Untitled Document

Philosophy of Struggle Practice

Focus on those situations where you feel most fear

When you begin to struggle you feel afraid

In that situation I always try to think `what is the worst thing that can happen`

In the future what will be the outcomes of my struggling - will I be fired? will I starve?

will my family starve? will I be ostracized in the workplace? or arrested by the police? or killed?

But if you think deeply, you will understand that such terrible things may not happen

You should not be frightened of such vague anxieties

Instead you should consider deeply whether you can endure the things you imagine

In many cases people fear incidents even though there is no substance for them to fear

If you continue to attack your opponent in a principled way your opponent may make weak point himself

When your opponent is very strong you may feel that your attack is futile

But even then if you persist in your attack, your opponent may make mistakes

In one example, at the OKI denki stockholders meeting in 2002

The company kicked me out using violent methods

Until then I had attended the meeting for 17 years

each time pointing out clear examples of discrimination at the work place

and criticizing unfair proceedings at the meetings themselves

Each time the company only response was that these issues were not on the agenda

I continued to accuse them

Finally in 2002 the company removed me using violence when I was simply asking for a vote to be taken

to not hold the stockholders meeting on the common day

Because the company's reaction was socially unacceptable it could not justify the violence

So the company created its own weak point

Then I was able to attack their weak point by taking them to court. This made my attack stronger.

It was as if a lion had taken a false step on edge of the cliff after attacking a small bee

When you lose your way you should choose the most difficult way

In 1980 I worried whether or not I should stand as a candidate for the labor union

I knew that the company would attempt to victimize me if I stood

In 1981 I worried whether or not I should accept the company's transfer order

I knew that if I didn`t accept the transfer order the company would fire me

In each case my decision was correct I believe

If I had chosen the other way perhaps at the time I would have felt relief

But later I would have regretted it

And I would not be the person I am today

In 2003 in February I was invited to perform at a concert in Hokkaido-Ikeda town

Mr Yoshida, a teacher at Toshibetsu Elementary School asked me to perform for first grade students

I was concerned whether first grade students would understand my songs and stories

I had no self-confidence but I prepared as well as I could

The concert turned out to be a great success

This success encouraged me to perform in November of that year

when I was invited to sing to a class of mentally handicapped second grade students in Oume Junior High School

I am anticipating that more schools will invite me

I have been able to use these public school performances to support my court case and to create a good impression to the judge.

They show that society acknowledges my struggling.

Making Sense of Struggle

You can understand the real meaning of something that has happened

Sometimes something which looks negative

may actually turn out to be positive for you

In 1980 in the Okidenki labor union elections, candidates made speeches

Thousands of workers were in the audience following the company candidate`s speech

Refusing to listen to the candidate who was prepared to criticize the company`s policies

That election was the reason I ran as a candidate and later, was fired

At that time, many people who were struggling against the company`s policies were disappointed by that incident

But I thought at the time that this incident could be considered as a kind of weapon

It showed very clearly how outrageous the company`s behavior was

It increased my confidence that I was correct in criticizing the company`s way

Even now, every time I give a concert I talk about this incident as an example of corporate fascism

When the company ejected me violently from the stockholders` general meeting

Some of my supporters were disappointed when they witnessed this incident

But I believe it was a good opportunity for my struggle as I was able to counter-attack by bringing a court case against the company.

If You Don`t Use a Weapon It`s As If You Don`t Have One (Use it or lose it)

Knowledge is a weapon

Information is a weapon

And the law is a weapon

If you don`t use these weapons they have no power

In my struggling at the Okidenki stockholders meeting

I discovered in commercial law that a stockholder can read the records of previous meetings

I read them and I found that the company had written virtually nothing about the questions asked by the stockholders

So I raised this as an issue and accused the company at the next stockholders meeting

Even though I had been fired by the company, as a stockholder I was able to examine the records at the company HQ where they treated me with respect and they even gave me tea.

In commercial law stockholders have the right to ask a question at the stockholders meeting and the company is bound to answer it

It was written that the Chairman controls the proceedings of the meeting

And there was a legal precedent that showed the Chairman may order someone disrupting the meeting to be ejected

However we can be confident that the Chairman may not eject us for asking a question because this right is protected in commercial law

We can also be confident that it is illegal for the police to ignore violence committed against a stockholder by the company at a general meeting

Because under police regulations police officers are obliged to treat everyone fairly

I knew Article 78 Item (2) of police officers law so I used this to complain to the Public Safety Committee. The Public Safety Committee acknowledged that the police officers were present during the company violence against me. This proved that police officers were lying when they claimed that they had left the meeting before the company violence against me had taken place.

By understanding the law we can protect ourselves

For example, when I was accused by the police of speeding and was only a few kilometers above the speed limit, I knew that it was illegal of them to charge me, even though they wanted to. I pointed out to them that if they charged me it was illegal and I would take them to court. After considering this they decided not to proceed.

My experience. In 1999 I was trapped by police officers mouse trap. I was driving a 100cc motorcycle. It was a four lane road with a central median strip and I drove 60kph in a 40kph speed limit zone.

But this section of the road had good visibility in terms of traffic and usually the traffic flows at 60kph. So I asked the police officers, "Was I driving dangerously?"

They answered, "We are checking for speeding and as you were overspending you must take a ticket".

But in the Police Officers Function Law it was written that "the means written in law should be used only to protect people`s lives, safety and their property to prevent crime in a minimum fashion and should never be abused".

We can understand that police need to regulate dangerous driving but when people are only driving just over the speed limit it is against the spirit of the law to give them a ticket.

I insisted that and I said to them "no civilian will understand this." Among the police officers, the highest ranking officer replied to me "We don`t need to discuss this with you".

So I said `Using the regulation in this way is illegal and your understanding of the Police Officers Function Law is wrong. If you give me a ticket I will take you to court and fight this case in the court. "

I told him that as police officers are District Public Servants we can take individual officers to court. "Some day the court will call you, so you should decide whether you go to court as part of your job or if you take a day off work".

A young police officer asked me to co-operate while he took my details. I pointed out that his kanji was incorrect.

When I co-operated with him the senior officer came over and said to me, "Actually Mr Tanaka our speeding meter was damaged by a big truck so we cannot confirm the data if you bring us to court so we would like to drop the speeding charge." I knew he was lying so I criticized the way they deal with illegal parking and I left.

In this way I protected my gold card license status

Let`s keep driving safely!

I suggested forming an organization which would oppose the illegal regulation of traffic by the police.

Records are Weapons

When people without power struggle against authority

To make records can be a weapon (photographs, video, sound recordings)

Authorities lie all the time and think they can get away with it

Sometimes they lie even though they know it will be exposed

So if you are involved in some incident you should make sure you note the date, time, place and names of persons involved and the facts. It can be very useful and important to document the incident with sound or video recordings and photographs.

Some people think that they can`t make a recording without permission from the opponent but to record their own negotiation is not the same as an illegal wire tap by an outside person.

It is your right to protect yourself. I recorded all my negotiations with the company after they gave me a transfer order.

And I always record the stockholders general meetings.

This time also I recorded all negotiations with police officers so that they cannot lie about the facts.

I`ve grown used to life today

A life that I dreamed of

But Now I think

There is no tenderness here

I didn`t know this before

After I left you

There were many things I began to understand

Now I am nineteen

Nearly an adult

I realize I have been naive in some ways

You were bringing up three difficult kids

by your sweat and facing barking dogs

your anger and your heart

are in your flyers

You won, you continued to scream

I have inherited your way of thinking

and your anger against the unacceptable

Dragging your tired body

You cradled us, selfish us

You held us warmly with your wrinkled worker`s hand

I rejected your feelings and did not look you in the face

But I understood

You tenderly accepted me when I was stupid

You won, you continued to scream

I have inherited your mind,

your anger against the unacceptable

A letter for the elementary school children

I wrote this letter around 1982 for the elementary school children next door to Oki

I wrote the letter in both kanji and hiragana - but because elementary children often have difficulty with kanji, I also added rubi for each kanji - this is similar to writing phonetically.

THE LETTER

I am the man who is always standing in front of the Okidenki gate and praying in a loud voice. Maybe you thought, `What a strange person. Why is he doing that?`. It might be hard to understand, but I`ll try to make it easy in this letter. Let me tell you a story.

There was once a boy in a school who was clever and very strong and a big bully. He asked everybody to become his follower. Those who followed him were no longer bullied, but he forced them to bully the others who had refused to follow him.

Almost every student became his follower because they were frightened of being bullied. And those who refused to follow him were ignored by the others or bullied.

What would you do in this situation?

Would you become a follower? And when you became a follower and you were ordered to bully your good friends, what would you do? Would you bully your best friend because you didn`t want to be bullied?

You know that this kind of situation is very bad - you would hate that. But you would need to be very brave when so many other people become the bully`s followers.

And you need to be even braver to tell him, `You should stop! This is a bad thing!` But it is a very important thing to say even if that bully is very strong and you feel scared. If you recognize that a bad thing is bad then it is very important to say so.

In 1978 the bosses at Okidenki fired over 1000 people from their company. They said they had too many workers and could not make enough money. But the people who lost their jobs could no longer earn money to support their families. So the law decided that companies cannot easily do that.

The other workers in the company protested because their friends who lost their jobs had done nothing wrong. But the company called each worker who protested, one by one, and threatened them that they would lose their jobs too. So many workers felt very afraid and stopped protesting gradually.

You must have seen the fired workers in front of the Okidenki gate wearing placards and arm bands and handing out flyers. Those flyers stated `To fire us was wrong. We want to come back and work for the company. Give us back our jobs.`

In the beginning many people took the flyers and read them and said to the fired workers, `Keep going and get your jobs back. We will help you.`

But the company`s bosses ordered those people not to take the flyers any more. Many people were scared of the bosses and eventually they stopped taking the flyers. The bosses also ordered the guard who wear the uniform and whom you say good morning to each day at the gate, to report anyone they saw who continued to take a flyer.

And the bosses spoke to those people who continued to take the flyer, `You`ll be sorry if you continue to take them`. They reduced their salary and told other workers to ignore them. In the company, it is a terrible thing to ignore others.

So, almost everyone stopped taking the flyers in front of the gate. Any person brave enough to continue taking a flyer was ignored in the workplace and treated terribly. This still happens.

I kept telling the bosses, `This is wrong. You should stop this. What you are doing is bullying.` The bosses thought `What an impudent fellow. We will make an example of him so that others do not follow him.` And they tried to move me to a faraway part of the company. They threatened me, `If you refuse this you will be fired.` But I continued to tell them, `You are doing wrong things.` And finally, I was fired by this company.

Now I am taking the company to court and I am telling this story to the people because I thought it is very bad if the same thing that is happening in Okidenki is happening all over Japan. So every morning I stand in front of the gate and pray i a loud voice.

I am telling the people who ignore the bullying because they are scared of the bosses, `Be brave! You should say a bad thing is bad! Make them stop the bullying!`

We call a society fascist when many people simply follow a strong bully. When you grow up you will face the same situation as exists in Okidenki. At that time somebody may say to you, `It is bad to refuse orders from a strong person. We should follow them.` But if everybody thinks like this, society will become bad.

Each of you has to be brave enough to say a bad thing is bad at any time. By doing this you can protect society where everyone can live happily.

PLAINTIFF`S STATEMENT

1. ABOUT THIS COURT CASE

(1) My viewpoint

(i) The reason why I brought this case to court.

I already wrote in my opinion statements of 2004 about the background to this case, why I brought it to court and the violations of human rights and illegal acts by the defendant.

(ii)

I already proved the facts of the case with evidence (No. 1) and (No. 19) and documents. But the court has given me the opportunity again to offer my opinion so I would like to restate my opinion.

(2) The point of conflict in this case

(i) The point of conflict in the case is very simple: whether it is legal to eject stockholders who only make suggestions not to hold the stockholders meeting on the Common Day and request that a vote be taken on this matter - using physical force with no explanation, no vote taken, no motion put to the floor, no questions answered and no information given as to why the Chairman will not put it to the vote.

(ii) The stockholders who join the stockholders meeting have the right to be present under commercial law and should not be discriminated against regardless of whether he or she is a politician or company president or a member of the stockholders meeting gang or a fired person like me.

(iii) If the stockholder`s question is appropriate the Chairman has to answer the question whoever asks it.

(iv) In this case the Chairman`s answer was clearly a lie. It is impossible that every year for many years the day of the company`s stockholder meeting is the same day as the Common Day by accident. Such an answer which is clearly a lie, is not appropriate. That is common sense.

(v) When the answer of the Chairman was clearly a lie, the stockholder who cannot agree with this, has a right to request a vote to secure the agreement of the other stockholders - it is a clear right.

(vi) The Chairman should take a vote when I request one or he should explain why he will not take a vote. If the Chairman had done this I would not bring the case to court even if I did not agree with his explanation.

(vii) No stockholders want the stockholders meeting to be held on the Common Day but if there had been a vote Okidenki had already stacked the meeting with their supporters and they formed the majority so my suggestion would have been voted down.

(viii) But the reason the Chairman did not take a vote was because it would have become clear that the company had stacked the meeting.

(ix) If my suggestion had been voted on and lost I would have to accept that decision even if I disagree with it because that is the rule under commercial law.

(x) But the Chairman refused this procedure.

(xi) The system of the stockholders meetings regulated under commercial law will be destroyed if this kind of misconduct is permitted. Actually the defendant physically ejected me again from this year`s stockholders meeting, refusing to accept or answer my question about the company price rigging. This not only violated commercial law but

(xii) The court should not encourage a defendant whose actions not only violate commercial law but who also has committed a criminal act.

Last days of February

Morning sun over the Keio line bridge

shines on me in front of the gate

The workers entering the gate

Turn their eyes from me

Holding my guitar with fingerless work gloves

I scream to them