Profile
| Born | November 25, 1924, Tsukishima, Tokyo |
|---|---|
| Died | March 16, 2012 (aged 87), Bunkyou, Tokyo |
| Nationality | Japanese |
Overview
Takaaki Yoshimoto (吉本 隆明, Yoshimoto Takaaki) was a Japanese businessman, leftist, poet, critic, former labor union president, Zenkyoto official, and quasi-revolutionary protest leader. He is described as "the greatest postwar thinker". He was the father of novelists Yoiko Haruno (eldest daughter) and Banana Yoshimoto (second daughter).
History
Prewar 1924-1945
Born in 1924 in Tsukishima, Tokyo, the eldest son of a shipbuilder, he graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. From childhood, he was educated as a "militaristic small-towner," which was the norm at the time. 20-year-old Yoshimoto was deeply shocked by the defeat of the Japanese Empire in 1945, by the fact that he was a Japanese militarist boy who was willing to die on the battlefield (normal for his classmates), and that his previous "values" and "knowledge" had no meaning at all.
Postwar 1945-2013
After that, Yoshimoto worked in a number of exploitative factories in the immediate postwar period to make ends meet, while also continuing to write poetry and engage in group activities. Yoshimoto was forced to leave the company in the form of an eviction. After spending a hellish period of unemployment, he joined a patent firm through a friend.
Anpo Protests
The forced adoption of the U.S.–Japan Security Treaty by Nobusuke Kishi was called a crisis of democracy by the Tokyo University thinker Masao Maruyama, and in sympathy with this, Yoshimoto participated as a "supporter of the struggle" (even as a leftist) in the Anpo protests demonstrations against the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, especially Inejiro Asanuma of the Socialist Party, as well as in the All-Campus Joint Struggle Committees (Zenkyoto) movement among students and civic groups.
Related Articles
External Links
English
Japanese
吉本隆明とは (ヨシモトタカアキとは) [単語記事] - ニコニコ大百科 (NicoNico Encyclopedia)
