Fusako Shigenobu (Japanese: 重信 房子, Hepburn: Shigenobu Fusako, born 28 September 1945) is a Japanese communist activist, writer, and the founder and leader of the now-disbanded militant group Japanese Red Army (JRA).
Born in Japan, Shigenobu became involved in New Left activism while attending night school at Meiji University in Tokyo. In 1969, she joined the Red Army Faction (RAF), a communist group that advocated immediate, armed revolution against the governments of the United States and Japan. Eventually becoming one of its senior leaders, Shigenobu played a significant role in establishing the International Relations Bureau for the organization.
In 1971, she helped found the JRA as an offshoot of the RAF. That same year, Shigenobu and the JRA relocated to the Middle East in an effort to start a world revolution, as well as to assist with the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation while working in concert with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). During the 1970s and 1980s, members of the JRA took part in a number of violent incidents, including bombings, mass shootings, and hijackings. Although Shigenobu did not directly participate in these activities, during this time she attained international fame as the leader and public-facing spokesperson for the JRA.
Throughout her years in hiding and later imprisonment, Shigenobu authored 10 books, including a book of poetry.
Following her arrest in 2000 after several years of hiding, Shigenobu was put on trial for passport forgery and alleged conspiracy involving an attempted hostage-taking operation at the French Embassy in The Hague in 1974. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2006 and released in 2022.
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- ❤️ Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
- 💖 Come talk in the New Weekly Queer thread
- 💛 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread
- 💚 Come and talk in the Daily Bloomer Thread
- ⭐️ September Movie Nominations ⭐️
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
- 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:

Marvel brain, gotta make it seem epic
I've gotten real fond of small-scale drama movies lately. I don't want to watch a long drawn out TV show, and I don't really want bombastic.
I've always wanted to make a two hour, one set, no cuts drama about to space fighter pilots drifting in orbit after their space fighter is disabled. Their radio can't receive so they don't know if anyone knows they're alive. They don't know how the battle is going bc it's being fought with missiles and lasers over hundreds or thousands of km of empty space. They just see flickers and flashes every once in a while, so there's nothing to do except to wait and to try not to panic. The whole set is the two people sitting in the cockpit of their fighter with the camera fixed in place above them looking down. Kind of a stage play thing, I guess.