Zengakuren

Book excerpt: What is Zengakuren? What are its aims and how important is it in Japan? Who are its members? How did it start and where is it going? The answer to these and many other questions are to be found in this timely analysis of the Japanese student movement. Tracing the origins of modern education in Japan, this book goes on to present a concise and understandable account of the history of Zengakuren. In a series of epic struggles, the students of Zengakuren have fought their way through from the "Red Purge" era of the early fifties, the anti-Security Treaty protests of 1960, to the university struggles of the late sixties. During this period the student movement has continuously developed, spawning in the process one of the most distinctive sub-cultures of post-war Japan. With 1970 a critical year in the history of Japanese protest, this book will serve as a guide to the fascinating, yet intricate, world of Zengakuren. This comprehensive analysis of the Japanese student movement was written by six students from Waseda University, one of Japan's oldest and most respected institutions. Aged between 20 and 23, they bring a freshness to their accounts of the development of Zengakuren. The only all-inclusive book on the revolutionary students of modern Japan, it deals with both actions and theory, all the while showing the underlying causes. Included is a fascinating portrait of a radical group and the student subculture that it is part of. All Japanese names are explained in a special section and the brief bibliography is for those who wish to study the subject further.