Wataru Kaji

Wataru Kaji in 1952

Wataru Kaji (鹿地 亘, Kaji Wataru, 1903–1982) was a Japanese proletarian writer, and resistance fighter who, along with fellow resistance fighter, and wife, Yuki Ikeda, joined the Chinese Resistance against the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Early life

Kaji was born in Kyushu to parents who were prosperous landlords with twelve tenants and his grandfather had been a samurai of the Satsuma clan. In his early youth, Kaji wanted to be a naval officer, but when he reached Tokyo Imperial University in 1923, he devoted himself to literature exclusively. His first organizing activity was triggered by his class-mate, Prince Yamanashi. All the students were obliged to bow to the floor, button their collars and do reverence before this member of the Imperial Household, who was ensconced at an elaborate desk set high above the others. It got under Kaji's skin, and he organized a boycott of any class attended by the Prince. This boycott was actually enforced for three years.

Kaji was one of the most active members of the Federation of Revolutionary Artists and Writers. From 1927 to 1932 he was a member of its central executive committee. After 1930, however, the federation, like other leftist groups in Japan, was weakened by systematic repression. Kaji was arrested multiple times for his activities, going thru torture at the hands of his jailers. In 1933 Kaji was arrested for the third time, because his card was found among the effects of his best friend, Takiji Kobayashi, a proletarian writer who was allegedly tortured to death by the Japanese police.

Exile to China

In January 1930, he escaped Japan, while denied a passport by the authorities, by disguising himself as a samurai actor in a travelling drama company and was able to reach Shanghai in 1936. While in Shanghai, he studied and translated the works of Lu Xun. He would also work, and be a part of Hu Feng's circle in the late 1930s.

Fleeing Shanghai and joining the Chinese resistance

When the Japanese invaded Shanghai, Kaji and Yuki escaped the city. Kaji, along with Yuki Ikeda and another Japanese named Kazuo Aoyama, were involved with the re-education of captured Japanese soldiers, and psychological warfare against the Empire of Japan for the Kuomintang which was conducted by the Japanese People's Anti-War Alliance. Almost every Chinese intellectual and American correspondent in Chongqing knew Kaji personally. Kaji's relationship with Chiang Kai-shek was troubled due to his anti-communist stance. Kaji also had a troubled relationship with his colleague, Kazuo Aoyama. Dai Li's Agents would shadow Kaji wherever he went. Kaji also, together with his wife, came into contact with Koji Ariyoshi, a nisei sergeant in the United States Dixie Mission when he visited Chongqing on behalf of the U.S military. Kaji worked with the United States Office of Strategic Services in the later stages of the war.

Reactions to his Work

The Chinese Government has praised his work. The Japanese military police put a price on his head.

The Japanese air force attempted twice to pinpoint his residence in China.

The Japanese newspapers in Shanghai and Japan devoted columns to reports of the activities of Kaji and his converts.

Meeting Edgar Snow

Kaji and his wife, who also suffered in a Japanese political prison, met journalist Edgar Snow. Snow found both Kaji and Yuki worth reporting to his American audience, both of them surviving a Japanese bombing attack on Wuchang to meet him at the Hankow Navy YMCA. Snow met them again a year later in Chongqing and was reminded "Japan was full of decent people like them who, if they had not had their craniums stuff full of Sun goddess myths and other imperialist filth, and been forbidden access to "dangerous thoughts", and been armed by American and British hypocrites, could easily live in a civilized co-operative world if any of us could provide one." Both Kaji and Yuki were friends of Chinese resistance fighter Kuo Mo-jo.

Post-war kidnapping

Kaji was kidnapped in 1951 by Major General Charles A. Willoughby's G-2 (U.S Army Intelligence) which was under the command of General Douglas MacArthur during the Occupation of Japan. Kaji was handed over to the Central Intelligence Agency, a successor to the Office of Strategic Services. Kaji was held incommunicado for more than a year, and allegedly tortured. He was suspected of being a Soviet spy. It was known as the "Kaji Affair", and when the affair came to light, the Japanese were outraged because Kaji's detention lasted past April 1952, when Japanese sovereignty was restored. The press also discovered a Japanese espionage group also aided in the kidnapping of Kaji. It was one of several groups operating under Willoughby and G-2, and was named for its principal officer, ex-Colonel of the Imperial Japanese Army Takushiro Hattori, a former aid to Japanese Imperial General Hideki Tojo.

See also

• Japanese resistance to the Empire of Japan in World War II
• Resistance during World War II
• League to Raise the Political Consciousness of Japanese Troops
• Japanese People's Emancipation League
• Sanzo Nosaka
• Naoki Oka
• Shigeki Oka