The assassination of one of Japan’s most influencing political leaders and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sent shockwaves across the country and overseas. However, this is not for the first time that a politician of such stature has been attacked in the country that is largely a gun-free nation. Abe was shot while he was addressing an election campaign on Thursday morning in the city of Nara. He passed away after being rushed to a hospital.
There have been instances where fatal attack were planned and executed on national figures in the mostly nation. Let’s have a look at some of them:
In 2002, a Democratic Party MP, Kouki Ishii was killed right-wing group representative. Ishii was stabbed in front of his house and he passed away later. According to reports, Ishii lived in a house full of women – his Russian mother-in-law, his wife, Natalia, and daughter Tatiana.
Agitated by the assassination, Ishii’s supporters attacked the house of Liberal Democratic Party’s former Secretary-General and set it on fire later in 2006. In another such incident, the Mayor of the small town Mitake, Yoshiro Yanagawa was attacked while he was at his home. He was seriously injured in the attack.
In another such attack, Mayor of Nagasaki, Iccho Itoh was also shot and killed by a member of an organised crime group in 2007.
Even a former Prime Minister of Japan Morihiro Hosokawa was attacked in 1994. Hosokawa was attacked by a gun allegedly by a right-wing extremist. However, he was unharmed in the attack.
In 1992, Liberal Democratic Party’s then-vice president Shin Kanemaru was attacked by a right-wing gunman who opened fire at the politician while he was delivering a speech. However, Kanemaru escaped the attack uninjured.
Former labor minister Hyosuke Niwa was attacked by a deranged man in 1990. Niwa died of wounds. Japan Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma was stabbed to death at a political rally by a right-wing supporter in 1960.
In the same year, Shizo Abe’s maternal grandfather and then-prime minister Nobusuke Kishi was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant affiliated with right-wing groups.