Synopsis

This is a human drama about Kirishima Satoshi, a former member of the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, who died in hospital in January 2024 after half a century on the run.

In 1970s Japan, when social movements were at their peak, Kirishima Satoshi was a member of the far-left radical group East Asian Anti-Japan Armed Front known as “Sasori (scorpion unit).” The young Kirishima was considered a critical wanted criminal, continuing his fugitive life under constant tension, never knowing when he might be arrested. To sustain his livelihood, he moved between day labor jobs, and for several decades, used the psedonym “Uchida Hiroshi” eventually settling into live-in work at a construction company in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
He enjoyed blues and rock music from the 1960s and 1970s, occasionally visiting a local live bar in Fujisawa where music enthusiasts gathered. Despite enjoying his hobbies, the shadows of his former comrades always lingered in his mind. His former group members were engaged in prison struggles, some escaping abroad through extra-legal measures, while others had taken their own lives. Kirishima continued to silently observe the deception and decline of Japanese society, remembering these comrades.

In 2024, at 70 years old, Kirishima was diagnosed with terminal cancer, wandering between life and death on a hospital bed. In his fading consciousness, memories of his activities with the East Asian Anti-Japan Armed Front and his days of continuous escape emerge. What was the thing he had staked his entire life pursuing? What did he seek at the end of a half-century of fugitive life? What was he attempting to express by declaring “I am Kirishima Satoshi” at the moment of his death?