Man Claiming to Be Satoshi Kirishima Lived, Worked Under False Name in Kanagawa Pref. for Decades

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:49 JST, January 28, 2024

A man claiming to be Satoshi Kirishima — a suspect wanted in connection with a series of bombings that targeted companies in the 1970s — had worked for decades as a live-in employee under a false name at a civil engineering-related company in Kanagawa Prefecture, the Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

According to investigative sources, the man had been using the false name Hiroshi Uchida, and when he was hospitalized in Kamakura in the prefecture earlier this month, he identified himself only as Uchida, without presenting a health insurance card.

However, on Thursday, he revealed his real name to the hospital staff, saying, “I am Satoshi Kirishima.” Now 70, he is suffering from terminal stomach cancer and in critical condition, the sources said.

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Bureau believes that there is a high possibility the man is Kirishima, based on his physical characteristics. It is working to confirm his identity while investigating the possibility he had been hiding in Kanagawa for a long period of time.

Answering questions voluntarily, the man told the police that he had been working for a civil engineering company in Fujisawa in the prefecture. The police have confirmed that he had been working for the firm as a live-in employee for several decades. He also went by the name Uchida at work, and the company was unaware that he could possibly be the suspect Kirishima.

Kirishima, a member of the extreme leftist group East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, is suspected of detonating a homemade bomb at a building in Tokyo’s Ginza district in April 1975 and has been wanted on suspicion of violating the Explosives Control Law since May 1975.