Japanese nationalists are batshit insane. they're Jan 6 levels of dangerous. I'd be incredibly surprised if this wasn't a nationalist attack. the Yakuza are a pale shade of their former selves and the only reason they continue to exist is by living in the shadows where people (police) are somewhat content to ignore them as long as they don't cause trouble. if they did this it would literally spell the end of organized crime in Japan.
i know nothing about his politics but this gives me hope that there are still western countries where politicians can still answer to people
Several contenders Abe is a pretty hardcore conservative nationalist even by Japanese standards. He’s certainly not popular with either Korea or the Chinese if one of their nationals was involved.
shooter looked very young but yeah Abe was an outlier by being an ultranationalist which historically is the violent end of the spectrum
would be surprised if China was involved but I could buy a Korean, they're still unbelievably pissed about what happened. still think this is home-cooked, though.
Yeah, I was curious. He seemed a fairly rightist guy (wanted to expand military spending, etc.), so this is weird to me.
inspiring to know there are western democracies where right wingers can still be held accountable by the people. hopefully this mindset can spread to our country (all in the name of patriotism)
Japan does not have a pleasant history when it comes to political assassinations but they almost always involve ultranationalists murdering moderates or liberals.
Not as right as the surging Japanese right wing nationalist movement (not that this is them, could be antija)
also worth pointing out that Japan does an even worse job with mental health than the US in that most of society steadfastly refuses to acknowledge its existence so this could just be some loon and he thought Abe was speaking to him through the TV or something.
ngl i got a different former head of state nationalist that could use some face time with a blunderbuss
I’m wondering when that violent tide will shift here in America. How much more of our lives and government will conservatives eat up until us normal people lose it.
not to defend the NYT but this is exactly how all the japanese reports are coming out "abe collapses as shots are heard in the area"
This will be the next pro-gun argument in our country. “Even if we banned them, stoned, porn-addicted, mentally disturbed, video game junkies will just make one themselves.”