There once was a porn star kamikaze and other things you learn from old magazines

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I buy old magazines at antique shops and swap meets. I love reading them to get a better sense of how culture and news was being presented in the various times and eras represented by each publication, and I enjoy seeing all of the dated pictures and advertisements. Also, in the context of an always unpredictable present, I like reading old stories and knowing exactly how everything is going to turn out (more or less). In two recent acquisitions, both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, then breakout stars, were profiled and the reader at the time was left to imagine what their futures would hold. With four decades of retrospect, I know that in 2015 they end up doing their 5th Terminator movie and 8th Rocky movie respectively. So Back to the Future II‘s Jaws 17 prediction wasn’t especially outlandish.

I also enjoy catching smaller stories I didn’t otherwise know about. My most recent find was a bundle of Newsweek and People Magazines published between 1973 and 1985.

Some things I learned:

  • Mitsuyasu Maeno was a Japanese porn star. He was also an ultra right wing national who felt as though Japan did itself a disservice by committing itself to pacifism. He grew gravely disappointed by the revelation that Yoshio Kodama, a high profile member of organized crime circles, political figure, and ultra nationalist formerly admired by Maeno, had been involved in a bribery scandal surrounding the defense firm Lockheed. Under the guise of boarding a plane to film a scene about suicide bombers, Maeno flew to Kodama’s mansion and crashed into it as a means of assassinating its main resident. Maeno died in the crash while Kodama, on the other side of the mansion, escaped unscathed.
  • If you don’t know about Kodama, definitely check him out. He got his start by starting a shadow political group formed to assassinate politicians, went to jail, then was enlisted by the Japanese government to smuggle goods out of the country during the war. He then became involved in the drug trade, moved a ton of opiates, continued smuggling supplies for the government, and earned hundreds of millions. Then he was arrested by the United States and, after the war, enlisted by this government to fight communism. An ultra nationalist, he took the task to heart and invested his resources into crushing unions and supporting right wing parties.
  • Did you know that in 1975, La Guardia Airport was bombed and 11 people were killed in the baggage claim area? I am embarrassed to say that I had no idea. As such, a lot was being written about whether or not America was prepared for terrorism on its soil and how much we were willing to give up by way of civil liberties in order to feel safe.
  • In 1985, People ran this story which reflected on a double murder in Fort Fairfield, Maine that took place around Christmas time in 1964 and the confession that followed 2 decades later.
  • You very likely know of Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, former chief of National Police in South Vietnam, for the photo that shows him executing a member of a Viet Cong death squad. In 1975, Loan moved to Virginia and opened a pizzeria. Not long after it opened, his identity was revealed to the public and, according to a Newsweek article from that time, people stayed away in droves and his business suffered. The negative reception of the restaurant eventually blew over as he ran it for another 16 years until his identify was again revealed and business was forced to close its doors in 1991. Loan died in 1998.
Alex Steed

About Alex Steed

Alex Steed has written about and engaged in politics since he was an insufferable teenager. He has run for the Statehouse and produced a successful web series. He now runs a content firm called Knack Factory with two guys who are a lot more talented than himself.