The US Cold War and the Japanese student movement, 1947–1973

During the Cold War, American officials and policymakers, from General Douglas MacArthur to John and Robert Kennedy, were forced to devote considerable energy to dealing with the powerful leftist student movement in Japan led by Zengakuren, a national federation of students founded in 1948, formally named Zen-Nihon Gakusei Jichikai Sōrengō (All-Japan Federation of Students’ Self-Governing Associations). In 1949, Zengakuren appeared to threaten the political stability and ideological affinity that the US sought to maintain in Japan, which was, according to the Central Intelligence Agency, America’s “strongest anti-Communist center in Asia.” ¹ The close interstate relationship between the two countries was one of the most crucial factors fueling the postwar Japanese student movement. The interactions between the US Cold Warriors and the Zengakuren-led Japanese students forced each side to reassess and revise its strategies and had profound and lasting impacts on Japanese society and US-Japan relations. In this chapter, I will explore the Japanese student movement in the contexts of the US Cold War in Asia and postwar US-Japan relations between 1948 and 1973.