Shimoyama incident

Removal of Shimoyama's remains from the Jōban Line.

The Shimoyama incident (下山事件, Shimoyama jiken) was the disappearance and death of Sadanori Shimoyama, the first president of Japanese National Railways, in Tokyo on 5 July 1949.[1] Shimoyama disappeared on his way to work and his body was discovered on the Jōban Line in Adachi the next day. The media offered conflicting explanations involving suicide and murder, while the police did not publicly report the results of their investigation, which was then ended.[1] The Shimoyama incident, the Mitaka incident, and the Matsukawa derailment occurred within two months of one another, and together are known as JNR's Three Big Mysteries.[2]

Background[edit]

Sadanori Shimoyama

Sadanori Shimoyama (下山 定則, Shimoyama Sadanori, born 23 July 1901) was a bureaucrat of the Ministry of Transport, the successor to the Ministry of Railways which had operated Japan's railway network. Shimoyama was appointed the first president of Japanese National Railways (JNR) when it was established on 1 June 1949. Under the Dodge Line policy of the Japanese government, Shimoyama was responsible for drastic personnel cutbacks of JNR, as a part of which on 4 July 1949 he released a list of about 30,000 employees to be fired.[1] The cutbacks were ordered abruptly by the US government and enforced by the US military officials based in Japan as a way to reduce the political power of the then-Japanese Communist Party. Many[who?] believe that Shimoyama was designated as a scapegoat by both the Japanese and US governments to soften the blowback of the drastic personnel cutbacks, and both governments could be responsible for his death. Days before his death, Shimoyama had received numerous death threats from some high-level US military officials to make sure he would go through with the cutback order.[citation needed]

Disappearance[edit]

On the morning of the next day, 5 July, Shimoyama left his home in Ōta, Tokyo around 8:20 in his 1941 Buick.[1] On his way to work, he instructed the driver to stop at the Mitsukoshi Department Store in Nihonbashi. Having arrived at the store before its opening, they returned to a Chiyoda Bank office (now The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ) in front of Tokyo Station. They then followed a circuitous route back to the Mitsukoshi store. Around 9:37 AM, Shimoyama again got out of the official car, telling the driver to wait for five minutes, and quickly entered the Mitsukoshi.[1] This was the last he was heard from.

Normally, Shimoyama arrived at JNR headquarters before 9 AM and was greeted by his secretary. On the day of his disappearance, in the tense atmosphere of impending personnel cutbacks, there was an important meeting scheduled at 9 AM. His failure to arrive, after confirming from home that he would be there, caused a great stir at JNR headquarters, and the police were contacted. The investigation began as a missing persons case. On 6 July, past 12:30 AM, Shimoyama's dismembered body was found on the Jōban Line between Kita-Senju Station and Ayase Station in Adachi. Shimoyama had been hit by a train.[1]

After the disappearance, an individual fitting Shimoyama's description was reported seen first in the Mitsukoshi department store in Nihonbashi,[3] then riding on a Ginza Line subway train bound for Asakusa Station. In the Mitsukoshi store, many people reported having seen him.

After 1:40 PM, the individual spoke with a station attendant at Tobu Railway's Gotanno Station in Adachi, close to where the body was discovered. Following that, from 2 PM until some time past 5 PM, he stopped at Matsuhiro Ryokan, close to the station. There were many reports of a man with Shimoyama's height and clothing walking south along the Tōbu Isesaki Line from 6 PM until after 8 PM from Gotanno toward the spot in which the body was found.

Investigation[edit]

Inspection of locomotive D51 651, which hit Shimoyama

Found on the outbound track of the Jōban Line, it was determined that Shimoyama's body had been dismembered around 20 minutes after midnight by outbound freight train No. 869, pulled by locomotive D51 651. The official autopsy was led by Tanemoto Furuhata, a Tokyo University professor of forensic medicine, with the autopsy itself being performed by Furuhata's colleague Naoki Kuwashima. Based on the injuries to the body, it was determined that Shimoyama died prior to being hit by the train.

A specific cause of death was not established, but blood loss (at another location) was possible, due to the lack of blood found in the body and at the scene. Additionally, in some parts of the body life-threatening internal bleeding was found which could only have been caused by considerable force, such as kicking. On the other hand, a Tokyo municipal coroner who had examined the body at the scene believed that Shimoyama's death was suicide. However, the internal bleeding observed in the remains of Shimoyama was also consistent with being hit by a train, and investigators would not have been able to observe blood at the scene because it was raining. As such, these facts were not seen as useful to support a conclusion of murder.

Keio University professor Nakadate Kyūhei believed that Shimoyama was alive when hit by the train, although he never saw the body. These theories stand in opposition to one another. On 30 August 1949, Furuhata, Nakadate, and Kyōsuke Komiya of Nagoya Medical School were called to testify before the Committee on Judicial Affairs of the Diet's House of Representatives, and in doing so brought the Diet and the world of forensic medicine into the controversy. In response to the committee's questions, Furuhata stated that "Kuwashima still cannot officially declare this a murder or suicide. He has stated only that the body was dismembered after death. The investigation is still underway, and those who know nothing of it but make deductions anyway are unscientific and taking liberties."

In art and media[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Shibata, Tetsutaka (19 May 2009). 振り返る昭和 昭和24年 戦後最大の謎、下山事件 [Playback Showa 1949 - Shimoyama Incident, the biggest mystery after the war] (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 23 March 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  2. ^ "The Three Big Rail Mysteries that Defined Japan's Summer of 1949". Tokyo Weekender. 2 May 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  3. ^ "The Japanese National Railways Incidents–Enduring Mysteries from Post-War Japan". Japan Powered. 24 May 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  4. ^ Tezuka, Osamu (2013). Ayako. New York City: Vertical. p. 79. ISBN 9781935654780.
  5. ^ "On a wing and a prayer: Hitmaker mangaka Urasawa turns to period fiction with his new 'Billy Bat'". Daily Yomiuri. 13 February 2009. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  6. ^ Peace, David (2021). Tokyo Redux. London: Faber & Faber. p. 320. ISBN 9780571323647.

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