, born on June 10, 1936, is a Japanese

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

who uncovered the

Toshiba–Kongsberg scandal The Toshiba–Kongsberg scandal, referred to in Japan as the Toshiba Machine Cocom violation case, was an international trade incident that unfolded during the final period of the Cold War. It centered on certain Coordinating Committee for Mult ...

Early life and education

Kumagai was born in

Onomichi, Hiroshima is a Cities of Japan, city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 129,314 in 64055 households and a population density of 450 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Onomichi is loca ...

. In 1963, he graduated from the Russian-language department of the

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies , often referred to as TUFS, is a specialist National university, national research university in Fuchū, Tokyo, Fuchū, Tokyo, Japan. TUFS is primarily devoted to foreign language, international relations, international affairs and area studies. ...

Fuchū Fuchū may refer to: Current settlements *Fuchū, Tokyo, a city in Tokyo *Fuchū, Hiroshima, a city in Hiroshima Prefecture *Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), a town in Hiroshima Prefecture * , a former town (1889–2005) in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, which ...

Toshiba–Kongsberg scandal

After graduation, Kumagai worked for the Wako Koeki trading company (和光交易株式会社), which specialized in collaborating with

communist countries A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

. In October 1980, the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

told a Wako executive in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

they were looking for "a robot which builds ropellerscrews for large vessels". Wako created a connection to the Toshiba Machine Corporation (東芝機械株式会社), which also specialized in collaborating with communist countries. The company began talks with the KGB in late December 1980, and the spy agency requested four sets of nine-axis machine tools and four sets of five-axis tools—violating

Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls The Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (CoCom) was established in 1949 at the beginning of the Cold War to coordinate controls on exports from Western Bloc countries to the Soviet Union and its allies. Operating through inform ...

(CoCom) regulations for certain machine tools. Japan's

Ministry of International Trade and Industry The was a Ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of Japan from 1949 to 2001. The MITI was one of the most powerful government agencies in Japan and, at the height of its influence, effectively ran much of Japanese industri ...

(MITI) advised the violation. The

Itochu Corporation is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading and investment companies) distinguished by the strength of its textile business and its suc ...

worked with Wako and Toshiba Machine, shifting responsibility for the violation to the other two companies in an agreement signed on April 24, 1981. Shinto Jitsugyo Company (株式会社進展実業), which also specialized in working with communist countries, was a subsidiary of Itochu and the Shinko Seiki Company (神港精機株式会社). It violated CoCom regulations, exported

germanium Germanium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid or a nonmetal in the carbon group that is chemically ...

transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch electrical signals and electric power, power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semicondu ...

production facilities to the Soviet Union. Another Itochu subsidiary, Ataka and Company (安宅産業株式会社), also worked with communist countries to export a set of three-axis machine tools.

Delivery

The

numerical control Computer numerical control (CNC) or CNC machining is the automated control of machine tools by a computer. It is an evolution of numerical control (NC), where machine tools are directly managed by data storage media such as punched cards or ...

machine tool was produced by

Kongsberg Gruppen Kongsberg Gruppen is a Norway, Norwegian multinational company, that supplies High tech, high-technology systems to customers in the merchant marine, Defense industry, defence, aerospace, Offshore drilling, offshore oil and gas industries, and Re ...

in Norway. They obtained export permission by claiming that it had two axes and delivered it to Japan, where it was re-exported to the Soviet Union. Its software later followed the same path.

MBP110 performance

*Number of axes: Nine axes *Height: *Width: *Weight: 10 t *Maximum diameter: *Maximum processing weight: 130 t *Number of maximum-

feathering Feathering is a technique used in computer graphics software to smooth or blur the edges of a feature. The term is inherited from a technique of fine retouching using fine feathers. Paintbrush feathering Feathering is most commonly used on a ...

sheets: 11

Shipment

The Soviet ship carrying the first piece of contraband departed from

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...

, passed through the North

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

and the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

, and arrived in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

via the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

in the spring of 1983. The other items landed at the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

Port of Chornomorsk The Port of Chornomorsk, or Sea Port of Chornomorsk (), is a port in the city of Chornomorsk, Ukraine. It is located on the north-western shore of Black Sea at Sukhyi Estuary, to the south-west from Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the t ...

and were shipped to Leningrad by rail. Kumagai was charged with installing two machines in the propeller factory of Leningrad's

Baltic Shipyard The OJSC Baltic Shipyard (''Baltiysky Zavod'', formerly Shipyard 189 named after Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze) () is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia and is part of United Shipbuilding Corporation today. It is located in Saint Petersburg in th ...

; the two remaining sets arrived later. Kumagai delivered two sets at the end of December 1983, and installed two five-axis machine tools in December 1984.

Dismissal

Wako refused to promote Kumagai, who resigned in 1985. He told Wako about the illegal exports after working with communist countries for 22 years and living in Moscow for ten. Soviet officials contacted him several times, inviting him to become a business partner. Although Wako and Toshiba Machine proposed that Kumagai disclose his knowledge of the illegal exports, he refused. The

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

knew about the illegal exports, but did not grasp the scope of the violation. KGB major

Stanislav Levchenko Stanislav Alexandrovich Levchenko (, born July 28, 1941) is a former Russian KGB, KGB major who defected to the United States in 1979. He obtained U.S. citizenship in 1989. Levchenko was born in Moscow, obtained an education at the Institute of As ...

defected to the United States in October 1979, and provided the names of about 200 Japanese agents who had been used by the KGB.

Whistleblowing

Kumagai unsuccessfully attempted to report what he knew to the

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department The , known locally as simply the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), is the prefectural police of Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Founded in 1874, the TMPD is the largest police force in Japan by number of officers, with a staff of more than 4 ...

, but officials sided with the corporations. He then wrote a December 1985 letter in English to CoCom headquarters in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, outlining which products had violated the regulations and details of what had been exported (or were likely to be exported) to the Soviet Union. Kumagai attached documentation of the nine-axis machine tools, and included his contact information. Concerned about a possible assassination attempt, he recorded in detail what he knew about the Soviet Union in the spring of 1986 and gave his friend a copy for safekeeping. Kumagai told his friend that if anything happened to him, he should pass the information on to the address on the letter.

CoCom and Japan

The CoCom agreement corresponded to the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law in Japan. CoCom showed the

government of Japan The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive (government), executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary st ...

Kumagai's whistleblowing, and demanded correspondence at the end of December 1985. The Japanese

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

Ministry of the Treasury The was a division of the eighth-century Japanese government of the Imperial Court in Kyoto, instituted in the Asuka period and formalized during the Heian period. The Ministry was replaced in the Meiji period. Overview The nature of the min ...

, the

National Police Agency National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: National Revolut ...

, and the

Ministry of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

met in January 1986. The government of Japan,

Itochu is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo, Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading and investment companies) distinguished by the strength of its textil ...

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

and their associated companies denied Kumagai's whistleblowing until 1987. He went to the

Embassy of the United States in Tokyo The Embassy of the United States of America in Tokyo (駐日アメリカ合衆国大使館 ''Chū Nichi Amerikagasshūkoku Taishikan'') is the embassy of the United States in Tokyo, Japan. Along with consulates in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuo ...

by summer 1986. Although the United States discussed the affair with the government of Japan 40 times by 1987, the Japanese government of Japan did not tell the United States the truth.

Disclosure

On January 26–27, 1987, the United States asked Norway and Japan about the nine-axis machine tool. Norway investigated the incident, revealing Japan's crime. Kumagai contacted the government of Japan in December 1985, and received a reply on April 27, 1987. News of the nine-axis violation in Japan appeared for the first time on April 30; news about the five-axis violation appeared in Japan for the first time on June 18. The statute of limitations on both violations had expired. The government of Japan knew the details by the end of December 1985, and allowed the statute of limitations to lapse. The Japanese government conferred with William C. Triplett, a former CIA analyst, in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July 1987. Triplett asked Kumagai to testify at a

United States congressional hearing A United States congressional hearing is the principal formal method by which United States congressional committees collect and analyze information in the early stages of legislative policymaking. Whether confirmation hearings (a procedure uniqu ...

, but he refused. Fearing KGB retaliation, he published a book on January 30, 1988.

Books

Nonfiction

*''Mosukuwa yo, saraba: Kokomu ihan jiken no haikei'' (''Goodbye, Moscow: The Background of the Toshiba–Kongsberg Scandal'', モスクワよ、さらば―ココム違反事件の背景,

Bungeishunjū is a Japanese publishing company known for its leading monthly magazine '' Bungeishunjū''. The company was founded by Kan Kikuchi in 1923. It grants the annual Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Japan, as well a ...

, January 30, 1988), .

Fiction

*''Saigo no tobosha'' (最後の逃亡者, November 1993), . It won the 1993 . *''Hikyo kara no kyohakusya'' (秘境からの脅迫者, October 1995), . *''Saigo no tobosha'' (最後の逃亡者, January 1997), . *''Erumitaju no nezumi'' (エルミタージュの鼠, July 1997), . *''Roshia mokushiroku'' (ロシア黙示録, July 2002), . *''Oomichi syonen monokatari'' (尾道少年物語, August 2008), .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kumagai, Hitori 1936 births Living people 20th-century Japanese male writers 21st-century Japanese writers Japanese mystery writers Japanese non-fiction writers People from Onomichi, Hiroshima Tokyo University of Foreign Studies alumni Japanese whistleblowers Writers from Hiroshima Prefecture Japanese male non-fiction writers Activists from Hiroshima Prefecture