Japan Press Weekly

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2018 January 31 - February 6 [JCP]

It was through Akahata that two of us met: Akahata deliveryman

Yamada Iwao, 74, first read the daily Akahata when he was a university student in Shizuoka Prefecture. It was in July 1963 after he took part in a huge rally demanding the removal of the U.S. Higashifuji base located near Mr. Fuji.

Around that time, student movements against the U.S. invasion of Vietnam were spreading on campuses throughout Japan. Eight months after his first introduction to Akahata, Yamada decided to join the Japanese Communist Party.

"The U.S. openly conducts armed attacks on North Vietnam," Akahata reported on the situation in Vietnam and argued, "Such an act of aggression is totally unforgivable." Because of the Akahata reports, Yamada said that he had been able to understand the core essence of what was happening there.

After graduation from university, he was put in charge of practical affairs pertaining to Akahata delivery and bill collection. Early in the mornings, he went to the main railway station in his locality to pick up a bundle of Akahata, sorted them by delivery routes, and handed the bundles of Akahata to each delivery person.

"One day", he recalled, "A delivery woman did not show up for her bundle of papers. I waited and waited but she never came. So, I ended up going to wake her up at her house." With this as an introduction to each other, they started dating. Then, Yamada at the age of 29 got married with 23-year-old Toshie.

After that, Toshie became the first assemblywoman of their city and served six terms for 24 years.

Yamada said smiling, "Still to this day, I spend an hour reading Akahata every morning. To me, Akahata is not only a source of critical new analysis but also a medium to help me expand my social connections with people. I will always be with Akahata for the rest of my life."

Past related article:
> 90 years of daily Akahata, 'It teaches me about the world' [January 28, 2018]