I decided to break the rules ~ Tiananmen Secretary January 28, 16:33

"I broke the rules to save my life,"

he told me about four and a half years after he became a reporter in Sendai.

The confession of a man who should have kept the sky safer than anyone else.

However, I couldn't write the story, "I was really going to bring it to the graveyard," because I didn't know how to handle it.

It's been about 11 years since then.

As a reporter in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I was surprised to see the diplomatic document about the "Tiananmen Square Incident" that was released after the designation of "secret" was lifted.

Isn't this the story I heard from him at that time?

I decided to go see him who had already retired.

(Nobu Watanabe)

That person protects the sky

The person's name is Tetsuya Akagi.

I first met on November 1, 2008.

It was an interview for a commemorative ceremony when the Hokkaido-based airline Air Do opened a route connecting New Chitose Airport and Sendai Airport.

He had just been posted as Air Do's director of Sendai Airport.

"I'm asking my plane to look cool,"

I still remember calling out from the other side.

He changed his job from ANA, and he was friendly to me when I met him for the first time.

I was drawn to his personality.

Partly because I like airplanes, it didn't take long to hit it off.

I didn't even foresee that I would be interviewing him over and over again.

It's a little detour from here, but why did I want to hear from him so much?

What kind of person he is and what he has done.

Before talking about the Tiananmen Square incident, let me introduce you first.

From the bottom of the sea, the end of the sky

Mr. Akagi was born in 1946, the year after the end of the war.

When he failed to take the university entrance exam and was living a ronin life, he was invited by the Self-Defense Forces and joined the army.

He was asked to choose between a submarine rider

and a controller, and he chose the controller,

saying, "I want to see the sky rather than the bottom of the sea

."

The controller's job was tense, but he enjoyed it.

However, at that time, the controller's daily working hours were only four hours.

Realizing that he had 20 hours left, he quit the Self-Defense Forces and joined ANA in 1969.

He became a flight manager who calculated the number of passengers, the amount of cargo, and the weight of fuel loaded on it, and created a flight plan.

Also check the weather on the flight route and explain to the pilots before departure.

That became his daily routine.

After retirement, he re-employed at Air Do.

He was popular with airport personnel beyond the boundaries of the company, including employees of other airlines boarding Sendai Airport.

The drinking party around him was always laughing.

"A story to bring to the graveyard"

June 11, 2009.

At a small tavern along the river near Sendai Airport, I was tilting a beer mug with him.

The humid wind during the rainy season was flowing deep into the store.

The inside of the store, which had not been turned on yet, was warm and naturally served with beer.

Perhaps because of that, he seemed more drunk than usual.

"It's really a story you have to take to the graveyard,"

he cut out.

"You know about

the Tiananmen Square Incident." The Tiananmen Square Incident that occurred in China in 1989.

Just 20 years ago, I was 14 at the time, but of course I remembered.

He is said to have been in Beijing at that time.

As an ANA flight manager, he was in charge of operating temporary flights to evacuate Japanese residents to Japan.

"We used to call it an'evacuate flight', but we were in charge of operating a special flight. At that time, it may be an exaggeration, but to save the lives of as many people as possible, strictly speaking. I broke the rules of operation that should be dealt with. ”

I was shocked by the confession.

The act of breaking the rules related to the operation of airplanes should not be done.

Moreover, the flight manager himself ...

That's why I intended to "take it to the graveyard."

I didn't taste sake anymore.

As a reporter, I think I have to write what I have heard.

But will he be convinced by saying, "Let me write it?"

It may end later being called "a joke on sake".

In the first place, it was a story that I didn't know how to handle and how to write.

In my fifth year as a reporter, I jumped at anything and was rugged, but I couldn't report to my desk with my anguished feelings, so I kept it in my heart's notepad.

Why did he make a "whistleblower"

A year after the "confession" of the night was disappearing beyond my memory.

I received another serious "whistleblower" from him regarding the safety of the sky.

In February 2010, a huge earthquake struck Chile, South America.

It was when a big tsunami warning was issued on the coast of Miyagi prefecture across the Pacific Ocean.

A problem was occurring at Sendai Airport, which is about 1 km inland.

"The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which operates the control tower, decided that there was no danger of flooding due to the tsunami and issued a landing permit to the arriving aircraft."

"On the other hand, undertakes operations such as guiding aircraft and loading and unloading luggage on the ground. All Nippon Airways evacuated all workers in consideration of the height of the tsunami predicted to be above sea level at the airport. ”

“ As a result, a passenger plane of Ever Airlines in Taiwan landed but could not drop passengers. I was stuck in the parking lot for nearly 30 minutes while the warning was issued. "

It happened because there was no communication between the countries and airlines involved in Sendai Airport.

It would have been a catastrophe if the tsunami had arrived.

This should be news.

At that time, he said, "Let's get an interview."

Despite being the active director of Air Do, he testified with his real name about the problems he witnessed.

With this news as a trigger, the Sendai Airport Office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism held a countermeasures meeting on May 26th.

From each airline to the shops in the airport to the police box, all parties participated and decided on recurrence prevention measures such as creating a contact network for information sharing.

When I interviewed him again who attended the meeting, he answered, "I think we have been able to use this case as a lesson to establish a system that allows us to maintain close information communication and unify decisions."

I was worried about him making a courageous accusation, but things seemed to move in the right direction.

Even so, it was unfortunate that the tsunami did not reach the airport.

However, the tsunami rushing to Sendai Airport, which is a kilometer away from the coast, may not occur unless it is a very large earthquake.

Do you ever see such a nightmare scene?

However, the following year, that "nightmare" became a reality in the form of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

March 11, 2011.

That day I was in Tokyo.

In July of the previous year, he was transferred from Sendai to the political department.

A big shake in Tokyo.

The familiar Sendai Plain was seen on TV as it was swallowed up by the tsunami.

"You may have a sense of land at your predecessor, and you want to go to the site. I'll ask for a week for the time being." The

official residence cap sent me out, saying that I couldn't stand even if I was there.

The next afternoon, I managed to enter the Sendai Broadcasting Station, and in the evening I received a phone call.

The number displayed is the number starting with "011", which is the area code of Sapporo.

Why from Sapporo at such a time ...

When I answered the phone, I heard a male voice.

It is said that he is calling from the Air Do headquarters in Sapporo.

"This is a message from Akagi, the director of our Sendai Airport."

While listening to the story, I scribbled it on a notepad.

"1300 people at Sendai Airport. Not enough blankets. 200 blankets. It's cold. I need more blankets for 1100 people." When

I reported to the desk, I was instructed to write a manuscript saying "Immediately write!".

At that time, a huge amount of information that conveys the same predicament was being sent out one after another, so I was not sure how this information was sent out and was useful.

I heard later that at Air Do's Sendai Airport office, I happened to call the director of Toyama Airport before the tsunami struck.

It is said that he kept it connected and reported the situation at Sendai Airport to the head office in Sapporo via Toyama.

At that time, he said, "Tell the reporter Watanabe of NHK," and sent information that the blanket was insufficient.

So it seems that a message arrived from the head office in Sapporo to me.

He was open to the people who work at Sendai Airport, and he continued to encourage those who were left behind, saying, "There is always someone who understands the situation here."

"The radio was the only source of information. When we heard about our situation left behind at Sendai Airport on the NHK broadcast, we were cheered. You understand, that's okay. "

Later said.

After that, he will work hard to resume operations at the disaster-stricken Sendai Airport.

And the following year, I retired.

Foreseeing the concerns of the tsunami, he devoted himself to the safety of the people.

What did he do in China in the past?

"Tiananmen Square Incident" Revived by Diplomatic Documents

It was December last year, more than 11 years after that "confession".

At this time of year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes a declassified diplomatic document 30 years ago.

Finding "bargains" in the documents is also a tradition for foreign ministry reporters.

For me, who has a great interest in the history of diplomacy in the past, this is one of the interviews I am looking forward to.

The document released this time included a record of the Tiananmen Square Incident that occurred in Beijing, China on June 4, 1989.

It has more than 10,000 pages in total.

Tiananmen Square Incident.

The PLA, a Chinese military, has crushed students and citizens seeking democratization by force, resulting in a large number of casualties.

Japanese residents such as local business people and international students were forced to evacuate to Japan.

A diplomatic document prepared by the Japanese Embassy in Beijing contained details on the protection of Japanese at that time.

It is said that the bus operated 105 times in the five days after the incident and evacuated about 1,500 local Japanese residents to hotels and airports.

From the description of the diplomat who was in charge of protecting Japanese people, the atmosphere of the scene at that time drifts.

The record on June 13, about 10 days after the incident, stated:

"In a situation where traffic is extremely difficult, such as the military being active and the roads in the city being blocked in various places, one or more staff members are on board one bus, and several places are circling around. I picked up a few to dozens of people in one place. "

" To send out the staff of the museum who board the bus with the Hinomaru and go to the site such as the university for rescue, just send the staff. I couldn't help feeling hot because I felt like sending it to the battlefield and I couldn't help but pray without thinking, "Please complete your mission safely and come back."

"Temporary flight" is documented

The diplomatic document stated that about 3,500 Japanese residents had returned to Japan urgently in the three days following the Tiananmen Square Incident.

The means was a "temporary flight" by air to Japan.

Is it a special flight ... At that time, I was reminded of the "confession" that I had been chasing in the corner of my head more than 10 years ago, and the feeling that I had sealed it with a haze.

"Isn't this what Mr. Akagi was talking about'evacuate flight'?"

The Japanese embassy in Beijing provided "support for landing clearance through diplomatic routes" for three days. It is said that 10 flights flew to Japan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded that "the evacuation of Japanese nationals could not be carried out without the cooperation of Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways."

Yes, no doubt.

It must be the flight that he "broke the rules".

What on earth did you do?

Let's listen again this time.

It's been over 10 years since then, but now I feel like I can face it.

Let's be careful as a reporter.

I decided to meet him again.

Reunion

January 6th after the new year.

I called Mr. Akagi.

Already retired, he was 74 years old, but his voice seemed to be better than he expected.

It is said that he currently lives in Chiba prefecture near Narita Airport.

When I told him that I wanted to visit, he agreed with two replies.

It was a reunion with each other in masks.

I had informed the purpose of the visit in advance.

Mr. Akagi didn't seem to avoid or worry about it, and he invited a colleague of a mechanic who worked with him in Beijing at the time of the Tiananmen Square incident, saying, "I want to recall my memory."

The man, a former mechanic, had a detailed note of the time.

Mr. Akagi began to talk very plainly, tracing the memories of those days.

Tears of Chinese staff

On February 21, 1989, Mr. Akagi was assigned to Beijing as an ANA flight manager.

At the same time, he was also a trainee, and while working as a flight manager, he also studied Chinese at a local university.

At work, a local staff member dispatched by the Chinese Communist Party who was fluent in Japanese was also working.

The Tiananmen Square Incident occurred four months after he was assigned to Beijing.

The trigger was the death of former general secretary Hu Yaobang, a reformist who was dismissed after being criticized by the Conservative Democrats on April 15.

Taking this opportunity, students held a memorial rally every day at Tiananmen Square, demanding the restoration of the honor of the former general secretary, but the demand gradually changed to demand democratization.

At the university where Mr. Akagi attended, students held a rally, and various information began to fly through word-of-mouth and wall newspapers.

I had a feeling that something would happen.

At that moment, it was as if cold water had been poured just before the boiling water overflowed the pot.

On June 4, the PLA finally fired at its own people.

Mr. Akagi also heard the sound of bullets flying around.

It became clear that we were in danger.

He says he can't forget the tears he witnessed during that time with a Chinese staff member he worked with.

The female staff members, who were well-known colleagues, were also sent in to monitor foreigners.

They cried with their eyes bright red, killing their voices, saying, "This will put China 50 years behind the world."

I was in the midst of an incident and had no information anyway.

Mr. Akagi still remembers the scene when the flight from Hong Kong arrived.

Chinese people working at Beijing Airport were pulling out a Hong Kong-issued Chinese newspaper loaded for passengers from the plane and reading it devouringly.

Even under strict information control, people sought the truth in "loopholes."

A gun is struck, and involuntarily "Sheche"

Beijing was just a "battlefield".

The diplomatic documents released also recorded that bullets had jumped into the homes of several Japanese embassy staff and that Japanese photographers were injured by the bullets.

The PLA's muzzle was also aimed at Mr. Akagi.

It was midnight on June 8th, four days after the Tiananmen Square Incident.

I was on my way back to my home in Beijing from the work of operating a special flight to evacuate Japanese residents to Japan, which had already started.

When I was in a wagon car driven by a colleague, I was suddenly blocked by dozens of armed soldiers.

It was a point called "Sanyuan Qiao" about 7 km northeast of Tiananmen Square.

He was instructed to get out of the wagon with the barrel of an automatic rifle.

A Chinese-speaking colleague mechanic explained the situation.

At that time, Mr. Akagi was struck by the muzzle in front of him about 30 cm from the tip of his nose.

He was a soldier who still had an innocence on his face.

Mr. Akagi was talking at once.

"

She She

!

She She

! (Thank you!)" With

both hands raised and the gesture of surrendering.

The young soldier did not change his expression at all.

The soldiers also sternly questioned the commercial radios and tools used to maintain the planes that were loaded in the freight space of the wagons.

Only when martial law was issued and the army was cracking down on civilians by force, it was a cargo that could not be helped.

ID cards such as passports were also examined with the muzzle pointed.

It felt like a very long time.

The soldier, who appears to be a superior,

was finally released

, saying, "Go!"

After that, Mr. Akagi's wagon car was caught in the inspection again by the time he got home.

This time he was a police officer, but he pointed his pistol at him.

Curiously, he said he didn't feel scared of the small pistols after being hit by a large automatic rifle.

A colleague who was with me later said:

"Hey, Akagi. In that situation, there would be no sheshe (thank you)

.

"

"There is no choice. My knowledge of Chinese is that kind of thing. But think about it. If you write it in kanji," It's the word "apologize". I wanted to say "I'm sorry, I'm not doing anything wrong." "

Now,

it's a

funny story among my colleagues.

Is it a rule or ...

The event that Mr. Akagi said "broke the rules" happened in the midst of this.

ANA flew a Boeing 747, a jumbo jet, on a special flight operated when Japanese residents evacuated from Beijing.

(Hereafter referred to as B747)

According to a colleague's mechanic's record, five extra flights were operated, and two types of B747s were used: SR for domestic flights and LR for international flights.

It is said that he "broke the rules" when he skipped the SR.

As the flight manager of the special flight, Mr. Akagi calculated the weight of passengers, cargo, fuel, etc., and found that it exceeded the maximum takeoff weight limit of 20,000 pounds (about 9 to 14 tons). all right.

The flight rules based on the Aviation Law are strict.

You can't fly with this.

I was worried.

Whether to unload passengers or luggage.

At that time, the sight of the corridor in front of ANA's office at Beijing Airport came to my mind.

While the bullets were flying around, Japanese residents who had finally evacuated on the bus of the embassy were rushing in a line.

Everyone wanted to escape Beijing as soon as possible.

I want to fly as it is.

However, although it violated the regulations, I was convinced that there would be no problem.

The rationale is the gap between the performance of the B747 and the regulations.

According to the operating regulations of the B747SR, which is an aircraft for domestic flights, the maximum takeoff weight when loading passengers, cargo, and fuel was about 580,000 pounds, or about 263 tons.

However, with the ability of the B747, it was actually okay to exceed 700,000 pounds.

On domestic flights, the flight distance is short and fuel consumption is low, so if it is too heavy at landing, the wheels may break when it touches the runway.

Therefore, the regulations intentionally limit the maximum takeoff weight.

If you use it as an international flight like this time, you should be able to go without problems even if you exceed the regulation for domestic flights of 580,000 pounds.

Mr. Akagi knew the situation.

At the meeting before departure, I told the captain frankly.

"I'm overweight. I still want to fly."

I didn't know when the airport would close, so it was a race against time.

How will the captain judge ...

Then he answered casually.

"Okay. Mr. Akagi, please

give

me two weights and balances."

"Weight and balance" is the weight of passengers, cargo, fuel, etc., and the center of gravity of the cargo. Positional data that the flight manager tells the pilot before takeoff.

Based on this data, the pilot decides the speed at takeoff and so on.

Was it a heartfelt message?

I made two documents at once.

One is the "official" one with the takeoff weight within the specified range.

In other words, it is a non-factual document for operating.

The other is "unofficial" based on the actual takeoff weight.

The captain himself was to confirm the true weight.

It was the "tricks" of Mr. Akagi and the captain who were familiar with the performance of the B747.

Why did Mr. Akagi talk about an act that clearly violates the flight rules?

"I think it's aging, and I don't think I made a mistake. Sometimes it was within the performance of a jumbo jet. We are all working together to evacuate as many people as possible. The captain at that time was a real professional. ”

How should Mr. Akagi's judgment be evaluated?

After meeting with Mr. Akagi, I asked Mr. Hiroyuki Kobayashi, a former captain of Japan Airlines and an aviation critic.

Since his first flight in 1970, Mr. Kobayashi has been mainly in charge of jumbo jets, including special flights for the Prime Minister and rescue planes for Japanese nationals in the Gulf Crisis.

Familiar with crisis management for aircraft operations.

During the Tiananmen Square incident, he himself was appointed captain of another extra flight.

He also prepared a suicide note, but he didn't actually fly because the Chinese authorities didn't allow the flight.

"From the testimony, it is a violation of the flight regulations, and the landing fee is determined by the takeoff weight, so it is possible that we did not pay the landing fee that we should have paid. However, in terms of safety, it is a domestic flight. Since the maximum takeoff weight is only suppressed due to the landing weight of the aircraft, there is no effect on the performance of the jumbo aircraft. In the turmoil of the Cheonanmen incident, if there is no effect on safety, super-legal measures are required. I think it was a reasonable decision from the perspective that crisis management has the idea of ​​"selecting priorities" and that the lives of Japanese residents are more important. "

Make it in time with the insertion strategy!

Temporary flights were operated between regular flights.

At that time, Beijing Airport was operating until midnight, so passengers and cargo had to be taken off on a special flight arriving from Tokyo during the operating hours.

I have to manage to take off in time.

Mr. Akagi held the cup ramen that arrived from Japan as relief supplies in both hands and inserted it into the operation room of Beijing Airport, which he had been familiar with on a daily basis, saying, "Please have a midnight snack."

The atmosphere of the tingling Chinese staff has eased.

The aim is to have ANA's special flights specify a parking location as close to the runway as possible for convenience.

It was the basis for saving the time to move on the ground as much as possible and taking off as soon as possible.

As many as one person, as soon as possible.

He said he wanted to do whatever he could.

"It was hard when I passed in front of the Japanese residents waiting in the corridor in front of the ANA office at the airport with a cup ramen for nemawashi." Can you give us that? " I was so sorry to be told, "the

diplomatic document stated that the Japanese embassy in Beijing took an unusual response in the turmoil.

"Some Japanese (especially international students) have left their passports at school or at work, evacuated to a safe area, and cannot be recovered due to danger. Therefore, the museum consults with the ministry. In such a case, we decided to issue a "passport for returning to Japan", which was issued to just under 50 people. "

Two weeks after the incident, Foreign Minister Mitsuka summed up in a speech at the Diet.

"In an extremely dangerous and difficult situation, we were able to safely return nearly 4,000 Japanese, except for two injured."

What is the decision of the person in charge when there is no manual?

The 2012 Air Do in-house newsletter remains.

Therefore, Mr. Akagi looked back on the response in the event of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The end is concluded with these words.

"Everyone, I think I can be the person in charge in the future, but the person in charge must give instructions. The person in charge gives instructions and makes decisions. The worst thing is not to give an answer. At the time of the ultimate choice, there is no manual, so it is an overrule, so I have to believe in my experience and my humanity. "

It was a message like Mr. Akagi who passed through the Shuraba of the Tiananmen Square Incident.

In other words, was that the case?

I asked Mr. Akagi, who is diagonally in front of me, wearing a mask.

"The behavior at the time of the Tiananmen Square incident was the same idea,"

Mr. Akagi said, as if he could understand it through a mask.

"After all, the captain at that time was a professional." A

diplomatic document that conveys the protection of Japanese people at the time of the Tiananmen Square Incident.

The memory that revived it was the reason for this interview.

"The story I was thinking of taking to the graveyard" I was

worried a lot at that time and now, but what should I do with a professional when I'm in an unexpected situation? I decided to write this time with my consent to convey what the true life-saving choice is.

Thank you, Mr. Akagi.

I feel that the taste of beer from an izakaya 11 years ago has finally come back.

(End)

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊ After the

earthquake disaster, volunteers from each company gave the “Good luck award” to Director Akagi.

It is said to be his greatest treasure.

"Akagi director are many varied gave me the Sendai Airport"

"We are changing for the better direction Sendai airport! You can not imitate"

"Please ended up doing pounding! Next !! the nursery school to the airport"

"Sendai Airport whole of boss "Please watch over as"

, which is a message that shows one side of his reformer.

[Reporter Watanabe has written such an article]

"I saw the disappearance of the country"

"Wuhan Evacuation! Behind the Scenes" (co-authored)

"My" hometown ", fly to Etorofu"

"Yukio Okamoto's way of life" (co-authored)

Political

editor Shin Watanabe

Joined the station in 2004.

Worked at Kushiro Bureau, Sakhalin, Sendai Bureau, Fukushima Bureau, etc.

Currently a sub-cap of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the political department.