#RESIST
Holy...WOW!...
Those are all the words I have right now...
pzt
As shocking as this would be in a country like the US, it's beyond unthinkable in Japan. While there have been some political assassinations in modern Japanese history, they are incredibly rare and usually not like this. The last time a prime minister was assassinated in Japan was 90 years ago, and even then it was part of a power struggle between two elements of the Japanese government that were effectively opposing factions of a military ruling council (a bit like Hitler with the SA/SS in-fighting). The head of the Japanese Socialist Party was assassinated by a sword-wielding rightist student in 1960, but the JSP wasn't a serious contender for head of state, more of a vocal and controversial sideline figure.
What we are hearing so far from people in Japan is:
- The alleged killer is reported to be a 41-year old unemployed former Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JPN Navy) junior officer or NCO from Nara
- The weapon appears to be a homemade or black-market improvised gun - pipes fitted to a board, wrapped in layers of tape, and fitted with some sort of firing mechanism
- Two shots fired at a distance of 3m; one source I talked to said it was probably more like 5m, but still relatively close
- The second shot collapsed Abe, but it's not clear if the first shot hit him also
- Lots of smoke and a deep boom, possibly indicating black powder or improvised gunpowder, such as from fireworks
- Abe was alert and communicating when first responders were on him, but lost consciousness shortly thereafter
- By about noon Japan time, he was being reported as having 'cardiac arrest'. This is a common way of reporting someone's death in Japanese news, prior to an official statement from the authorities
- Some reports say Abe was hit in the left side of his back with some exit wound(s) in front, while others say he was hit at least partially in the neck
- No motive known at this time, but the suspect did not attempt to flee
Abe is a controversial figure both in Japan and around Asia. China hates him and sees him as a someone who wants to return to WWII style Japanese thinking, complete with a 'projection of force'-capable military and navy, close alliances with the US, and possibly even flirting with nuclear armament. Taiwan hopes that he will formalize a defensive alliance. North Korea follows China's thinking and really hates him (look for more possible connections between NK and certain groups in Japan who may or may not have involvement in this...). Japanese people either like him as a strong and dynamic leader who works to restore the Japanese national spirit (and end decades of economic humiliation), or a heartless ethno-nationalist with militaristic tendencies. Even though he stepped down as PM in late 2020, he is still a major power-broker in Japanese politics, and the current PM is though of as something of less-divisive public face of Abe's own faction, which is still the most powerful.
(Politics aside, access to any kind of firearm in Japan is essentially zero. It's illegal even to touch a firearm without a license, and penalties are severe. The permitting process takes literally years, examines every imaginable aspect of a person's life, involves extensive police interviews, psychiatric evaluations, interviews with friends and neighbours, etc. and it's very common for the police to continue to meet with neighbours, coworkers, etc. as long as the person owns a firearm, just to check up on them ("Is Shinsuke having money problems?", "So, does Taro argue with his wife much?"). Almost nobody even tries for it, and gun ownership is probably less than 0.1% of the population. Handguns are completely out of the question, and double-barrel shotguns are the most common, but are still only about 130,000 total for a population of 125,000,000. Unless you have been in rural Japan and in very exceptional circumstances, you've never even seen a real gun. No wonder most of the people in the crowd didn't know how to react when this happened.)
When I see this I always think "life will find a way...to get guns and hurt people" in Jeff Goldblooms voice
Abe-sori is a personal friend of fourteen years, we first met immediately after his first term as Prime Minister, as he resumed his position as the president of the All-Japan Archery Federation, which I have served since 1994 as a technical advisor. He was an archer in his university years.
I last saw him in December 2019 at a mutual friend’s wedding in Osaka.
I am beyond devastated. One expects this sort of danger for a prominent politician just about anywhere, but not Japan.
If it's a homemade gun that's not a really good argument to use outside the choir. People are going to make the obvious counter-argument that a cobbled together single or double barrel Improvised Bullet Dispenser isn't something you could i.e. commit a mass shooting with. Their argument is never that gun control can achieve zero-defect gun violence in the US. It is always that it would make things "better". Counter argument: Call me selfish but it's not really a "win" if gun violence is reduced by X% if that necessitates me just rolling over and taking one for the team if my number comes up. It's not really a "win" if my options for self defense are to fist fight some tweaker with a butcher knife. Thanks, but no.Originally Posted by secondstoryguy
Gun control obviously "works" in Japan. Not a popular statement, but really. It's silly to argue otherwise. Their vanishingly small amount of homicides committed with firearms is indisputable. The US isn't Japan, though. And without intending offense to anyone in Japan I wouldn't want it to be. Culture matters when it comes to violence and the difference between the US and Japan is so stark that comparing the two is almost pointless.
Tying it back to the subject at hand... argument for control at point-of-sale is going to go right out the window once people stop 3D printing glock frames and start 3D printing blind-magazine, 100% disposable "shoot it dry and toss it" bic-lighter-equivalent pistols. 3D printed metal parts like slides and barrels don't have to hold up to a 10,000 round lifespan to be useful for their intended (usually criminal) use case. Especially if you get creative with the propellant and projectile and don't need traditional brass case cartridges. Doesn't have to be robust if it's got a one-mag lifespan.
What's the longest someone has been in cardiopulmonary arrest and survived? I know a few hypothermia cases have been over 4 hours, but I'm wondering about for normal body temperature... I'm assuming they were manually or mechanically pumping blood for those 4 hours?Abe received over 100 units of blood in transfusions over four hours as he haemorrhaged from a wound in the heart, said Hidetada Fukushima, the professor in charge of emergency medicine at Nara Medical University Hospital. He arrived at the hospital in cardiopulmonary arrest and was never revived.
Last edited by 0ddl0t; 07-08-2022 at 06:38 AM.
Wow. I'm shocked. I have only one visit to Japan, ever, for work outside of Tokyo, for a couple weeks, but this seems unthinkable to what little I know about Japanese culture. Very sad.
My condolences for the loss of your friend. We often forget that politicians are real people with family and friends.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
My deepest sympathies for the loss of your friend. It is a loss that is felt and shared by many who never knew him personally, and I can only imagine how much more so by someone close to him as you were.
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