
The documentary attempted to portray the Japanese government’s efforts to catch or stop the terrorist organization as proactive, when in fact their leader (Fusako Shigenobu) was arrested in Japan (!!!) in 2000—years after the organization had ceased to be effective.
Many minutes of the documentary were filled with interviews of Fusako Shigenobu and another member of the terrorist organization. In some cases, she expressed remorse for killing innocent people, but in most, she was smiling at the camera, laughing, and saying that Kozo Okamoto’s actions and their support for Palestinian terrorist acts were understandable, adding things like “now you understand.”
Where the documentary failed:
- No voice from the people affected by the terrorist attacks. No interviews with victims.
- It gave a convicted terrorist an opportunity on national TV to whitewash her crimes.
I’m usually not the type of person to complain about TV shows, but this one really shocked me, so I provided similar feedback to NHK.