Masashi Daidōji

(5 June 1948 – 24 May 2017) was a Japanese far-left militant who founded the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front and formulated the group's ideology, anti-Japaneseism. Following the group's bombing of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in 1974, Daidōji was arrested, and sentenced to death for his role in the bombing. Daidōji remained on death row until he died of natural causes in 2017.

Early life Daidōji was born in the city of Kushiro on 5 June 1948. His father was a civil servant who worked in occupied Manchuria.

While Daidōji was a high school student, he witnessed discrimination against his Ainu classmates, an experience which would shape his worldview.

East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front

Study group At Hosei University, Daidōji organised study sessions on the history of Japanese imperialism with several other students, with whom Daidōji would form the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front (EAAJAF). During these study sessions, the group members investigated how Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi benefited from the use of forced labour in Japanese-occupied Korea.

Anti-Japaneseism

Daidōji had a key role in developing the ideology of the EAAJAF, anti-Japaneseism, which asserts that all Japanese people are complicit in Japanese imperialism, as outlined by Daidōji: Despite a telephoned warning to the staff at the Mitsubishi headquarters by EAAJAF member Norio Sasaki, the area was not evacuated in time, and the bombs exploded at 12:45 p.m., killing 8 people and wounding almost 400.

Arrest and conviction Daidōji, along with several other EAAJAF members were arrested on 19 May 1975 for their bombing campaign.

In 1987, Daidōji, along with Toshiaki Masunaga, were sentenced to death by the Supreme Court for the 1974 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bombing. In response to receiving the death penalty, Daidōji appealed multiple times for a retrial.

Daidōji died on 24 May 2017, at the age of 68, from multiple myeloma.