This essay revisits postwar student activism and labor agitation in Japan, examining their impact on corporations and social stability.
It explores the methods and consequences of protest movements in modern Japanese history.

Unlike the agitators in China, Ogura took no money. It was enough to destroy companies, spread social unrest, and drive Japan toward collapse.
2018-01-21
The following is a chapter I originally published on September 17, 2017.
This continues from the previous chapter.
The company owner did not seem overly troubled and simply replied, “We are having difficulty with agitators.”
These “agitators” are operators who find Japanese-affiliated companies, incite employees to demand better treatment and wage increases, and stage demonstrations.
When a company yields and raises wages by some percentage, they collect a corresponding success fee and then depart in search of the next Japanese company to target.
Tracing the origins of such agitators leads to a stylish University of Tokyo student named Kantaro Ogura.
After launching campus disputes at Komaba, he infiltrated companies while still a university student, inciting strikes and leaving companies ruined in his wake.
Among them was Mitsukoshi.
He was charismatic.
With a special talent for captivating women, he drove female employees into strikes.
The Mitsukoshi dispute at the end of 1951 was one such case.
Female clerks picketed the main entrance with the lion statues and repeatedly clashed with police units.
Unlike Chinese agitators, Ogura took no money.
It was enough to destroy companies, spread social unrest, and push Japan toward collapse.
That was the essential mission of the Japanese Communist Party.
Ogura next entered Japan Airlines.
It was a company newly established with strong government backing as a base for rebuilding “Aviation Nippon,” which had been dismantled by GHQ.
Disguising himself as an elite management-track graduate of the University of Tokyo, Ogura became chairman of the labor union and, using the same techniques as at Mitsukoshi, first enticed the female employees.
He even had stewardesses march in demonstration along Ginza’s main boulevard.
Shizumaro Matsuo, the president committed to rebuilding aviation, was stunned by the internal turmoil and tried to persuade Ogura, but Ogura refused to listen.
As labor-management conflict reached its peak with absurd demands such as free pantyhose and a week-long menstrual leave, Matsuo’s daughter fell gravely ill with leukemia.
Ogura exploited this.
He pressed Matsuo through overnight collective bargaining sessions, and dawn broke without compromise.
As a result, Matsuo was unable to be present at his daughter’s deathbed.
When the stewardesses learned of this, they wept and left Ogura’s side.
Japanese agitators could not fully exploit women.
To be continued.