Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving former prime minister, has been shot during a campaign speech in the western city of Nara in the most significant act of political violence to rock the country in half a century.
Abe collapsed at about 11:30am and was taken to hospital by helicopter after two shots hit his neck and left collarbone, according to the local fire department. He was unconscious and in cardiac arrest.
The shooting of one of Japan’s most influential modern leaders will shock a society that has suffered little political violence for decades, and where guns are owned by only a handful of people.
“This is a heinous act of brutality that is utterly unforgivable,” said Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister of Japan. Abe’s condition was grave, Kishida said.
Police arrested a 41-year-old male suspect at the scene of the shooting, according to local media reports. Images from the scene suggested the assailant used a homemade weapon.
Several local outlets named the suspect as Tetsuya Yamagami, a resident of Nara, who served in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force from 2002 to 2005.
After stepping down as prime minister two years ago Abe has remained an influential member of parliament as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic party’s largest faction.
Videos from the scene showed him giving a speech near Yamato-Saidaiji station, in the suburbs of Nara. Two loud shots were audible and a puff of white smoke was visible behind the former prime minister.
Two students who witnessed the shooting told public broadcaster NHK that they saw something “resembling a toy bazooka” and heard a loud bang when Abe was shot the first time.
“He didn’t collapse, we just heard a very loud bang, but it didn’t seem like anything happened to him,” said one of the students. She said that smoke was “clearly visible after the second shot” and that “Mr Abe collapsed the moment the second shot was fired”.
The second student said that the shooter “didn’t flee and stayed there, putting his gun nearby. He was very quickly surrounded by security.”
Rahm Emanuel, US ambassador to Japan, said he was shocked by the shooting. “Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the United States,” he said.
During his two stints in office from 2006 to 2007 and 2012 to 2020, Abe was known for his economic revival plan and his conservative views on history.
Launched in 2012, the stimulus programme, known as Abenomics, aimed to lift the Japanese economy out of decades of deflation.
Abe also held hawkish opinions on history and reforming the pacifist constitution to expand Japan’s military role — an agenda he continued to champion following his resignation due to ill health.
Even after Kishida took over as prime minister last October, Abe remained a powerful influence in all aspects of Japanese policy.
Before the shooting on Friday, the former prime minister was campaigning for Sunday’s elections for Japan’s upper house. The elections will go ahead as scheduled, an official at the internal affairs ministry told the Financial Times.
During the campaign, Abe fiercely defended the legacy of his economic programme and urged the public to support a boost in defence spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Beyond his economic policy, Abe pushed for free trade and promoted his vision of a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, a stance taken up by Kishida and US president Joe Biden as they build a series of alliances in the region to counter an increasingly aggressive China.
The yen was up about 0.3 per cent at ¥135.52 against the dollar. Analysts said uncertainty surrounding the incident had pushed traders to seek safety in haven assets.
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