Mei Shigenobu
Encyclopedia
is the daughter of Japanese Red Army
communist Fusako Shigenobu
and of a Palestinian
guerilla fighter who was reportedly the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
. Some news agencies have given her name as May Shigenobu.
, though she was not a citizen of any country until March 2001, when she received Japan
ese citizenship. Shigenobu lived some of her childhood years in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon; Fusako Shigenobu was absent for months at a time and Mei was raised in those periods by her mother's comrades in the Japanese Red Army
and Arab friends and supporters. After three Japanese volunteers for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
PFLP External Operations executed an attack on Israel's Lydd Airport (see also Lod Airport Massacre
) in 30 May 1972, PFLP leaders and other Japanese volunteers became targets for Israel's assassinations. In retaliation to the attack, PFLP's spokesman Ghassan Kanafani
was killed in July 8, 1972 by the Israeli Intelligence Agency Mossad
in a car bomb. Mei's mother became wanted by the INTERPOL
in 1974 after the French embassy hostage-taking in Hague in which she was thought to be involved, so Mei had to move frequently and use aliases to evade reprisals by her mother's enemies. She did her early education in several schools in Lebanon and in other countries she refuses to name. May studied Journalism
at the Lebanese University
as well as going to the American University of Beirut
in Lebanon
for her tertiary education where she continued her graduate studies in International Relations. During those years, she learned to speak fluent Arabic and English, but hid her knowledge of Japanese, fearing that if her identity as Fusako Shigenobu
's daughter were to become known publicly, her mother might be captured.
, and visited Japan for the first time in April 2001, making her the first child of a Red Army member to return to Japan in five years. She was the subject of some controversy in December 2001 when she gave a talk at a public school in Kanagawa prefecture
about Arab culture and food at the invitation of a teacher there; the Israeli embassy in Tokyo
sent a complaint to the school, describing her discussion as conveying "blatant, biased political" anti-Israeli sentiments. She then began working as an English teacher in a cram school in Tokyo. Japanese lawyers, scholars, journalists, writers and activists retaliated to this by signing a protest petition against the Israeli embassy and government saying that Mei was now a Japanese citizen and had the right to freedom of speech in Japan.
Mei later became an anchor on Japanese cable television channel Asahi Newstar's one hour live political programme Nyuusu no Shinsō. She is currently MBC's (Middle East Broadcasting Center
, the United Arab Emirates
' Arabic satellite channel) Tokyo correspondent, reporting in Arabic about Japan.
She earned her PhD degree in Media Studies from Doshisha University in 2011, doing research on the development of Arabic media, and the effect of satellite channels ( a case study of Al Jazeera
) on Arab societies.
Mei Shigenobu is a supporter of Palestinian statehood and a critic of Israel, and speaks of her mother's cause in sympathetic terms, although regretful of the violence used by the Japanese Red Army in support of the cause. She said, according to The Standard
, that "We live in a different era ... it was an era in which people were fighting, thinking and being active everywhere against the Vietnam War
and other oppression around the world and there were no means of gaining media attention. We forget all that background and we just pick up a person from there and choose to sentence her using today's sensibility, today's values and today's way of thinking."
Mei also appears in "Documentary on Zunou Keisatsu" ドキュメンタリー頭脳警察 (2009), a documentary featuring the life of the Japanese Rock band "Zunou Keisatu" 頭脳警察 (Brain Police) and its lead singer PANTA.
In 2010, Mei costarred in the fictional Japanese movie on figure skating "COACH" as a sports journalist.
In 2010, Mei Shigenobu and her mother Fusako Shigenobu
were featured in Shane O'Sullivan (filmmaker)
's documentary film Children of the Revolution (2010 film)
, which premiered at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam.
In 2011, Mei Shigenobu was featured in Eric Baudelaire's experimental movie "The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi, and 27 years without Images" along with filmmaker and Japanese Red Army
member Masao Adachi, which competed at the 22nd Marseilles International Film Festival.
Japanese Red Army
The was a Communist terrorist group founded by Fusako Shigenobu early in 1971 in Lebanon. It sometimes called itself Arab-JRA after the Lod airport massacre...
communist Fusako Shigenobu
Fusako Shigenobu
is the founder and former leader of the now disbanded Japanese Red Army.-Early life:Shigenobu was born on September 28, 1945 in the Setagaya Ward of Tokyo...
and of a Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
guerilla fighter who was reportedly the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
. Some news agencies have given her name as May Shigenobu.
Early life
She was born in LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, though she was not a citizen of any country until March 2001, when she received Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese citizenship. Shigenobu lived some of her childhood years in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon; Fusako Shigenobu was absent for months at a time and Mei was raised in those periods by her mother's comrades in the Japanese Red Army
Japanese Red Army
The was a Communist terrorist group founded by Fusako Shigenobu early in 1971 in Lebanon. It sometimes called itself Arab-JRA after the Lod airport massacre...
and Arab friends and supporters. After three Japanese volunteers for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
PFLP External Operations executed an attack on Israel's Lydd Airport (see also Lod Airport Massacre
Lod Airport massacre
The Lod Airport massacre was a terrorist attack that occurred on May 30, 1972, in which three members of the Japanese Red Army, on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine , killed 26 people and injured 80 others at Tel Aviv's Lod airport...
) in 30 May 1972, PFLP leaders and other Japanese volunteers became targets for Israel's assassinations. In retaliation to the attack, PFLP's spokesman Ghassan Kanafani
Ghassan Kanafani
Ghassan Kanafani was a Palestinian writer and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He was assassinated by car bomb in Beirut, allegedly by the Mossad.- Early years :Ghassan Fayiz Kanafani was born in 1936 in the then Acre , British Mandate of Palestine...
was killed in July 8, 1972 by the Israeli Intelligence Agency Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
in a car bomb. Mei's mother became wanted by the INTERPOL
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
in 1974 after the French embassy hostage-taking in Hague in which she was thought to be involved, so Mei had to move frequently and use aliases to evade reprisals by her mother's enemies. She did her early education in several schools in Lebanon and in other countries she refuses to name. May studied Journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
at the Lebanese University
Lebanese University
The Lebanese University is the only public institution for higher learning in Lebanon. Founded in 1951, it has 17 faculties as of 2006 and serves various cultural, religious, and social groups of students and teachers....
as well as going to the American University of Beirut
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut is a private, independent university in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionaries in 1866...
in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
for her tertiary education where she continued her graduate studies in International Relations. During those years, she learned to speak fluent Arabic and English, but hid her knowledge of Japanese, fearing that if her identity as Fusako Shigenobu
Fusako Shigenobu
is the founder and former leader of the now disbanded Japanese Red Army.-Early life:Shigenobu was born on September 28, 1945 in the Setagaya Ward of Tokyo...
's daughter were to become known publicly, her mother might be captured.
Return to Japan
She came out of hiding after her mother was captured in OsakaOsaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, and visited Japan for the first time in April 2001, making her the first child of a Red Army member to return to Japan in five years. She was the subject of some controversy in December 2001 when she gave a talk at a public school in Kanagawa prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
about Arab culture and food at the invitation of a teacher there; the Israeli embassy in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
sent a complaint to the school, describing her discussion as conveying "blatant, biased political" anti-Israeli sentiments. She then began working as an English teacher in a cram school in Tokyo. Japanese lawyers, scholars, journalists, writers and activists retaliated to this by signing a protest petition against the Israeli embassy and government saying that Mei was now a Japanese citizen and had the right to freedom of speech in Japan.
Mei later became an anchor on Japanese cable television channel Asahi Newstar's one hour live political programme Nyuusu no Shinsō. She is currently MBC's (Middle East Broadcasting Center
Middle East Broadcasting Center
The Middle East Broadcasting Center Group is the first private free-to-air satellite broadcasting company in the Arab World which was launched in London in 1991 and later moved to its headquarters in Dubai in 2002. MBC Group provides multiple channels of information, interaction and entertainment...
, the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
' Arabic satellite channel) Tokyo correspondent, reporting in Arabic about Japan.
She earned her PhD degree in Media Studies from Doshisha University in 2011, doing research on the development of Arabic media, and the effect of satellite channels ( a case study of Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
) on Arab societies.
Mei Shigenobu is a supporter of Palestinian statehood and a critic of Israel, and speaks of her mother's cause in sympathetic terms, although regretful of the violence used by the Japanese Red Army in support of the cause. She said, according to The Standard
The Standard
The Standard is an English free newspaper of Hong Kong with a daily circulation of 231,018. It was called the Hong Kong Standard and changed to HKiMail during the Internet boom, but it changed back to The Standard in 2001....
, that "We live in a different era ... it was an era in which people were fighting, thinking and being active everywhere against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and other oppression around the world and there were no means of gaining media attention. We forget all that background and we just pick up a person from there and choose to sentence her using today's sensibility, today's values and today's way of thinking."
Film appearances
Mei Shigenobu appears in Nobuyuki Oura's November 2006 movie "9/11-8/15 Japan Pack Suicide" (『9.11-8.15-日本心中-』) as a member of the main cast.Mei also appears in "Documentary on Zunou Keisatsu" ドキュメンタリー頭脳警察 (2009), a documentary featuring the life of the Japanese Rock band "Zunou Keisatu" 頭脳警察 (Brain Police) and its lead singer PANTA.
In 2010, Mei costarred in the fictional Japanese movie on figure skating "COACH" as a sports journalist.
In 2010, Mei Shigenobu and her mother Fusako Shigenobu
Fusako Shigenobu
is the founder and former leader of the now disbanded Japanese Red Army.-Early life:Shigenobu was born on September 28, 1945 in the Setagaya Ward of Tokyo...
were featured in Shane O'Sullivan (filmmaker)
Shane O'Sullivan (filmmaker)
Shane O'Sullivan is an Irish writer and filmmaker, based in London. He is best known for his work on the assassination of Robert Kennedy. His feature documentary is the first theatrical documentary on the case since Ted Charach's The Second Gun twenty-five years ago. His book on the case, Who...
's documentary film Children of the Revolution (2010 film)
Children of the Revolution (2010 film)
Children of the Revolution is a 2010 documentary by Irish filmmaker Shane O'Sullivan about Ulrike Meinhof and Fusako Shigenobu, leaders of the German Red Army Faction and the Japanese Red Army....
, which premiered at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam.
In 2011, Mei Shigenobu was featured in Eric Baudelaire's experimental movie "The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi, and 27 years without Images" along with filmmaker and Japanese Red Army
Japanese Red Army
The was a Communist terrorist group founded by Fusako Shigenobu early in 1971 in Lebanon. It sometimes called itself Arab-JRA after the Lod airport massacre...
member Masao Adachi, which competed at the 22nd Marseilles International Film Festival.