On Nov. 4, a man in his 30s stepped onto the grounds of Kyoto University. A couple of days earlier, in Tokyo, two Kyoto University students had been arrested at a demonstration after an alleged scuffle with police. Those arrested were allegedly connected to the radical left-wing group Chukaku-ha (Middle Core Faction).
What happened next remains the subject of some dispute. The man was forced to admit that he was a plainclothes police officer and "escorted" by the students to a classroom, where he was detained and questioned by school officials for three hours.
Kyoto University was angry that the sanctity of its campus had been violated. Critics warned the incident was yet another sign that Japan under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his right-wing henchmen (and women) was out of control, and that fundamental academic freedoms were being threatened.