Japanese assassination: Theories emerge about Shinzo Abe’s death amid criticism of security

Black-clad mourners alight from limousines outside the home of Shinzo Abe. The body of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, shot to death on Friday, lies inside. People quietly stop in front of the apartment, press their hands together and bow.

“I didn’t agree with his policies but it’s terrible that his life ended in this violent way,” said Nanako Tomita, who lives nearby. “Perhaps if he had been better protected.”

Security questions loom large in the wake of Japan’s highest-profile political assassination since the 1930s. A single police box guards this nondescript three-story building in the wealthy district of Shibuya, Tokyo. Despite leading the most powerful faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the former premier was often seen locally, lightly protected.

[ Assassination of Shinzo Abe shocks a nearly gun-free Japan ]

[ Body of Shinzo Abe returns to Tokyo as Japan mourns former leader’s death ]

[ Abe killer wielded homemade gun, grudge over mother’s financial ruin, police say ]

Abe was stumping for a junior LDP politician in the western city of Nara, a few metres from a small audience when he was killed on Friday. His schedule had been published on the party website the evening before. Video footage shows his presumed attacker, Tetsuya Yamagami, hovering nearby for several minutes carrying a makeshift weapon in his bag.

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Abe’s bodyguards have been criticised for being slow to react, even after his attacker got off a first shot. Among those also taking flak are the local and national police, as mourners cast around in anger. But sidewalk campaigning and close physical contact with voters in a country with relatively little violent crime has long been a distinctive feature of Japanese politics.

Homemade weapons

Meanwhile, a more detailed picture is emerging of the alleged assassin. An ex-member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Forces, Yamagami reportedly built a small cache of firearms, and was attempting to make a bomb in the one-bedroom apartment where he lived in Nara. He had test-fired his weapons locally. Neighbours complained about the noise to the building management, which responded with a note asking tenants to be “considerate”.

Friends and former colleagues interviewed in the media have described the only suspect in the murder as quiet and ordinary, a single man who drove a forklift in a warehouse in Kyoto until he quit this year. “He hardly spoke and did not spend time with people around him,” an official with Yamagami’s staffing agency told the Asahi newspaper. “He ate lunch alone inside his car.”

Yamagami may have been motivated by fringe conspiracy theories. Multiple reports say he held a grudge against a religious group, understood to be the Unification Church, which he believed was associated with the former prime minister. Right-wing activists have accused Abe of promoting the South Korea-based church (better known as the Moonies) which they say is a front for foreign money and spies.

Money donation

Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, a former prime minister, was an associate of the Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon. Both men bonded over their dislike of communism. Following Abe’s death, video footage has re-emerged of a taped message he sent to a Unification Church gathering last year, following a similar speech by former US president Donald Trump.

Yamagami’s mother was a member of the church and made a large donation, according to the Asahi. “My family joined that religion and our life became harder after donating money to the organisation,” he was quoted as telling police. “I had wanted to target the top official of the organisation, but it was difficult. So, I took aim at Abe since I believed that he was tied [to the organisation]. I wanted to kill him.”

Abe will be laid to rest on Tuesday, in his former home constituency of Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture, according to Kyodo News Agency. As yet, there are no public plans for a public memorial. In the meantime, his wife, Akie, maintains a vigil for him in the apartment they shared in Shibuya.

Amid tightened security, the LDP-led coalition was on course on Sunday to secure a resounding victory in the Upper House election. In addition to economic and security issues, the focus of the election is whether the LDP and like-minded parties can secure the two-thirds majority needed to rewrite Japan’s pacifist constitution, a goal Abe pursued for most of his political life.