In 1964 the first US nuclear submarine to arrive in Japan docked at Sasebo, resulting in mass nationwide protests. Apart from Sasebo itself there were large demonstrations in the ports of Kobe and Yokosuka. In 1966 the first nuclear submarine docked at Yokosuka in Tokyo Bay, just a short distance from the cities of Yokohama and Tokyo.
Along with such events, student dissatisfaction had been smouldering for years, and erupted in 1968 at Tokyo University and Nihon University, with violent clashes between the police and students. Students barricaded themselves within university buildings, notably Yasuda Hall, the iconic tower building of Tokyo University. The actions spread to over 300 universities across Japan.
From 1960 there were widespread demonstrations upon the renewal, and the extension, of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security (ANPO) with the USA. The ANPO Treaty provided for an ongoing US military presence in Japan, including over 300 sites, offices and bases and around one fifth of the entire land area of Okinawa. The island of Okinawa was only returned to Japanese sovereignty in 1971. The issue was further inflamed by use of US bases to support the Vietnam War and related actions. The student struggle, originated out of student criticism of the university authorities was intertwined with these issues. A large number of students protested against the renewal of ANPO in 1960, the clashes resulting in the death of a student activist. The grief and anger grew with next generation of students, the 1968-generation, with protests intensifying in the years up leading up to 1970.
The 1960s were a remarkable decade for popular resistance movements. We think of the student riots in Paris, and the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam movements in the US. Although less well-known in the West, Japan also had major demonstrations, including those against the construction of Narita Airport, the US military presence in the country, nuclear weapons, and the Vietnam War. The 1960s were the decade in which those born after the Second World War came of age. Conservative forces had dominated most societies for several decades; through the recession of the 1930s, war in the 1940s and the austerity and reconstruction of the 1950s. Emerging from these restrictive decades into an unprecedented affluence brought greater aspiration in many aspects of life. The world would never be the same again. The baby-boomer generation had grown up in the post-war period, and were the main actors in the 1968 struggle.
Takashi Hamaguchi started to work as a photographer in the 1950s. He has been continuously documenting this changing society, including many of these political and social struggles, as well as major incidents and turning points in Japanese history. His interest was not just in straight reportage. He chose to be a freelance photographer
rather than news photographer, in order to give himself the freedom to photograph the events and movements that he considered most significant. He joined the Yokohama Art Society in 1965 and the Yokohama Nikakai in 1969, whose leaders included Tadahiko Hayashi and Shotaro Akiyama. Hamaguchi’s photographs are arresting. He is invariably in the thick of the action. We see one image of a student. The rock he has thrown is frozen in mid-air on a trajectory toward the camera. We are there with him in the faces of the “Chukaku-ha” left-wing radicals as they prepare to meet the riot squad or rightist activists.
Hamaguchi has produced iconic images of the revolt. Students charge down the streets of Oji district of Tokyo, brandishing makeshift staves. Twin water cannon plays on the Yasuda Hall of Tokyo University. Fire flares up from the ground as students thrown petrol bombs to defend against police trying to break through into the hall.
Takashi Hamaguchi produced a significant body of work recording the tensions and struggles that accompanied Japan’s transformation in the 1960s and 1970s. For his solo-exhibition at Taka Ishii Gallery Photography Paris, 25 pieces were selected, all shot during 1968-1969, at the very climax of the struggle. Having been long neglected outside of the world of specialists in political history of this era, we are pleased to bring the work of Takashi Hamaguchi to a deserved wider appreciation.
