US Consulate General Pipe Bomb Launching Incident

US Consulate General Pipe Bomb Launching Incident (Japanese: 米国総領事館 (べいこくそうりょうじかん)パイプ弾発射事件 (だんはっしゃじけん) Beikoku sōryōjikan paipu-dan hassha jiken[*]) was a bombing attack that took place on 1 January 1985 in Chuo-ku, Kobe.

At about 5:57 a.m. on 1 January 1985, three mortar shells were fired at the Consulate General of the United States in Kobe, located in Chuo-ku, Kobe. Two of the three landed on the consulate building, and one fell on the road outside the compound. There were no casualties.

The launching device was installed on a park bench near the consulate and was fired from there.

Immediately after the incident, a man calling himself a member of the "Chukaku-ha Revolutionary Army" sent claims of responsibility to news organizations, and the public security authorities concluded it was a terrorist attack by the Chukakuha. Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone was scheduled to visit the United States on the day of the incident, 1 January, so the attack was carried out to oppose the strengthening of the Japan–United States alliance.

The significance of this incident lies in the fact that the Chukaku-ha, which had rapidly improved its explosives manufacturing skills since the Osaka Molotov cocktail mass launching incident of 1984, finally succeeded in producing a proper "bomb" equipped with an ignition device. Afterward, the Chukaku-ha also pursued the development of bombs, including fire extinguisher bombs, and carried out further terrorist attacks.

References

• 『過激派事件簿40年史』立花書房、2001年