The alleged mastermind of the hijacking, who did not take part in the actual operation, was Takaya Shiomi. Shiomi was arrested, convicted, and served almost 20 years in prison in Japan. After his release in 1989, suffering from poor health, Shiomi obtained a lowly paid job as an attendant at a multi-level parking facility in Kiyose, Tokyo, where he was working as late as 2008. He has said that they had intended to go to Cuba via North Korea. He joined an antibase movement in Okinawa and an antinuclear campaign, and wrote several books related to the Red Army Faction. In April 2015, he ran in the city assembly elections in Kiyose, campaigning on an anti-Abe platform and against the city's policies which are "bullying" the elderly. He died on November 14, 2017 of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital.