Japan lives a day of mourning and crying on the eve of the elections to the Upper House of Parliament that are held this Sunday
Day of pain and mourning in Tokyo. Japan mourns this Saturday the death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, shot dead the day before during a rally in the west of the country, where the Police admitted errors in security. “It is undeniable that there have been failures with the escort measures,” lamented the Nara Local Guard chief, Tomoaki Onizuka, after making a public apology for the murder of the best-known politician in Japanese territory. Given what happened, the head of the prefecture has promised to “fully analyze the problems and take the appropriate measures,” he declared at a press conference collected by the Kyodo agency. “It is an urgent matter for us to carry out an investigation to clarify what happened,” Onizuka said.
Many voices have criticized the security following the attack on Abe, 67, at an open-air rally ahead of today’s Upper House of Parliament elections. Why was the former prime minister on the street? Critics question. The truth is that escort measures during election campaigns are usually relatively lax in the Japanese country, where there are strict laws on the possession of firearms and where the level of violence is quite low.
In fact, according to data from the National Police Agency, the number of crimes reported in Japan during 2021 fell by 7.5% compared to the previous year to 568,148, which is a post-war record drop for the seventh consecutive year. Statistics highlight that the highest figure was reached in 2002 with up to 2.85 million crimes; a figure that has been reduced considerably until today.
After a continuous decrease in violence on the streets of Japan for two decades, Abe’s tragic death has shocked the country. So much so that the Police have revolutionized the security measures around the elections, where the distance between candidates and voters is always shortened to the maximum. On this occasion there will be a greater presence of agents and citizens will not be able to approach politicians as usual.
“I can’t believe it”
A hearse has moved the body of the former prime minister from the hospital to his home in Tokyo today, while the country was wrapped in tears and pain. Hundreds of citizens have paid their respects before a large wreath at a makeshift altar in Nara, near the spot where Abe was shot twice in the neck and left arm by a 41-year-old former military man named Tetsuya Yamagami. A picture that is repeated continuously from Friday. “I can’t believe something like this could happen in Japan,” lamented Akira Takahashi, 54, who came to lay some flowers. “There should have been more security members,” he stated forcefully.
Abe came from a political family and became the youngest post-war prime minister when he took office in 2006 at age 52. He held the position until September 2007 and later between December 2012 and September 2020, when he resigned due to health problems. The loss of him has caused shock worldwide. The president of the United States, Joe Biden, said he was “shocked, outraged and deeply saddened” by the tragic event. Yoon Suk-yeol, his counterpart in South Korea, a country with which Abe had friction, referred to the murder as an “unacceptable act”, while the Chinese embassy in Japan praised the victim for his “contribution to improving and develop” relationships.
#Police #admit #undeniable #flaws #security #Abes #murder