#zenkyoto

Variation - 変奏曲 (1976)

Ideologically, it is all over the place--from authors who do nothing but praise the postwar New Left student movement even when the praise isn't particularly warranted, to those who can actually approach it with appropriate nuance, to one who claims they had an "anarcho-fascist" character. Even in some of the chapters that I like, there are many cases where I disagree with the authors' framing. Factually, though, it's a reliable source.

Despite having major issues with it, I genuinely feel like if you haven't read this book then (unless you are reading sources in Japanese) your understanding of this movement and this period in Japanese history is probably incomplete.

For one thing, this is the only text in English I've encountered that adequately explains the position of the Japanese Communist Party (which the New Left groups who are the main subject of this book opposed) during this period. I thought I understood their point of view from reading Zengakuren: Japan's Revolutionary Students and various other texts, but I didn't. It's only since reading chapter 7 of this book that I can really understand what their POV actually was.

Additionally, the two chapters about the role of women in the movement were extremely informative and important--most texts overlook this entirely.

Dry Lake - 乾いた湖 (1960)

Portrait of Che Guevara with the caption "Guevara Day, now and forever" - ゲバラの日よ、永遠なれ

Anpo: Art x War (2010)

Smiling and bleeding portraits of then japanese PM Sato Eisaku, whom student protesters hated for his support of the Japan-US treaty and the Vietnam war.