Shinzo Abe : The PM who transformed Japan’s foreign and defence policy

JAPAN is reeling from the assassination of its longest-serving former prime minister, Shinzo Abe. He was campaigning for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for the Upper House elections due on Sunday (July 10), in the city of Nara in western Japan, when he was shot from behind with an apparently home-made sawn-off shotgun.

The alleged assailant, reportedly a 41-year old local man who is a former member of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Forces, was arrested at the scene. Abe was seen lying bleeding on the ground, before being taken to a nearby hospital by helicopter.

Political violence, and gun violence in general, is extremely rare in post-war Japan, so this incident has deeply shocked the Japanese public. Gun ownership is tightly regulated, and mostly restricted to registered hunters.