Yukio Mishima attempted a coup here and when it failed he committed ritual suicide.

Yukio Mishima

Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫, Mishima Yukio) was the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡 公威, Hiraoka Kimitake^?, January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director. Nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. His avant-garde work displayed a blending of modern and traditional aesthetics that broke cultural boundaries, with a focus on sexuality, death, and political change.^[4] He is also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio Mishima