Curtis chats with former Japan Socialist Party leader Takako Doi (center, holding flowers) at a party celebrating the publication of his book in 2008.

Japan's political left: Gerald Curtis (24)

The lives of idealists who tried to steer Japan's socialists toward reform -- and watched it unravel

GERALD CURTIS

October 24, 2025 08:00 JST

Years ago, there was a bar named "Boa" in the basement of a nondescript building in Ginza that had a few tables and a counter that seated five or six people. But it was usually crowded with an assorted clientele of socialists, "progressive intellectuals" and journalists. Most were acquaintances of Jinbei "Anjin" Ando.