Photo/Illutration Ryoichi Hishiya at an exhibition commemorating his 100th birthday in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, in 2021 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

“Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster himself.”

So warned Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) in one of his most pointed aphorisms.

I recently visited a man who knows, from harrowing personal experience, the terror of a “monster” that once stalked this nation.

Ryoichi Hishiya, now 104 and living in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, was a member of the art club at a prewar normal school when, in September 1941, his world collapsed.

He was arrested on suspicion of violating the 1925 Peace Preservation Law, which was enacted to suppress political dissent, particularly among socialists, communists, labor activists and anyone who questioned the imperial system.

His offense? Drawings of everyday life, deemed “suggestive of communist ideology.”

“All I was doing was drawing what I liked,” he recalled bitterly.

He knew nothing of communism, which made him useless to his interrogators. Unable to extract any statements that could justify a charge, the “Tokko Keisatsu”—the Special Higher Police, Japan’s feared political intelligence and thought‑control agency—forced him to read a Japanese translation of “Das Kapital” to “learn” communist ideas.

The scope of those targeted under the notorious law expanded without restraint. More than 100,000 people are believed to have been detained. Those who suffered such injustices received neither compensation nor an apology from the state.

Today, the Diet is debating key issues surrounding proposed counterespionage measures.

Speaking about a bill to establish a new national intelligence bureau that would serve as the government’s intelligence command center, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said, “It is difficult to imagine ordinary citizens becoming subject to investigation solely because they have taken part in demonstrations or rallies opposing government policy.”

But who decides where the line is drawn between “ordinary” and “not ordinary”?

Some ruling party lawmakers have made sneering remarks about antiwar demonstrations, while social media is rife with posts implying that all such protests are orchestrated by foreign forces.

What sort of monster is it that they fear? If suspicion and paranoia turn us into monsters ourselves, we defeat the very purpose.

People calling for an apology and compensation for victims of the Peace Preservation Law gathered at the Upper House members’ office building on May 14.

Hishiya also sent a message: “I fear that the unreasonable things that befell us in the past may happen again.”

—The Asahi Shimbun, May 15

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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