10 Facts About Takaya Shiomi

Takaya Shiomi was a Japanese communist activist and the founder and leader of Red Army Faction, a schismatic militant subfaction of the Japan Communist League.

Takaya Shiomi was the mastermind behind the hijacking of Japan Air Lines Flight 351 to North Korea in 1970, although his arrest just days prior prevented his direct participation in the incident.

Takaya Shiomi was born the son of a doctor on May 22,1941, in Osaka, Japan.

Takaya Shiomi soon became involved in communist activism, joining the "Kansai faction" of a New Left organization called the Communist League, better known by its German-derived nickname, "the Bund," which had recently fallen into schisms and disarray.

That year, Takaya Shiomi decided that even the militant Second Bund was not militant enough, and broke away to found his own subgroup called the "Red Army Faction", which called for immediate, armed revolution and began making plans for a violent uprising in Japan, originally intended to coincide with the 1970 Anpo protests.

In early 1970, Takaya Shiomi began making plans to hijack a Japanese airliner, codenamed "Operation Phoenix," that would allow group members to fly to Cuba and continue their training.

However, just before the hijacking could take place, Takaya Shiomi was arrested by chance on the street in Komagome, Tokyo on March 15,1970, having been mistaken for a common thief.

Takaya Shiomi was indicted under the Explosives Control Law as a co-conspirator in the hijacking of JAL Flight 351.

Takaya Shiomi was incarcerated at Fuchu Prison and ended up spending a total of 19 years and 9 months behind bars before being released in December 1989.

Takaya Shiomi stirred up controversy by equating the Flight 351 hijackers with other Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.