Anarchist press in Japan

The following are some of the more interesting developments in the libertarian publishing field in Japan. All are in Japanese, and are published in Tokyo unless otherwise stated. The titles we have given are all taken from review/news columns of anarchist magazines here. There is also much good libertarian materials coming out of areas like the women's movement too, though, and these are not usually listed. When we hear about these, we'll include them in our listing.

Submitted by Spartacus on February 2, 2011

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  • Daidõkan-Kokin (Committee to Publish the Writings of lwasa Sakutarõ) No. 8: "A Refutation of the Syndicalists." Iwasa was a well- known figure in the anti-syndicalist, anarcho-communist faction both before and after the war.

  • Libertaire No. 2 (1975): a special on anarchism and the occult.
  • Museifu-shugi Kenkyü (Studies on Anarchism), No. 4. special issue on some of the problems raised by sex and communal living: contains articles on Osugi Sakae's views on sex; and some previously unpublished pieces by the anarcho-feminist Takamure Itsue. Also has articles on Nechaev, trying to refute the Machiavellian image hitherto accepted; and on Stirner (a translation of an essay by Albon). Quarterly.
  • IOM: Anarchism, Literature and Ideology, No. 8: articles on anarchist attitudes towards work; report of a visit to anarchist centers in Sicily; and some criticisms of the Japan Anarcho-Communist Party of the 30s. Published in Kobe.
    IOM, No. 9: contains a school teacher's criticism of compulsory education; report of a trip to anarchist centers in France and Holland; the first part of a short story; and the final part of the article on anarchists and work.

  • War Resisters' International, Osaka branch: Kamagasaki Ettõ Tento-mura Yõkakan (Eight Days in the Winter-Survival Tent Village at Kamagasaki): Kramagasaki is the slum area of Osaka, where the population is 80% day laborer In the depression of 1973-74, few could find work, and this tent village was established to provide cover at night and also simple food.
  • Anãkizumu, No. 7: special issue on organization; the revolutionary movement's obsession with organization; the rise of a new kind of left; translations of pieces on self-management from France; plus continuing translations In Kronstadt Izvestia and report on the development of a non-company-based union movement (gõdõ rõsõ).
    Anãkizumu, No. 8: special issue on the emperor system in Japan; also articles on anarchism and terrorism; on kibbutz; on the movement to withhold military taxes; plus the continuing biography of the Korean anarchist Kim Jong Jin; translation from Kronstadt I Izvestia, etc,

  • Takamure Itsue: Fujin Undõ no Tan'itsu Taikei (A Definitive Women's Movement): by the feminist militant heavily involved in the anarchist- Bolshevik controversies of the 1920s, the editor of several feminist journals; a very important but neglected figure who spanned the anarchist and women's movements at the time.
  • Jiyü Rengõ/Jiyü Rengõ Shimbun (Free Federation/Free Federation Newspaper): complete reprint of the anarchist labor union journal of the early 20s.
  • Dinamikku (Dynamic): reprint of the pre-war paper edited by Ishikawa Sanshirõ, a representative Japanese libertarian.
  • Kokushoku Sensen (Black Battlefront): another reprint, this time of the militant paper published from 1929 into the 30s.
  • Õsawa Masamichi: Rõdõ to Yügi no Benshõhõ (The Dialectics of Work and Play): by one of the foremost libertarian theorists in Japan today.
  • Sato Shigeyuki: Purüdon Kenkyü (Studies on Proudhon): collection of essays on aspects of Proudhon's thought.
  • Hasegawa Takeshi: Anãkisuto Undõ to sono Rinen (The Concept of an Anarchist Movement).
  • Kikuoka Hisatoshi: Fukkoku Sanshishü (Reprint of Three Poems) by the anarchist poet.
  • Anãkisuto Kakumei (The Anarchist Revolution): translation of the pamphlet by George Barrett.
  • Anãkisuto (The Anarchists): translation of James Joll's The Anarchists.
  • A. Berukuman: Roshiya Kakumei no Hihan (translation of Alexander Berkman's The Bolshevik Myth): reprinted.

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