‘Terrorism’: Abe killing seen as attack on Japan’s democracy

TOKYO (AP) — An attack on democracy and freedom of speech. A throwback to the political murders of prewar Japan. Terrorism.

Public outrage, handwringing and vows of defiance by politicians and on social media are widespread following the daylight assassination by homemade gun of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a major political force even after he stepped down in 2020 as the nation’s longest-serving political leader.

“The bullet pierced the foundation of democracy,” the liberal Asahi newspaper, a regular foil of the conservative, sometimes history-revisionist Abe, said in a front-page editorial after the killing. “We tremble with rage.” Part of the collective fury is because crime is so rare in Japan, where it’s not uncommon to see cellphones and purses lying unattended in cafes. Gun attacks are vanishingly rare, especially in recent years and especially in political settings, though they have happened.

But the shock can also be traced to the setting: Abe was killed near a crowded train station, in the middle of a campaign speech for parliamentary elections, something that Japan, despite a long history of one-party political domination and growing voter apathy, takes seriously.

Mikito Chinen, a writer and doctor, declared on Twitter that he voted Sunday because “it’s important to demonstrate that democracy will not be defeated by violence.”

This attack is unique, marking the first assassination of a former or serving leader in postwar Japan, said Mitsuru Fukuda, a crisis management professor at Nihon University, and its consequences could be grave.

“Our society may have become one where politicians and dignitaries can be targeted any time, and that is making people uneasy about getting attacked for freely expressing their views,” Fukuda said.

Many here remember the political and social turmoil of prewar Japan, when the authorities demanded unquestioned obedience on the home front as imperial troops marched across Asia; it was the antithesis of democracy, a time when assassinations, government intimidation of dissidents and curbs on free speech and assembly were rife.

In modern liberal democracies, political killing is almost unheard of, though there are still examples of political violence, such as the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

The motive of Abe’s suspected gunman, who was arrested after being tackled by security, isn’t yet clear, though police and media reports indicate that it wasn’t political.

But the reemergence of assassination just days before national elections in one of the world’s most stable and affluent countries — and one that acts, along with its U.S. ally, as a political and security bulwark against decidedly undemocratic neighboring nations like China and North Korea — has raised fears that something fundamental has changed. “Japan is a democracy, so the murder of a former prime minister is an attack on us all,” The Japan Times said in an editorial. “This was an act of terrorism.”...