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Former PM Abe Shinzo dies after being shot

497 points by coolandsmartrr 4y ago

achenet 4y ago
Surprising that this happened in Japan, which has very low levels of gun crime.
- m000 4y ago
  How is that surprising? This was a targetted political assassination. Very little correlation with gun crime rates.
  - mi_lk 4y ago
    > targeted political assassination do we really know already?
    - pjc50 4y ago
      You can infer that from who the victim is and no other information. It's not exactly "was shot accidentally in a convenience store robbery".
    - permo-w 4y ago
      how are you defining targeted?
    - waffleiron 4y ago
      > Police say the suspect told investigators that he was dissatisfied with the former prime minister and intended to kill him. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_37/ https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_37/
    - hnbad 4y ago
      You're right. Maybe the guy with the homemade shotgun just shot the ex-PM by accident while trying to engage in unrelated gun crimes at a public appearance of the ex-PM -- or maybe he wanted to shoot him for non-political reasons (scorned lover?). We can't know for sure that this was a targeted political assassination attempt.
- adwww 4y ago
  Not really, it's almost like the negative correlation makes this possible. America has very high rates of violent crime, and because of that, assassinating a former president would be really difficult.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - bigDinosaur 4y ago
    The American president also immediately becomes ultra famous the second they're elected in a way that most leaders don't, so they're definitely bigger targets regardless of America's crime rate.
  - pjc50 4y ago
    It seems to have happened quite a lot. Far more so than almost any other country? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presiden...
    - drstewart 4y ago
      >Far more so than almost any other country Source for this assertion? Just Japan's page alone has more assassinated politicians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Assassinated_Japanese_politicians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Assassinated_Japanese...
      - waffleiron 4y ago
        You are comparing a list of presidents to a list of any Japanese politician, the wiki page you linked has mayors, governors, diplomates and at least one business man, and a few people who died before the US was founded.
        drstewart 4y ago
        And he's comparing a list of US president assassinations to absolutely nothing. So why are you calling my comparison out, when it's directly refuting his claim? Show me the source showing the US has more assassinations than anywhere else in the world. Because a list of 4 assassinated Presidents over 300 years doesn't make that obvious to me. Thanks in advance for your no-doubt quick cooperation to cite sources.
- mytailorisrich 4y ago
  Japan has a rather long history of political violence. "levels of gun crime" is an irrelevant metric here. It was not even an actual gun (which probably illustrates how hard it must be to find a firearm in Japan).
  - vanattab 4y ago
    >It was not even an actual gun. I mean... I seems like a real gun to me.
dj_mc_merlin 4y ago
Interestingly, some sources are reporting he was shot with a improvised shotgun. These are very easy to make if you can acquire bullets -- a strong pipe, a nail and a cap are all you need. Where did he procure bullets from though, I wonder?
- daneel_w 4y ago
  The correct term is a CARTRIDGE. The bullet is the projectile attached at the end. Perhaps he used home-made black powder (since people reported dense white smoke), but how he fashioned primers or something else to ignite it with is beyond me.
  - hunterb123 4y ago
    It was a homemade electric ignition (ie, a battery, electrodes, and a switch) You can see the battery here: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXH0s0YXoAAehab?format=jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXH0s0YXoAAehab?format=jpg
- yellow_lead 4y ago
  Some on Twitter have speculated he made the bullet as well - due to the unnaturally large amount of smoke that was seen after firing.
  - 2000UltraDeluxe 4y ago
    Spent shells are fairly easy to get hold of and refill.
- Morgawr 4y ago
  FWIW while guns are extremely regulated here in Japan, they aren't flat out illegal or "unobtainable". I'm no expert wrt bullets but I imagine if there's a way to procure a gun, people must be able to buy bullets too. From there, you just need a bit of smuggling around/blackmarket stuff.
  - 4y ago
henearkr 4y ago
Much more information here: https://japantoday.com/category/crime/Ex-PM-Abe-shot-from-behind-by-person-with-shotgun-while-campaigning-in-Nara https://japantoday.com/category/crime/Ex-PM-Abe-shot-from-be...
mise_en_place 4y ago
- cloutchaser 4y ago
  Unlikely. More likely a schizophrenic obsessed with Abe, who wanted to kill him for some unknown reason.
  - mise_en_place 4y ago
    I was also initially thinking that. But I’m skeptical it’s a lone wolf. “A man in his 40s” is literally the type of people Yakuza coerce and blackmail to do their dirty deeds. Maybe that guy owed them money as well.
    - hackerlight 4y ago
      Many assassinations of political figures are done by radicalized and unstable lone wolves. I don't see any grounds to expect this one to be unique, even though the possibility can't be excluded.
    - makeitdouble 4y ago
      Might seem weird at first, but Yakuza gain nothing at hitting high profile people. Established groups already have plenty access to politicians, and small potatoes won't benefit from the chaos and extra scrutiny that will come out of this. It's just bad business all around.
      - Avicebron 4y ago
        agreed, big Yakuza groups like the yamaguchi-gumi have public office buildings and operate fairly openly. Heck I've heard of members going to local school fairs with booths. It's a bit different than what we in the west think of as a crime organization.
        permo-w 4y ago
glanzwulf 4y ago
I wonder what the ramifications of this will be considering Japan is/was having elections in 2 days. RIP Abe, you weren't the greatest but nobody deserves to go that way.
- mongol 4y ago
  In Sweden our foreign affairs minister was murdered two days before a referendum if we should switch to Euro currency. It destroyed the final days of campaigning. Also I think it is common with sympathy votes in situations like this, for the party close to the victim.
  - pjc50 4y ago
    Opposition MP Jo Cox was murdered a week before the Brexit referendum. As a result the Remain side suspended campaigning briefly while some of the Leave side, especially online campaigns, continued. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_U...
    - dijit 4y ago
      I believe that this is largely because remain was a unified front, where "Leave" had factions. leave.eu didn't stop campaigning; but that was a UKIP initiative and UKIP are not exactly known for being good sports. Johnson/Cummings/Gove led initiative "Vote Leave" did stop campaigning.
      - jen20 4y ago
        > where "Leave" had factions. All of whom have been proven to be colluding, letting the others give an air of plausible deniability to the “gentleman” campaign of Johnson and co.
    - jonplackett 4y ago
      Then Nigel Farage gave a tub thumping victory speech saying brexit had been achieved ‘without a single bullet being fired’. Which while technically true since it was not a shooting, still shows what kind of horrible man he is. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/eu-referendum-nigel-farage-branded-shameful-for-claiming-victory-without-a-single-bullet-being-fired-a7099211.html?amp https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/eu-referendum-nige...
Aleksdev 4y ago
Sad day for Japan.
rockbruno 4y ago
- haunter 4y ago
  >Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate. If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it. Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead. If you flag, please don't also comment that you did.
  - rockbruno 4y ago
    I always thought this was a weird rule because that means your calling out of my calling out is _also_ inappropriate, which I don't think it is in this context.
    - rendall 4y ago
      I think "submission" here refers to the article, and not to comments on the article.
      - rockbruno 4y ago
        I see, that makes sense.
- Aleksdev 4y ago
  If this happened to let’s say Barack Obama or some other ex-president/ex-prime minister, I think it would be on here. This is not “most stories”.
  - elliekelly 4y ago
    The assassination was also committed with a homemade firearm. If that doesn’t qualify as “hacker” news I don’t know what does.
piyushpr134 4y ago
londons_explore 4y ago
What motivation is there to kill an ex prime minister? He doesn't have any power anymore right? Just a pure revenge thing? A powerful group sending a warning message to the current PM?
- bluepizza 4y ago
  He was still politically active, by publicly pushing his agenda, and by exerting his influence on other cabinet members as a senior leader of the ruling party.
- spaceman_2020 4y ago
  Still a powerful political figure. Comes from a very influential political family - grandfather and father were both politicians. His brother is the current minister of defense.
- throwaway81523 4y ago
  He was still a powerful figure in .JP politics and was speaking at a campaign event when he was shot. He served something like 6 consecutive terms and only left office for health reasons, but he was still trying to push agendas through. Other than that, who knows. I'm sure that various US politicians like Nixon and Reagan still have enemies even though they are both long since in the ground.
  - mrtksn 4y ago
    What was his agenda? Was it a controversial one?
    - sheepdestroyer 4y ago
      Shinzo Abe was a far right nationalist racist and Japan War Crimes negationist. He inserted revisionist propaganda in history school manuals. He was generally anti foreigners, anti equal rights. He was a member of the crazy nationalist cult Nippon Kaigai that wants a return to the prewar status of the godly emperor and profess Japanese Yamato's pure race superiority. Look that up. Wikipedia : "Shinzo Abe [0] was affiliated with the openly ultranationalist organization Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference). He was considered a right-wing populist and ultra-conservative within the LDP, and some media and books referred to him as a far-right politician. According to Professor Dominique Tasevski, his legacy can be defined by nationalism, historical revisionism, and a deterioration in Japan-South Korea relations." "Nippon Kaigi [1] believes that "Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia from Western colonial powers; that the 1946–1948 Tokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate; and that killings by Imperial Japanese troops during the 1937 Nanjing Massacre were exaggerated or fabricated". The group vigorously defends Japan's claim in its territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands with China, and denies that Japan forced the "comfort women" during World War II. Nippon Kaigi is opposed to feminism, LGBT rights, and the 1999 Gender Equality Law." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinzo_Abe#Political_positions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinzo_Abe#Political_positions... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Kaigi#Objectives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Kaigi#Objectives
shanghaikid 4y ago
Sad day.
threatofrain 4y ago
Main thread. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32022506 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32022506
danuker 4y ago
The first thing that pops into my mind is "Abenomics": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abenomics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abenomics > IMF affirmed that Japan's nominal GDP contracted by $1.8 trillion during 2012–2015 while real GDP contracted at an annual rate of 6.8 percent[58] in the second quarter of 2014, after the Consumption Tax hike came into effect in April. This fall is the worst since the devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster[59][60] hit Japan in the first quarter of 2011 when the GDP shrank by an annualised 6.9 percent. So, his economic policy might have been as bad as an earthquake + tsunami. That said, he was not the only one supporting this policy, and nobody deserves to die for a mistake.
- chii 4y ago
  > he was not the only one supporting this policy, and nobody deserves to die for a mistake. if it was only known after the fact that it was a mistake, then i dont think you can call it a mistake, and cannot have blame placed on those who made the decisions under incomplete information.
  - moonchrome 4y ago
    >and cannot have blame placed on those who made the decisions under incomplete information. That's ridiculous - everyone makes decisions under incomplete information - does that mean we can't be blamed for anything ?
    - danuker 4y ago
      Blame - yes. But it was not a mistake - it was the outcome of a deliberate process.
      - troutwine 4y ago
        A deliberate process that leads to an outcome you didn’t intend or want is one of the definitions of a mistake. > an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong
unpopularopp 4y ago
This video has the cleanest angle if anyone curious https://nitter.cz/yamaneko2011/status/1545297780562096128 https://nitter.cz/yamaneko2011/status/1545297780562096128 The guy straight up walks behind him but misses the first shot. Keeps walking but Abe turns around and then the 2nd shot hits him point blank
- swah 4y ago
  How odd how no one runs away..
  - unpopularopp 4y ago
    Yeah even after the first shot it seems like an eternity where nothing happens and Abe just casually turning around
  - ahmadmijot 4y ago
    In a country where the gun crime is low and leaders get attacked, it's not that weird that people are puzzled of what just happen
  - blowski 4y ago
    Living in a country where guns are not common, my first thought after a gunshot would probably be "what was that? did something fall over?"
    - kevingadd 4y ago
      Yeah, and it was a homemade gun so it doesn't look or sound like a regular one (certainly not like one from movies or TV)
      - jeanlucas 4y ago
        Most movies or TV don't do realistic gun sounds anyways
Tepix 4y ago
#私たちが求めているのは民主主義であって暴力ではない is trending on Twitter Japan: "#We want democracy, not violence"
Claude_Shannon 4y ago
An end of era. I had never thought I'll see a news like this.
chitowneats 4y ago
I'm frankly shocked looking at the top level comments I've read so far. We're talking about a long-time head of state whose entire chest cavity was blown to pieces. Eviscerated. By an assassin, no less, and with a homemade shotgun in one of the worlds strictest countries w.r.t. to guns. Is this not worth mourning? I ask my fellow Americans in near disbelief: have you become so desensitized that this news does not move you? RIP Shinzo Abe
- chaostheory 4y ago
  The guy openly idolizes war criminals. He doesn’t garner a lot of respect outside of Japan.
  - chitowneats 4y ago
    Can we not wait more than 6 hours after this man's chest was blown to pieces?
    - chaostheory 4y ago
      No, because that is one of his legacies and my response answers your question. He’s the equivalent of a German politician who condones and worships Nazi war criminals.
  - astrange 4y ago
    Abe is the most important Japanese politician (or maybe the only important Japanese politician) in the last 10 years, so you don't need to describe him by one thing you read on Wikipedia. Though I think Taiwan would like him as he's one of the best in the area at resisting China's invasion threats.
    - chaostheory 4y ago
      I’ve kept up with him for years. His importance is irrelevant. Does this mean we now write only good things of Putin or Xi just because they’re important? Context still matters. The Taiwanese, like most of Asia, are also not fond of Japanese war criminals or their supporters. Btw I don’t appreciate personal insults, especially when you pair them with weak arguments.
lemoncookiechip 4y ago
RIP Mr.Abe
ahmadmijot 4y ago
The sad thing is that some Japanese starts blaming 'the others' for this [0] 0: https://twitter.com/kumashirokeishi/status/1545254283850829824 https://twitter.com/kumashirokeishi/status/15452542838508298...
- thedailymail 4y ago
  I live in Japan and haven't seen any of that. Could you link?
  - ahmadmijot 4y ago
    https://twitter.com/kumashirokeishi/status/1545254283850829824 https://twitter.com/kumashirokeishi/status/15452542838508298...
    - thedailymail 4y ago
      Thanks - looks like another good reason for me to stay away from twitter.
henearkr 4y ago
It's worth mentionning that the shooter targeted Abe because he was "dissatisfied" with him. Japan is a country with an abysmally low voter turnout. So, it may be a consequence of this (cultural?) issue that dissatisfied people don't think of using their vote to change the system, and feel they are only left with violent means. PS: I'm not trying to justify this murder, of course I'm horrified of it. But I'm saying that the actions to take in order to lower the probability of recurrence of this kind of tragedy includes pushing more people to go participate to ballots.
- spuz 4y ago
  Where did you read that?
  - henearkr 4y ago
    Here: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_37/ https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_37/
- bamboozled 4y ago
  I feel there is a lot of repression in Japan and while acts like this shouldn't be condoned, it's worth having the conversation about why these things occur. Sure the guy is "nuts, unhinged" or whatever, but I get that you might be onto something, how on earth is change possible in Japan with such a dominant force in power. It's so dominant it feels like bullying towards younger people who most policies aren't geared towards helping. Even the fact it's so hard to get mental healthcare is part of failing government policy. Sadly, I know that for sure, no one will ever question anything, it will hardly be discussed and the guy will be executed as soon as possible. It will be busy as usual.
RalfWausE 4y ago
I have this weird "Archduke Franz Ferdinand" feeling...
- jeanlucas 4y ago
  Why? I don't see much parallel given he is an _ex_ prime minister.
  - hackerlight 4y ago
    > _ex_ prime minister That's not the relevant distinction. The relevant distinction is that Abe was assassinated by a Japanese national, not by a foreign national, so in this instance there will be no catalyst for escalation and payback.
    - sofixa 4y ago
      Gavrilo Princip wasn't a foreign national, he was Bosnian which was then (at his birth and in 1914) ruled by Austria-Hungary, one of the many ethnic groups that composed the empire. He was part of a Bosnian revolutionary group that was helped/sponsored/trained by Serbia, so there's a foreign connection, but he wasn't a foreigner.
  - danuker 4y ago
    Franz Ferdinand was heir presumptive, not Emperor.
- s_dev 4y ago
  The killer would have to have been sanctioned/trained/sent by a foreign power -- unlikely.
  - wyclif 4y ago
    - hectorlorenzo 4y ago
lynguist 4y ago
Do we know the motive of the perpetrator?
illwrks 4y ago
The attacker was ex-navy apparently. My wife heard it on a Japanese news programme a short time ago.
orwin 4y ago
I will wait to know more about the assassin motivations, but i am afraid the the situation right now might become worse worse than the situation during "Les années de plomb" (Leaden times? I don't know if this translate well in English, from a German movie i think).
- lottin 4y ago
  The lead years
  - permo-w 4y ago
    the years of lead
iKevinShah 4y ago
RIP Abe. This is pure shock to me. Reading through history books I had thought, wow what crazy times - A Global pandemic (Spanish Flu), revolutionary technology (Aeroplane, etc.), Killing of influential people and then war. We are halfway there and signs don't look good. Am I being too pessimistic?
- DisjointedHunt 4y ago
  The illusion of peace the world has enjoyed since WW2 is slowly wearing thin.
  - nemo44x 4y ago
    Historically we have lived in fairly anomalous times. However, we entered the nuclear age which changed a lot of things. So I’m still unsure if it’s an illusion or the new reality. Of course when it comes to nukes the dark reality is that everyone has to be successful at not using one (because then they are all used) every single day for eternity. That seems impossible and an eventuality.
    - bigDinosaur 4y ago
      I know what you're saying but nuclear weapons have been used. There's no guarantee the use of one or two will lead to all out nuclear destruction (yes, I know the WW2 situation was unique). But if only one was detonated in war tomorrow that would be the third such use, not the first.
      - jaywalk 4y ago
        Well, the country that dropped the first two just so happened to be the only country that had them in the first place. So that's entirely irrelevant.
        bigDinosaur 4y ago
        I don't see how it's irrelevant, it set the precedent for their use. They have been used, that's done and dusted, any use now will be the third use in war. If you think precedent is important, that's not irrelevant at all.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ken47 4y ago
So what are the potential ramifications of this event and why?
sadlytru 4y ago
This represents a complete failure by Abe's "SP" protection team. Even after shots fired, nobody has a gun in their hand (note the holsters visible in some photographs). Everyone is in day-dream mode not paying attention. The guy just walks up and fires two shots with nearly a two second spacing. Two. Whole. Seconds. Even after this happen - they decide to tackle him! They don't know he's not wearing a suicide belt or has more shots to fire. The whole thing is just stupid. Head will roll.
- srvmshr 4y ago
  Outside of US and some select places (India, UK etc, which have active terrorism threats), people don't know gun violence on a day to day basis. Violent crimes involving guns in Japan are very very rare. The response takes a few moments to register. If a meteoroid suddenly crashed in front of your car while you were driving, would you switch off the engine & inspect the paintjob & fenders? Probably not. It's a situation which you know can happen statistically but you're not prepared to respond in a flash.
  - hackerlight 4y ago
    You're talking about the general public. His security team should be trained to avoid this bias.
    - srvmshr 4y ago
      Security team gets trained on which threat model? The one that actively persists for the politicians. In that sense, they would be more on the lookout for a knife attack or some physical assault instead of guns. Things needing proximity. The possession of firearms in Japan is very strictly controlled. Edit: my dad in his early career worked in counterterrorism ops. He would be prepared to deal with someone bearing a firearm, but would I blame him for a lapse if a person came prepared with nerve agent? probably not.
      - hackerlight 4y ago
        A man walking up to him and pulling a strange box object out of a bag should have been a red flag under all reasonable threat models, no?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
wronglyprepaid 4y ago
That is some word salad of a title, makes it sound like some accident. This was an assassination. Shinzo Abe was assassinated.

Surprising that this happened in Japan, which has very low levels of gun crime.

m000 4y ago
How is that surprising? This was a targetted political assassination. Very little correlation with gun crime rates.
- mi_lk 4y ago
  > targeted political assassination do we really know already?
  - pjc50 4y ago
    You can infer that from who the victim is and no other information. It's not exactly "was shot accidentally in a convenience store robbery".
  - permo-w 4y ago
    how are you defining targeted?
  - waffleiron 4y ago
    > Police say the suspect told investigators that he was dissatisfied with the former prime minister and intended to kill him. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_37/ https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_37/
  - hnbad 4y ago
    You're right. Maybe the guy with the homemade shotgun just shot the ex-PM by accident while trying to engage in unrelated gun crimes at a public appearance of the ex-PM -- or maybe he wanted to shoot him for non-political reasons (scorned lover?). We can't know for sure that this was a targeted political assassination attempt.
adwww 4y ago
Not really, it's almost like the negative correlation makes this possible. America has very high rates of violent crime, and because of that, assassinating a former president would be really difficult.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- bigDinosaur 4y ago
  The American president also immediately becomes ultra famous the second they're elected in a way that most leaders don't, so they're definitely bigger targets regardless of America's crime rate.
- pjc50 4y ago
  It seems to have happened quite a lot. Far more so than almost any other country? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presiden...
  - drstewart 4y ago
    >Far more so than almost any other country Source for this assertion? Just Japan's page alone has more assassinated politicians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Assassinated_Japanese_politicians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Assassinated_Japanese...
    - waffleiron 4y ago
      You are comparing a list of presidents to a list of any Japanese politician, the wiki page you linked has mayors, governors, diplomates and at least one business man, and a few people who died before the US was founded.
      - drstewart 4y ago
        And he's comparing a list of US president assassinations to absolutely nothing. So why are you calling my comparison out, when it's directly refuting his claim? Show me the source showing the US has more assassinations than anywhere else in the world. Because a list of 4 assassinated Presidents over 300 years doesn't make that obvious to me. Thanks in advance for your no-doubt quick cooperation to cite sources.
mytailorisrich 4y ago
Japan has a rather long history of political violence. "levels of gun crime" is an irrelevant metric here. It was not even an actual gun (which probably illustrates how hard it must be to find a firearm in Japan).
- vanattab 4y ago
  >It was not even an actual gun. I mean... I seems like a real gun to me.

Interestingly, some sources are reporting he was shot with a improvised shotgun. These are very easy to make if you can acquire bullets -- a strong pipe, a nail and a cap are all you need. Where did he procure bullets from though, I wonder?

daneel_w 4y ago
The correct term is a CARTRIDGE. The bullet is the projectile attached at the end. Perhaps he used home-made black powder (since people reported dense white smoke), but how he fashioned primers or something else to ignite it with is beyond me.
- hunterb123 4y ago
  It was a homemade electric ignition (ie, a battery, electrodes, and a switch) You can see the battery here: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXH0s0YXoAAehab?format=jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXH0s0YXoAAehab?format=jpg
yellow_lead 4y ago
Some on Twitter have speculated he made the bullet as well - due to the unnaturally large amount of smoke that was seen after firing.
- 2000UltraDeluxe 4y ago
  Spent shells are fairly easy to get hold of and refill.
Morgawr 4y ago
FWIW while guns are extremely regulated here in Japan, they aren't flat out illegal or "unobtainable". I'm no expert wrt bullets but I imagine if there's a way to procure a gun, people must be able to buy bullets too. From there, you just need a bit of smuggling around/blackmarket stuff.
- 4y ago

henearkr 4y ago

Much more information here: https://japantoday.com/category/crime/Ex-PM-Abe-shot-from-behind-by-person-with-shotgun-while-campaigning-in-Nara https://japantoday.com/category/crime/Ex-PM-Abe-shot-from-be...

mise_en_place 4y ago

cloutchaser 4y ago
Unlikely. More likely a schizophrenic obsessed with Abe, who wanted to kill him for some unknown reason.
- mise_en_place 4y ago
  I was also initially thinking that. But I’m skeptical it’s a lone wolf. “A man in his 40s” is literally the type of people Yakuza coerce and blackmail to do their dirty deeds. Maybe that guy owed them money as well.
  - hackerlight 4y ago
    Many assassinations of political figures are done by radicalized and unstable lone wolves. I don't see any grounds to expect this one to be unique, even though the possibility can't be excluded.
  - makeitdouble 4y ago
    Might seem weird at first, but Yakuza gain nothing at hitting high profile people. Established groups already have plenty access to politicians, and small potatoes won't benefit from the chaos and extra scrutiny that will come out of this. It's just bad business all around.
    - Avicebron 4y ago
      agreed, big Yakuza groups like the yamaguchi-gumi have public office buildings and operate fairly openly. Heck I've heard of members going to local school fairs with booths. It's a bit different than what we in the west think of as a crime organization.
      - permo-w 4y ago

glanzwulf 4y ago

I wonder what the ramifications of this will be considering Japan is/was having elections in 2 days. RIP Abe, you weren't the greatest but nobody deserves to go that way.

mongol 4y ago
In Sweden our foreign affairs minister was murdered two days before a referendum if we should switch to Euro currency. It destroyed the final days of campaigning. Also I think it is common with sympathy votes in situations like this, for the party close to the victim.
- pjc50 4y ago
  Opposition MP Jo Cox was murdered a week before the Brexit referendum. As a result the Remain side suspended campaigning briefly while some of the Leave side, especially online campaigns, continued. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_U...
  - dijit 4y ago
    I believe that this is largely because remain was a unified front, where "Leave" had factions. leave.eu didn't stop campaigning; but that was a UKIP initiative and UKIP are not exactly known for being good sports. Johnson/Cummings/Gove led initiative "Vote Leave" did stop campaigning.
    - jen20 4y ago
      > where "Leave" had factions. All of whom have been proven to be colluding, letting the others give an air of plausible deniability to the “gentleman” campaign of Johnson and co.
  - jonplackett 4y ago
    Then Nigel Farage gave a tub thumping victory speech saying brexit had been achieved ‘without a single bullet being fired’. Which while technically true since it was not a shooting, still shows what kind of horrible man he is. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/eu-referendum-nigel-farage-branded-shameful-for-claiming-victory-without-a-single-bullet-being-fired-a7099211.html?amp https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/eu-referendum-nige...

Aleksdev 4y ago

Sad day for Japan.

rockbruno 4y ago

haunter 4y ago
>Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate. If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it. Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead. If you flag, please don't also comment that you did.
- rockbruno 4y ago
  I always thought this was a weird rule because that means your calling out of my calling out is _also_ inappropriate, which I don't think it is in this context.
  - rendall 4y ago
    I think "submission" here refers to the article, and not to comments on the article.
    - rockbruno 4y ago
      I see, that makes sense.
Aleksdev 4y ago
If this happened to let’s say Barack Obama or some other ex-president/ex-prime minister, I think it would be on here. This is not “most stories”.
- elliekelly 4y ago
  The assassination was also committed with a homemade firearm. If that doesn’t qualify as “hacker” news I don’t know what does.

piyushpr134 4y ago

londons_explore 4y ago

What motivation is there to kill an ex prime minister? He doesn't have any power anymore right? Just a pure revenge thing? A powerful group sending a warning message to the current PM?

bluepizza 4y ago
He was still politically active, by publicly pushing his agenda, and by exerting his influence on other cabinet members as a senior leader of the ruling party.
spaceman_2020 4y ago
Still a powerful political figure. Comes from a very influential political family - grandfather and father were both politicians. His brother is the current minister of defense.
throwaway81523 4y ago
He was still a powerful figure in .JP politics and was speaking at a campaign event when he was shot. He served something like 6 consecutive terms and only left office for health reasons, but he was still trying to push agendas through. Other than that, who knows. I'm sure that various US politicians like Nixon and Reagan still have enemies even though they are both long since in the ground.
- mrtksn 4y ago
  What was his agenda? Was it a controversial one?
  - sheepdestroyer 4y ago
    Shinzo Abe was a far right nationalist racist and Japan War Crimes negationist. He inserted revisionist propaganda in history school manuals. He was generally anti foreigners, anti equal rights. He was a member of the crazy nationalist cult Nippon Kaigai that wants a return to the prewar status of the godly emperor and profess Japanese Yamato's pure race superiority. Look that up. Wikipedia : "Shinzo Abe [0] was affiliated with the openly ultranationalist organization Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference). He was considered a right-wing populist and ultra-conservative within the LDP, and some media and books referred to him as a far-right politician. According to Professor Dominique Tasevski, his legacy can be defined by nationalism, historical revisionism, and a deterioration in Japan-South Korea relations." "Nippon Kaigi [1] believes that "Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia from Western colonial powers; that the 1946–1948 Tokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate; and that killings by Imperial Japanese troops during the 1937 Nanjing Massacre were exaggerated or fabricated". The group vigorously defends Japan's claim in its territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands with China, and denies that Japan forced the "comfort women" during World War II. Nippon Kaigi is opposed to feminism, LGBT rights, and the 1999 Gender Equality Law." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinzo_Abe#Political_positions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinzo_Abe#Political_positions... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Kaigi#Objectives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Kaigi#Objectives

shanghaikid 4y ago

Sad day.

threatofrain 4y ago

Main thread. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32022506 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32022506

danuker 4y ago

The first thing that pops into my mind is "Abenomics": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abenomics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abenomics > IMF affirmed that Japan's nominal GDP contracted by $1.8 trillion during 2012–2015 while real GDP contracted at an annual rate of 6.8 percent[58] in the second quarter of 2014, after the Consumption Tax hike came into effect in April. This fall is the worst since the devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster[59][60] hit Japan in the first quarter of 2011 when the GDP shrank by an annualised 6.9 percent. So, his economic policy might have been as bad as an earthquake + tsunami. That said, he was not the only one supporting this policy, and nobody deserves to die for a mistake.

chii 4y ago
> he was not the only one supporting this policy, and nobody deserves to die for a mistake. if it was only known after the fact that it was a mistake, then i dont think you can call it a mistake, and cannot have blame placed on those who made the decisions under incomplete information.
- moonchrome 4y ago
  >and cannot have blame placed on those who made the decisions under incomplete information. That's ridiculous - everyone makes decisions under incomplete information - does that mean we can't be blamed for anything ?
  - danuker 4y ago
    Blame - yes. But it was not a mistake - it was the outcome of a deliberate process.
    - troutwine 4y ago
      A deliberate process that leads to an outcome you didn’t intend or want is one of the definitions of a mistake. > an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong

unpopularopp 4y ago

This video has the cleanest angle if anyone curious https://nitter.cz/yamaneko2011/status/1545297780562096128 https://nitter.cz/yamaneko2011/status/1545297780562096128 The guy straight up walks behind him but misses the first shot. Keeps walking but Abe turns around and then the 2nd shot hits him point blank

swah 4y ago
How odd how no one runs away..
- unpopularopp 4y ago
  Yeah even after the first shot it seems like an eternity where nothing happens and Abe just casually turning around
- ahmadmijot 4y ago
  In a country where the gun crime is low and leaders get attacked, it's not that weird that people are puzzled of what just happen
- blowski 4y ago
  Living in a country where guns are not common, my first thought after a gunshot would probably be "what was that? did something fall over?"
  - kevingadd 4y ago
    Yeah, and it was a homemade gun so it doesn't look or sound like a regular one (certainly not like one from movies or TV)
    - jeanlucas 4y ago
      Most movies or TV don't do realistic gun sounds anyways

Tepix 4y ago

#私たちが求めているのは民主主義であって暴力ではない is trending on Twitter Japan: "#We want democracy, not violence"

Claude_Shannon 4y ago

An end of era. I had never thought I'll see a news like this.

chitowneats 4y ago

I'm frankly shocked looking at the top level comments I've read so far. We're talking about a long-time head of state whose entire chest cavity was blown to pieces. Eviscerated. By an assassin, no less, and with a homemade shotgun in one of the worlds strictest countries w.r.t. to guns. Is this not worth mourning? I ask my fellow Americans in near disbelief: have you become so desensitized that this news does not move you? RIP Shinzo Abe

chaostheory 4y ago
The guy openly idolizes war criminals. He doesn’t garner a lot of respect outside of Japan.
- chitowneats 4y ago
  Can we not wait more than 6 hours after this man's chest was blown to pieces?
  - chaostheory 4y ago
    No, because that is one of his legacies and my response answers your question. He’s the equivalent of a German politician who condones and worships Nazi war criminals.
- astrange 4y ago
  Abe is the most important Japanese politician (or maybe the only important Japanese politician) in the last 10 years, so you don't need to describe him by one thing you read on Wikipedia. Though I think Taiwan would like him as he's one of the best in the area at resisting China's invasion threats.
  - chaostheory 4y ago
    I’ve kept up with him for years. His importance is irrelevant. Does this mean we now write only good things of Putin or Xi just because they’re important? Context still matters. The Taiwanese, like most of Asia, are also not fond of Japanese war criminals or their supporters. Btw I don’t appreciate personal insults, especially when you pair them with weak arguments.

lemoncookiechip 4y ago

RIP Mr.Abe

ahmadmijot 4y ago

The sad thing is that some Japanese starts blaming 'the others' for this [0] 0: https://twitter.com/kumashirokeishi/status/1545254283850829824 https://twitter.com/kumashirokeishi/status/15452542838508298...

thedailymail 4y ago
I live in Japan and haven't seen any of that. Could you link?
- ahmadmijot 4y ago
  https://twitter.com/kumashirokeishi/status/1545254283850829824 https://twitter.com/kumashirokeishi/status/15452542838508298...
  - thedailymail 4y ago
    Thanks - looks like another good reason for me to stay away from twitter.

henearkr 4y ago

It's worth mentionning that the shooter targeted Abe because he was "dissatisfied" with him. Japan is a country with an abysmally low voter turnout. So, it may be a consequence of this (cultural?) issue that dissatisfied people don't think of using their vote to change the system, and feel they are only left with violent means. PS: I'm not trying to justify this murder, of course I'm horrified of it. But I'm saying that the actions to take in order to lower the probability of recurrence of this kind of tragedy includes pushing more people to go participate to ballots.

spuz 4y ago
Where did you read that?
- henearkr 4y ago
  Here: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_37/ https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_37/
bamboozled 4y ago
I feel there is a lot of repression in Japan and while acts like this shouldn't be condoned, it's worth having the conversation about why these things occur. Sure the guy is "nuts, unhinged" or whatever, but I get that you might be onto something, how on earth is change possible in Japan with such a dominant force in power. It's so dominant it feels like bullying towards younger people who most policies aren't geared towards helping. Even the fact it's so hard to get mental healthcare is part of failing government policy. Sadly, I know that for sure, no one will ever question anything, it will hardly be discussed and the guy will be executed as soon as possible. It will be busy as usual.

RalfWausE 4y ago

I have this weird "Archduke Franz Ferdinand" feeling...

jeanlucas 4y ago
Why? I don't see much parallel given he is an _ex_ prime minister.
- hackerlight 4y ago
  > _ex_ prime minister That's not the relevant distinction. The relevant distinction is that Abe was assassinated by a Japanese national, not by a foreign national, so in this instance there will be no catalyst for escalation and payback.
  - sofixa 4y ago
    Gavrilo Princip wasn't a foreign national, he was Bosnian which was then (at his birth and in 1914) ruled by Austria-Hungary, one of the many ethnic groups that composed the empire. He was part of a Bosnian revolutionary group that was helped/sponsored/trained by Serbia, so there's a foreign connection, but he wasn't a foreigner.
- danuker 4y ago
  Franz Ferdinand was heir presumptive, not Emperor.
s_dev 4y ago
The killer would have to have been sanctioned/trained/sent by a foreign power -- unlikely.
- wyclif 4y ago
  - hectorlorenzo 4y ago

lynguist 4y ago

Do we know the motive of the perpetrator?

illwrks 4y ago

The attacker was ex-navy apparently. My wife heard it on a Japanese news programme a short time ago.

orwin 4y ago

I will wait to know more about the assassin motivations, but i am afraid the the situation right now might become worse worse than the situation during "Les années de plomb" (Leaden times? I don't know if this translate well in English, from a German movie i think).

lottin 4y ago
The lead years
- permo-w 4y ago
  the years of lead

iKevinShah 4y ago

RIP Abe. This is pure shock to me. Reading through history books I had thought, wow what crazy times - A Global pandemic (Spanish Flu), revolutionary technology (Aeroplane, etc.), Killing of influential people and then war. We are halfway there and signs don't look good. Am I being too pessimistic?

DisjointedHunt 4y ago
The illusion of peace the world has enjoyed since WW2 is slowly wearing thin.
- nemo44x 4y ago
  Historically we have lived in fairly anomalous times. However, we entered the nuclear age which changed a lot of things. So I’m still unsure if it’s an illusion or the new reality. Of course when it comes to nukes the dark reality is that everyone has to be successful at not using one (because then they are all used) every single day for eternity. That seems impossible and an eventuality.
  - bigDinosaur 4y ago
    I know what you're saying but nuclear weapons have been used. There's no guarantee the use of one or two will lead to all out nuclear destruction (yes, I know the WW2 situation was unique). But if only one was detonated in war tomorrow that would be the third such use, not the first.
    - jaywalk 4y ago
      Well, the country that dropped the first two just so happened to be the only country that had them in the first place. So that's entirely irrelevant.
      - bigDinosaur 4y ago
        I don't see how it's irrelevant, it set the precedent for their use. They have been used, that's done and dusted, any use now will be the third use in war. If you think precedent is important, that's not irrelevant at all.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ken47 4y ago

So what are the potential ramifications of this event and why?

sadlytru 4y ago

This represents a complete failure by Abe's "SP" protection team. Even after shots fired, nobody has a gun in their hand (note the holsters visible in some photographs). Everyone is in day-dream mode not paying attention. The guy just walks up and fires two shots with nearly a two second spacing. Two. Whole. Seconds. Even after this happen - they decide to tackle him! They don't know he's not wearing a suicide belt or has more shots to fire. The whole thing is just stupid. Head will roll.

srvmshr 4y ago
Outside of US and some select places (India, UK etc, which have active terrorism threats), people don't know gun violence on a day to day basis. Violent crimes involving guns in Japan are very very rare. The response takes a few moments to register. If a meteoroid suddenly crashed in front of your car while you were driving, would you switch off the engine & inspect the paintjob & fenders? Probably not. It's a situation which you know can happen statistically but you're not prepared to respond in a flash.
- hackerlight 4y ago
  You're talking about the general public. His security team should be trained to avoid this bias.
  - srvmshr 4y ago
    Security team gets trained on which threat model? The one that actively persists for the politicians. In that sense, they would be more on the lookout for a knife attack or some physical assault instead of guns. Things needing proximity. The possession of firearms in Japan is very strictly controlled. Edit: my dad in his early career worked in counterterrorism ops. He would be prepared to deal with someone bearing a firearm, but would I blame him for a lapse if a person came prepared with nerve agent? probably not.
    - hackerlight 4y ago
      A man walking up to him and pulling a strange box object out of a bag should have been a red flag under all reasonable threat models, no?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

wronglyprepaid 4y ago

That is some word salad of a title, makes it sound like some accident. This was an assassination. Shinzo Abe was assassinated.