A man claiming to be a former extremist tied to a series of bombings in the 1970s died on Jan. 29 as police were trying to unravel the mystery of the half-century-old case.

The Metropolitan Police Department is trying to confirm whether the man, who died of cancer at a hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture, was indeed suspected bomber Satoshi Kirishima.

Kirishima, who has been on the run for 49 years, would be 70 years old now.

Sources have linked the dead man to a person who went by the presumably false name of Hiroshi Uchida, a worker in Kanagawa Prefecture who was well-liked but revealed little about himself except for his love of music.

On Jan. 25, Uchida, who had terminal stomach cancer, told hospital staff that he was Kirishima.

“I want to die as ‘Satoshi Kirishima’ at the end of my life,” he told them.

DISAPPEARED AFTER 1975 BOMBING

According to investigative sources, Kirishima was born in Hiroshima Prefecture. After graduating from high school, he moved to Tokyo and entered Meiji Gakuin University.

He became a member of the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front extremist group. Specifically, he joined the group’s unit called “sasori” (scorpion).

The radical group is believed responsible for a number of bombings in 1974 and 1975 at general contractors and other business facilities.

Two bombs on Aug. 30, 1974, were detonated in front of the main entrance of the building housing offices of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Eight people, including company employees and bystanders, were killed in the blast and 380 were injured.

According to Tokyo police, Kirishima is suspected of planting and detonating a homemade bomb at a building in Tokyo’s Ginza district in April 1975.

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested nine people for their suspected involvement in the incident. Kirishima, however, disappeared.

In May 1975, he was placed on the National Police Agency’s list of wanted persons of importance.

Although three of the members of the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front fled overseas eventually, there are no records of Kirishima leaving Japan after the 1975 bombing, according to investigative sources.

He likely wanted to avoid revealing his identity by using his passport or other official documents, they said.

LIVING AS UCHIDA

In the 1980s, a man who called himself Hiroshi Uchida started working as a live-in employee at a civil engineering company in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture.

A man in his 60s who heads a company that did business with the civil engineering company described Uchida as a well-liked individual.

“He joked around with his fellow workers and got along well with them,” he said. “They called him ‘Ucchan.’”

The man said Uchida had visited the company site several times a year. He said Uchida usually had stubble, and he never saw him drive a car or operate heavy machinery.

Uchida did not engage in much conversation, but he “had a gentle tone,” the man said.

The owner of a restaurant near Fujisawa Station said a man known as “Ucchi” showed up once or twice a month for nearly 20 years.

The customer wore glasses, had graying hair, and was often dressed in a work uniform jacket and jeans. Part of his upper front tooth was missing.

The owner, 66, said Ucchi would come alone after drinking at another restaurant or visiting a public bath. After a couple of drinks, he paid about 2,000 yen ($14) and left.

“He was a bit of a slovenly old man,” the owner said. “He had a calm demeanor, and I would have never thought he was the corporate bomber.”

Ucchi loved rock music from the 1960s and 1970s, as his favorite musician was James Brown, the owner said.

When a live band played at the restaurant, Ucchi would dance, seemingly to get the musicians to move to the rhythm.

The owner said he had visited Ucchi’s home in a two-story house near the civil engineering company once about 10 years ago. He said the room was messy and books were piled up on the floor.

The last time Ucchi came to the restaurant was before the COVID-19 pandemic. He never discussed personal or political matters but was a music expert, the owner said.

NO SUSPICIONS

A male company employee, 49, who has lived near the civil engineering company for four years, said he often saw Uchida dressed in work clothes and being picked up by an apparent co-worker in a car on weekday mornings. He would return home in the evenings.

The employee said he sometimes passed Uchida walking slowly at nearby drugstores and convenience stores. Whenever he said hello to his neighbor, Uchida made eye contact with him and returned his greeting.

“He didn’t look very much like a wanted man,” he said.

WEAKENED STATE

In January this year, a 61-year-old company employee walking in a residential area of Fujisawa heard a man calling for help.

“Excuse me! Can you give me a hand?”

A thin man with short gray hair and wearing a jumper was sitting near the entrance to the civil engineering company. He had no strength in his body and had difficulty speaking.

The good Samaritan asked the man, “Where do you live?” The man pointed toward a two-story house near the company.

He and another man took the ailing man in their arms and brought him to the home. He found a key in the man’s pocket, opened the door and sat him down near the entrance.

The first floor was a storage area. The sick man appeared to be living on the second floor. About an hour later, an ambulance arrived near the company and took the man to a hospital in Kamakura a few kilometers away.

He had no insurance card or other identification. He was hospitalized under the name Uchida.

LAST REQUEST

After Uchida said that he was Kirishima, the hospital notified police.

The Metropolitan Police Department interviewed the patient, who told them about the Ginza bombing and his family structure. Police believe that only the real Kirishima could have known such details, the sources said.

Police had no fingerprints registered for Kirishima, so they were in the process of confirming his identity by DNA analysis to match him with relatives when he died.

The process will take at least several more days to get the results, the source said.

‘NO WAY’

According to the sources, when the man was hospitalized, his physical features resembled the police description of Kirishima, although the patient’s hair was shorter and thinner than the long flowing hair seen in Kirishima’s wanted photo.

Kirishima’s face has been a common sight on wanted posters placed at police boxes nationwide for decades. But the people who came across the man called Ucchi never suspected he could be the wanted bomber.

The man who had helped Uchida get to a hospital was later told about his claim that he was Kirishima.

The man said: “When you put it that way, I think I saw a bit of Kirishima from the wanted photo in that man. But no way.”

(This article was compiled from stories written by Hiraku Higa, Arata Mitsui, Hidenori Sato, Kei Teshirogi, and Shoko Mifune.)