Shinzo Abe: Non-stop tears grip Japan.
4 min read
The world was shocked on Friday July 8, 2022 when the news of the assassination of Shinzo Abe, a former Japanese politician and Prime Minister from the Liberal Democratic Party hit the airwaves. According to the sad breaking news, the gentlemanly politician was shot by an unemployed 41 year old Japanese man who came to the campaign grounds where the two term former Prime Minister of Japan who ruled from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020 was addressing a rally.
Shinzo Abe who was born on 21 September 1954 in Shinjuku City, Tokyo, Japan was assassinated in Nara Nara, Japan. Since the killing of the politician who lived with his wife and had no children, many people in Japan including foreigners have been mourning his death. From the reports filed in from Umuaka Times correspondent in Japan, Mr Abe was a patriotic and the best Japanese Prime Minister in the recent times who carried out a lot of reforms. Abe started his reforms from encouraging childbirth as many Japanese women are not interested in childbirths. Abe indeed brought about changes whereby women were given childbirth benefit allowances depending on how many children the woman has. During Covid19 lockdown, he made sure that each registered citizen in the country received about $1000 as a palliative.
The world came to a standstill last week when Abe was assassinated especially in a country like Japan where political violence and assassinations are almost zero. Tetsuya Yamagami, the alleged killer of the politician was able to achieve his evil intention because he has the experience to produce a gun as an ex-military man. In Japan, it is almost impossible to smuggle guns into the country. Reports Umuaka Times came across late last week claimed that Tetsuya Yamagami killed Abe because of Abe’s perceived links to a religious group Yamagami claimed was responsible for his mother’s financial predicament. Reports claim that Yamagami had been planning the assassination for a while and was considering attacking the late PM with a bomb before he finally settled with a gun.
Public broadcaster NHK, also claimed that the gunman had attended other rallies in the past where the former Japanese PM addressed the party members and followers.
More investigations on the assassination are still ongoing but in a recent report, a woman neighbour who lives very close to the gunman disclosed that she saw Yamagami 3 days before the tragic incident and greeted him but he never responded. “I said hello but he ignored me. He was just looking down at the ground to the side not wearing a mask. He seemed nervous,” the woman, who gave only her surname Nakayama, told Reuters. “It was like I was invisible. He seemed like something was bothering him.”
The identity of the killer is not yet fully established but according to Reuters, there was a Japanese man who served in the military with the same name Tetsuya Yamagami, under Maritime Self-Defence Force from 2002 to 2005. There is a strong indication that he may be the killer of the 67 year old politician.
According to a CNN report on guns and firearms laws in Japan Umuaka Times monitored last week, “In 2018, Japan, a country of 125 million people, only reported nine deaths from firearms — compared with 39,740 that year in the United States, according to data compiled by the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney.”
It is unthinkable for Japan to have the type of gun freedom that is in America.
The CNN report continues, “Under Japan’s firearms laws, the only guns permitted for sale are shotguns and air rifles — handguns are outlawed. But getting them is a long and complicated process that requires effort — and lots of patience.
To qualify for a firearm license, potential buyers must attend an all-day class, pass a written test and a shooting-range test with an accuracy of at least 95%. They also must undergo a mental health evaluation and drug tests, as well as a rigorous background check — including a review of their criminal record, personal debt, involvement in organized crime and relationships with family and friends.
After obtaining a gun, the owner must register their weapon with police and provide details of where their gun and ammunition is stored, in separate, locked compartments. The gun must be inspected by the police once a year, and gun owners must retake the class and sit an exam every three years to renew their license.
The restrictions have kept the number of private gun owners in Japan extremely low.”
Festus Okoro, a Nigerian businessman based in Japan told Umuaka Times that the blow the assassination of Abe would take a long time to heal due to the type of positive reforms the former Prime Minister established in the country.” He was loved by many and he was calm to a fault. For now, Japan would address the issue of security with more improvements.”
