Terrorism Reference Biographies | Fusako Shigenobu Biography

September 1945

Tokyo, Japan

Leader of the Japanese Red Army

"The mission's purpose was to consolidate the international revolutionary alliance against the imperialists of the world."

In November 2000, citizens of Japan were startled to see a handcuffed middle-aged woman emerge from a train arriving in Tokyo. When she spotted the waiting cameras, she raised her hands and gave the thumbs-up sign, shouting at reporters: "I'll fight on!"

Her name was Fusako Shigenobu. For three decades the police had been looking for her as the leader of one of Japan's most mysterious terrorist organizations: the Japanese Red Army (JRA). Surprisingly, she had been captured in the small Japanese town of Takatsuki, near Osaka. For nearly thirty years, she had been based in Lebanon, where her group conducted terrorist raids as allies of Palestinians fighting against Israel.

According to...