Yurusenai hi kara no kiroku [A Record of an unforgivable day]

Tokyo: Mugi Shobo. 1960.

First edition, third printing. Large 8vo (255x180mm). pp. 96. Original photographic wrappers. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs and captions in Japanese. This celebrated work of photojournalism charts 30 days of student and political protest in Japan in the summer of 1960 which resulted in the death of Michiko Kanba, a female student at the University of Tokyo. The photographs are by a number of leading Japanese photographers including Shigeichi Nagano and Hiroshi Kawashima. Slightly rubbed edges and spine but overall a very good/near fine copy with the contents in excellent condition. Protected by a transparent plastic wrapper.

The protests recorded in this scarce book began in response to a treaty made between Japan and the USA in 1960 under which American agreed to defend Japan were it attacked. However, in return, the Americans secured the right to station troops and warships in Japan. This led to concerns that Japan might find itself drawn into unwanted wars to which America had committed itself. What began as a series of protests against Japanese-U.S defence policy soon widened into concern as to the nature of Japanese democracy itself in the modern post-WWII world. These protests, violently dealt with by the authorities were, therefore, the first major student uprisings of the 1960s and set the pattern for unrest throughout the decade.