Anpo protests

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Anpo protests" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2022)

Anpo protests 安保闘争
Masses of protestors flood the streets around Japan's National Diet building, June 18, 1960
Date	1959–1960 1970
Location	Japan
Caused by	Opposition to the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan and American bases in the country
Goals	1959–1960 Prevent ratification of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan Resignation of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi Cancellation of visit to Japan by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower 1970 Abrogation of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan
Concessions	Resignation of Prime Minister Kishi (1960) Cancellation of visit to Japan by Eisenhower (1960) Reversion of Okinawa to Japan (1972)
Parties
Anti-treaty protestors Government of Japan (Anti-treaty factions) Government of Japan (Pro-treaty factions) Government of the United States Pro-treaty counter-protesters

The Anpo protests, also known as the Anpo struggle (安保闘争, Anpo tōsō) in Japanese, were a series of massive protests throughout Japan from 1959 to 1960, and again in 1970, against the United States–Japan Security Treaty, which allows the United States to maintain military bases on Japanese soil.^[1][2] The name of the protests comes from the Japanese term for "Security Treaty," which is Anzen Hoshō Jōyaku (安全保障条約), or just Anpo (安保) for short.

The protests in 1959 and 1960 were staged in opposition to a 1960 revision of the original 1952 Security Treaty, and eventually grew to become the largest popular protests in Japan's modern era.^[1] At the climax of the protests in June 1960, hundreds of thousands of protestors surrounded Japan's National Diet building in Tokyo on nearly a daily basis, and large protests took place in other cities and towns all across Japan.^[3]

On June 15, protestors smashed their way into the Diet compound itself, leading to a violent clash with police. During the confrontation, a female Tokyo University student, Michiko Kanba, was killed.^[4] In the aftermath of this incident, a planned visit to Japan by US president Dwight D. Eisenhower was cancelled, and conservative prime minister Nobusuke Kishi was forced to resign.^[5]

A second round of protests occurred in 1970 at the time of the 1960 Anpo treaty's automatic renewal. Although shorter in duration, these later protests also achieved significant size.