Japan Air Lines Flight 351

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Japan Air Lines Flight 351
Boeing 727-46, Japan Airlines (JAL) JP6839064.jpg
A Boeing 727 aircraft similar to the one involved in the hijacking.
Hijacking
DateMarch 31, 1970
SummaryHijacking
SiteJapan
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 727-89
Aircraft nameYodogo
OperatorJapan Air Lines
RegistrationJA8315
Flight originTokyo International Airport (Haneda)
DestinationFukuoka Airport
Passengers122 (excluding the hijackers)
Crew7
Fatalities0
Missing0
Survivors138 (all; including the hijackers)

Japan Air Lines Flight 351 was hijacked by members of the Japanese Red Army on March 31, 1970,[1] while flying from Tokyo to Fukuoka, in an incident usually referred to in Japanese as the Yodogo Hijacking Incident (よど号ハイジャック事件, Yodogō Haijakku Jiken).[2]

Hijacking[]

Approximately 20 minutes after takeoff, a young man by the name of Takamaro Tamiya got up from his seat and drew a katana shouting "We are Ashita no Joe!"[3], stating his intent to hijack the plane, and instructed the other hijackers to draw their weapons. The hijackers then took 129 people (122 passengers and seven crew members) hostage and commanded the pilots to fly the plane to Havana, Cuba, where they intended to receive training by communist military groups. The hijackers were then informed that the aircraft, a Boeing 727, was not capable of making such a journey, due to the plane's inability to hold the necessary amount of fuel. Upon learning of this, the hijackers insisted that the plane be diverted to Pyongyang, North Korea, after stopping to refuel in Fukuoka. Upon arrival at Fukuoka, the police convinced the hijackers to release the majority of their hostages, and the pilots were given a map of the Korean Peninsula. Attached to the map was a note which instructed the pilots to tune their radios to a specific frequency. The air traffic controllers, whom were aware of the situation, intentionally gave the pilots incorrect directions in an effort to have them land at Gimpo Airport in Seoul, South Korea, where they had disguised the airport as being North Korean.[4] Despite this, the hijackers quickly realised that they had been tricked, and Japan's Vice Minister for Transport, Shinjiro Yamamura, had volunteered to take the place of the remaining hostages, to which the hijackers accepted.[5] They then proceeded to Pyongyang's Mirim Airport, with Yamamura now as hostage, where they surrendered to North Korean authorities, who offered the whole group asylum.[6][7]

Using North Korea as a base, they sought to incite rebellion in South Korea and elsewhere across East Asia.[citation needed] The plane carrying Vice Minister Yamamura and the remainder of the crew was released two days later[8] and returned to its gate at Haneda Airport at 9:39AM on April 5.[9]

Later events[]

The alleged mastermind of the hijacking, who did not take part in the actual operation, was Takaya Shiomi. Shiomi was arrested, convicted, and served almost 20 years in prison in Japan. After his release in 1989,[10][11] suffering from poor health, Shiomi obtained a lowly paid[10] job as an attendant at a multi-level parking facility in Kiyose, Tokyo, where he was working as late as 2008.[12] He said that they had intended to go to Cuba via North Korea.[13] He joined an antibase movement in Okinawa and an antinuclear campaign, and wrote several books related to the Red Army Faction.[11] In April 2015, he ran in the city assembly elections in Kiyose, campaigning on an anti-Abe platform and against the city's policies which are "bullying" the elderly.[10] He died on November 14, 2017 of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital.[11]

Moriaki Wakabayashi was an early member (bass player) in the long-running avant-garde rock band Les Rallizes Dénudés. In a March 2010 interview with Kyodo News, Wakabayashi stated that the hijacking was a "selfish and conceited" act. Wakabayashi added that he wished to return to Japan and was willing to face arrest and trial for his role in the hijacking.[14] In April 2014 he was still alive, and residing in North Korea together with other members of his group.[15]

In 1985, Yasuhiro Shibata returned to Japan in secret to raise money for the group, was arrested, and was sentenced to five years in prison. Yoshimi Tanaka was arrested in Thailand with a large amount of counterfeit money and repatriated to Japan in March 2000, where he was sentenced; he died before its completion. However, the other hijackers remain at large, according to Japan's National Police Agency.[16]

The leader of the group, Takamaro Tamiya, died in 1995 and Kintaro Yoshida sometime before 1985. Takeshi Okamoto and his wife Kimiko Fukudome were probably killed trying to flee North Korea.[17] Takahiro Konishi, Shiro Akagi, Kimihuro Uomoto and Moriaki Wakabayashi still reside in North Korea; all except Takeshi Okamoto were confirmed to have been alive as of 2004 when they were interviewed by Kyodo News. In June 2004, the remaining hijackers made a request to North Korean authorities that they be allowed to return to Japan, even if they are to be punished for the hijacking.[16]

Notable passengers[]

The future Roman Catholic Archbishop and Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao was one of the passengers on the flight. Another passenger was Shigeaki Hinohara, who was one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators. The passengers also included American Pepsi's director, Herbert Brill.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Annual Report 2011 Review and Prospect of Internal and External Situations" (PDF). Public Security Intelligence Agency JAPAN. January 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 13, 2021.
  2. ^ "日本赤軍及び「よど号」グループの動向". www.npa.go.jp (in Japanese).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Martínez, Layla (December 1, 2021). "Acabar con la música para siempre" [Ending music forever]. elsaltodiario.com (in Spanish). Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  4. ^ "Hijacked Airliner Still in S. Korea— Seoul Rigged to Look Like North Korea, Goal of Leftist Students", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 1, 1970, p1
  5. ^ "Japanese Hijackers Release 100 on Plane", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 3, 1970, p1
  6. ^ 金日成 (1983). 統一戦線の理論と経験 [United Front Theory and Experience] (in Japanese). チュチェ思想国際研究所. p. 29.
  7. ^ Martínez, Layla (December 1, 2021). "Acabar con la música para siempre" [Ending music forever]. elsaltodiario.com (in Spanish). Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  8. ^ Baum (2016). Violence in the Skies: A History of Aircraft Hijacking and Bombing. p. IV.
  9. ^ Oka, Takashi (April 5, 1970). "Hijacked Airliner Returns To Tokyo With 4 Aboard". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c "Takaya Shiomi, former head of Sekigun-ha, up for election in Kiyose City assembly poll". April 19, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  11. ^ a b c "Takaya Shiomi, former radical faction leader, dies at 76 - The Mainichi". The Mainichi. Mainichi Japan. January 12, 2018. Archived from the original on January 12, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  12. ^ Botting, Geoff, "From terror to parking cars", Japan Times, May 11, 2008, p. 9.
  13. ^ Watts, Jonathan (September 9, 2002). "Japanese hijackers go home after 32 years on the run". The Guardian. London.
  14. ^ Kyodo News, "Ex-Red Army Faction Member Says Airplane Hijacking Was 'Selfish'", March 31, 2010.
  15. ^ "The Yodogō Group's "Revolution Village" Today: Where the surviving Sekigun-ha Yodogō hijackers are living in North Korea". May 16, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  16. ^ a b Movements of the Japanese Red Army and the "Yodo-go" Group" (PDF), Japan: National Police Agency, 2003, archived from the original (PDF) on March 23, 2011, retrieved March 15, 2007
  17. ^ Steinhoff, Patricia (2004), "Kidnapped Japanese in North Korea, The New Left Connection", Journal of Japanese Studies, 30 (1): 123–142, doi:10.1353/jjs.2004.0035. The suspicious deaths of Yoshida and Okamoto are referred to on pages 136 and 137. Her research is based on the journalistic work of Takazawa Koji.

External links[]

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