ABSTRACT
Near Matsukawa, in Fukushima province, about 160 kilometres north of Tokyo, a monument has been erected to commemorate the outcome of the famous postwar trials of 19 men and one woman on a charge of criminal conspiracy. It has been alleged that these people were responsible for the derailment of a passenger train in the early hours of 17 August 1949. The Matsukawa case was before the courts for 14 years, including two hearings before the Supreme Court; and throughout this period, as the monument records, there was continuous public protest by those who believed that there had been a gross miscarriage of justice.
