Japan — and most of the world — were shaken by the news Friday morning that an assassin’s bullet had taken the life of Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister and a still-towering figure in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
TV films show Abe, 68, shot twice in the back while delivering a political speech in Nara, Japan. In a country with some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, the suspect apparently killed Abe with what police described as a "handmade gun."
For many Japanese, images were evoked of the last political assassination in their country that is etched in its history — on Oct. 12, 1960, on live television.
Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the Japan Socialist Party, was participating in a debate with two other party leaders at the Hibiya Public Hall. The debate was carried live by the national broadcaster NHK and was watched in studio by a crowd of 2,500.
Asanuma was one of Japan's most charismatic politicians, and easily one of the most controversial. He had visited Communist China, called for an alliance between Beijing and Tokyo, and was a leader in the opposition to the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty known as ANPO (and which was strongly pushed by Prime Minister Nobosuke Kishi, grandfather of Shinzo Abe; Kishi once admonished his 5-year-old grandson for running through his home yelling "Down with ANPO!" which Abe had heard from protest marchers outside his grandson's residence).
Asanuma was a hated figure among the nationalist movement in Japan, which called for an end to its post-war constitution and a restoration of emperor worship. One who particularly hated the socialist leader was Otoya Yamaguchi, 17, son of an officer in the Japan Self-Defense Forces and so radicalized that he had been arrested 10 times in protests against ANPO.
As Asanuma spoke in the debate with Liberal Democratic Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda (who succeeded to the office when Kishi’s government fell earlier that year) and Democratic Socialist Leader Suheiro Nishio, Yamaguchi suddenly sprang from the audience. He drew a short samurai sword and twice plunged it in Asanuma.
As startled Japanese viewers remained glued to their television sets, Yamaguchi attempted to take his own life with the sword, but a crowd had quickly swarmed and overpowered him.
He was later charged with murder and imprisoned. On Nov. 2, after writing "Would I had 7 lives to give for my country" on his prison cell wall in toothpaste, the teenaged assassin hanged himself with his bedsheets.
Asanuma, 61, died from internal bleeding minutes after he arrived at a nearby hospital. In the coming general election, Prime Minister Ikeda was widely criticized for not providing necessary security for his opponent. But after a stirring eulogy of Asanuma in the Diet (Parliament) that moved many to tears, Ikeda led the LDP Party to a big win.
Even those born long after this tragic scene know exactly what it is and many can describe it in detail. Press photographer Yashushi Nagao’s photographic capturing the stabbing won the Pulitzer Prize.
The assassination inspired a best-selling novel as well as imitators — young nationalists attempting to take the lives of other politicians with which they disagreed. At a time when assassinations were rare in the world and television was in its infancy, the film of the knife attack is something that shook a nation and a world that would see it in movie newsreels a week later.
The killing of Asanuma had a major impact on Japan for generations. It is very likely the killing of Abe will do the same.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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