Assassination of Shinzo Abe

Assassination of Shinzo Abe
Abe in March 2022
Location	Near Yamato-Saidaiji Station, Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Coordinates	34°41′38.6″N 135°47′02.2″E
Date	8 July 2022 (2022-07-08) c. 11:30 AM JST (UTC+9:00)
Target	Shinzo Abe
Attack type	Assassination by shooting
Weapons	Homemade firearm
Deaths	1 (Shinzo Abe)
Motive	A grudge against the Unification Church, and belief that Abe and the religion are closely connected

Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister of Japan and a serving member of the House of Representatives, was assassinated on 8 July 2022 while speaking at a political event outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. While delivering a campaign speech for a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidate, he was shot from behind at close range by a man with a homemade firearm. Abe was transported by medical helicopter to Nara Medical University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami (Template:Lang-ja), 41 years old, was arrested at the scene. His charge of attempted murder was later revised to murder after Abe's death. Yamagami told investigators that he held a grudge against the Unification Church (UC) over his mother's bankruptcy and had shot Abe out of a belief that he was close to the group. He accused Abe of spreading the church's influence in Japan.

Leaders from many countries praised Abe's accomplishments while expressing shock and dismay at his death. His assassination was the first of a former Japanese prime minister since Saitō Makoto and Takahashi Korekiyo during the February 26 Incident in 1936.

Background

Relationship between Abe's family and the Unification Church

Shinzo Abe, as well as his father Shintaro Abe and his maternal grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, had longstanding ties to the Unification Church, a controversial new religious movement founded 1954 by Sun Myung Moon in South Korea. Moon was a self-declared messiah and ardent anti-communist who also ran a vast Korean business empire (chaebol) Tongil Group. Kishi's postwar political agenda led him worked closely with Ryoichi Sasakawa, who had been jailed as fascist war criminal at the end of World War II. Sasakawa helped, as advisor to Sun Myung Moon, set up the Unification Church in Japan in 1963 and assumed the roles of both patron and president of the Moonies' political wing, Kokusai Shokyo Rengo (International Federation for Victory over Communism), which would forge intimate ties with Japan's conservative politicians. In this way, Sasakawa and Kishi shielded what would become one of the most widely distrusted groups in contemporary Japan.

When the UC still had a few thousand followers, its headquarters was located adjacent to the Kishi residence in Nanpeidai, Shibuya, and UC officials frequented the Kishi home. As Richard Samuels, published in 2001 the UC "built its Japan headquarters on land in Tokyo once owned by Kishi. By the early 1970s, a number of LDP politicians were using Unification Church members as campaign workers. While the politicians were required to pledge to visit the Church's headquarters in Korea and receive Reverend Moon's lectures on theology, it did not matter whether they were members of the Church. Actual Church members– so-called "Moonies"– were sent by the Federation to serve without compensation as industrious and highly valued campaign workers. In return, for many years the Church enjoyed protection from prosecution by Japanese authorities for their often fraudulent and aggressive sales and conversion tactics. Not incidentally, by the 1980s, Japan reportedly provided some four-fifths of Unification Church revenues worldwide." Subsequently, the UC gained much influence in Japan, laying the groundwork for its push into the United States of America and its later entrenchment.

Such a relationship was passed on to his son-in-law, former foreign minister Shintaro Abe, who attended a dinner party held by Moon at the Imperial Hotel in 1974. Shinzo Abe continued this relationship, and in May 2006, when he was Chief Cabinet Secretary, he and several cabinet ministers sent a congratulatory telegrams to a mass wedding ceremony organised by the UC's front group Unification Peace Federation (UPF), for 2,500 couples of Japanese and Korean men and women. Abe had appeared as a paid speaker at UC events, ten months before the assassination, in September 2021, as part of a UPF rally which included appearances by former U.S. president Donald Trump and other foreign dignitaries. After the assassination Nobuo Kishi, Abe's 's younger brother and Minister of Defense in Japan had to disclose his connections with the UC and the help he received in past elections. Yoshiyuki Inoue, Abe's former executive secretary, who had garnered a seat in the July 2022 Upper House election, disclosed that he was an "informal member but not a religious follower of the church".

UC had been publicly known for receiving support from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since Kishi's tenure in the late 1950s, according to research by Nikkan Gendai, 10 out of 20 members in the Fourth Abe Cabinet had connections to the UC, but these connections were largely ignored by Japanese journalists.

In the US, the 1978 Fraser Report – an inquiry by the US Congress into American–Korean relations – determined that, in 1961 Kim Jong-pil "organized" the UC while he was KCIA director and had been using the UC "as a political tool" on behalf of President Park Chung-hee.

Unification Church practices in Japan

In 1959 the Unification Church's Japan branch was established and was certified as a religious organisation in 1964. The Agency for Cultural Affairs classifies the UC as a Christian organisation.

According to historians, Japan has provided 70% of the Unification Church's wealth. The church gets funding based on "spiritual sales" in the country. Steven Hassan, a former Unification Church member, describes spiritual sales as parishioners scanning obituaries, going door-to-door, and saying, "Your dead loved one is communicating with us, so please go to the bank and send money to the Unification Church so your loved one can ascend to heaven in the spirit world."

In 1987, about 300 lawyers in Japan set up an association called the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales to help victims of the Unification Church and similar organisations. According to statistics compiled by the association's lawyers between 1987 and 2021, the association and local government consumer centers received 34,537 complaints alleging that the church had forced people to make unreasonably large donations or purchase large amounts of items, amounting to about 123.7 billion yen.

In Moon's theology, Korea is the "Adam" country, home of a master race destined to rule the world, and Japan is the "Eve" country, subservient to Korea. It teaches that Eve had sex with Satan, causing mankind to fall from grace, while Moon was now destined to bring mankind to salvation.

Akihiko Kurokawa, Party General Secretary of the NHK Party, alleged during a TV broadcast in June 2022 - ahead of the upper house election - that the UC is "an anti-Japanese sect," blaming Abe's grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, for the church's sect first moving to Japan, blaming Abe for obscure funding of religious groups used as a front for "foreign spy activities".

Abe's schedule

Abe was initially scheduled to deliver a speech in Nagano Prefecture on 8 July 2022 in support of Sanshirō Matsuyama, an LDP candidate in upcoming elections to the House of Councillors. That event was abruptly canceled on 7 July following allegations of misconduct and corruption related to Matsuyama, and was replaced by a similar event in Nara Prefecture at which Abe was to deliver a speech in support of Kei Satō, an LDP councillor running for re-election. The LDP division in Nara Prefecture stated this new schedule was not generally publicly known, but NHK reported that the event had been widely advertised on Twitter and by sound truck.

At approximately 11:10 a.m. on 8 July, Satō began speaking at a road junction near the north exit of Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City. Abe arrived nine minutes later, and began his speech at around 11:29 a.m. Abe was accompanied by VIP protection officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police alongside VIP protection officers from the Nara Prefectural Police.

Timeline

Assassination

Positions of Abe (purple) and shooter (blue) at the time of the shooting. Abe's security detail and other individuals are not shown. Not drawn to scale.

External videos
Reconstruction of the shooting
2 minutes and 26 seconds before the shooting of Shinzo Abe, The Nikkei

While Abe was delivering his speech, the alleged perpetrator was able to approach within several metres, despite the presence of security. At around 11:30 a.m., when Abe said, "Instead of thinking about why he [Satō] cannot do it ...", he was shot at from behind with a homemade gun resembling a sawn-off, double-barreled shotgun. The first shot missed and prompted Abe to turn around, at which point a second shot was fired, hitting Abe in the neck and chest area. Abe then took a few steps forward, fell to his knees, and collapsed. Abe's security detained the suspect, who did not resist.

Police sources told NHK that Abe was initially conscious and responsive after being shot. A doctor who arrived at the scene says there were no signs indicating Abe was conscious. Shortly thereafter, he was transported to a local hospital by emergency helicopter with a wound to the right side of his neck and internal bleeding under his left chest, arriving approximately fifty minutes after being shot. He was reported to have no vital signs when he arrived at Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara, likely due to cardiopulmonary arrest prior to his arrival. At 2:45 p.m., a press conference was held by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who stated that Abe was in critical condition and that "doctors [were] doing everything they [could]".

Abe's wife, Akie, rushed to the hospital after travelling from Tokyo by bullet train and arrived at the hospital at 4:55 p.m.

Despite doctors' efforts, Abe was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5:03 p.m., around five and a half hours after being shot. He was sixty-seven years old. Hidetada Fukushima, a doctor at the hospital, said the cause of Abe's death was blood loss, despite four hours of blood transfusions that saw the administration of 100 units of blood. Professor Dr Hidetada Fukushima said that Abe was hit by two bullets and that one bullet was not found in Abe's body. The police autopsy concluded Abe died from loss of blood after a bullet damaged an artery under his collarbone.

Abe was the first former Japanese prime minister to have been assassinated since Saitō Makoto and Takahashi Korekiyo, who were killed during the February 26 Incident in 1936, the first Japanese legislator to be assassinated since Kōki Ishii was killed by a member of a right-wing group in 2002, and the first Japanese politician to be assassinated during an electoral campaign since Iccho Itoh, then-mayor of Nagasaki, who was shot dead during his mayoral race in April 2007.

Aftermath

Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station on 8 July 2022, several hours after the shooting

At 11:45 a.m., the Japanese government established a liaison office within the crisis management Center of the Prime Minister's Office. Kishida, who was campaigning in Sagae, Yamagata Prefecture, canceled his remaining schedule and returned to Tokyo by 2:29 p.m. According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, all other members of Kishida's cabinet were recalled to Tokyo except the foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, who was in Indonesia for the 2022 G20 Bali summit. Kishida later ordered heightened security for high-ranking politicians in Japan. Officers from the Security Police were deployed to protect Abe's widow, Akie Abe, after she arrived in Kyoto as a precautionary measure.

Most political leaders cancelled all campaign events for the remainder of 8 July. Campaigning resumed the day after, on 9 July, with major party leaders vowing to not allow violence to disrupt the democratic process. The LDP subsequently won a supermajority of seats in the House of Councillors in the 10 July elections.

NHK General TV, and four of Japan's five major commercial television networks, cancelled or postponed all scheduled programming to broadcast live news coverage for the rest of the day, as did several radio stations. Of the shows impacted, the anime series Teppen—!!! had its second episode, scheduled to air on 9 July, canceled entirely due to the plot of the episode revolving around an attempted assassination.

On 16 July 2022, a team of officers from the Japanese National Police Agency went to Nara to inspect the site where Abe was shot.

Visitations

Liberal Democratic Hall Building, the headquarters for the LDP

At about 9:00 p.m. on the day of Abe's assassination, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga visited the hospital. Shortly after him, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno also visited the hospital.

Abe's body was subject to a judicial autopsy and departed from the hospital with his widow at 5:55 a.m. on 9 July. Five vehicles carrying various old professional acquaintances of Abe's, including former Minister of Defense Tomomi Inada, took part in the motorcade conveying the former Prime Minister's body back to his home in Tokyo. At 1:35 p.m., the accompanying party arrived at Abe's Tokyo house with the late Prime Minister. On their arrival, Sanae Takaichi, the chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council, Tatsuo Fukuda, the chairman of the LDP General Council and Hisashi Hieda, the chairman of Fujisankei Communications Group and a friend of Abe's, received them. Afterwards, Kishida visited for condolences, and former Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori and Junichiro Koizumi, Hiroyuki Hosoda (Speaker of the House of Representatives), Akiko Santō (President of the House of Councillors), Toshihiro Nikai (former Secretary-General of the LDP), Kōichi Hagiuda (Abe's close aide and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry), Tetsuo Saito (a politician of Komeito and the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), and Yuriko Koike (the Governor of Tokyo) also visited for condolences.

Wake and funeral

Kirigaya Funeral Hall, where Abe was cremated

In the afternoon of 11 July, Abe's casket was transported to the Zōjō-ji Temple in Shiba Park of the Minato ward of Tokyo, where several feudal shoguns are buried. A wake for Abe began at 6:00 p.m. Over 2,500 people attended, according to the LDP.

A Buddhist funeral for Abe took place at Zōjō-ji Temple on the next day. The funeral, conducted by priests from the Jōdō-shū tradition, was restricted to Abe's family and select others from the LDP. Following the funeral, Abe's casket was transported through the Nagatachō district with large crowds watching the procession from the sidewalks. The casket was driven by the Liberal Democratic Hall Building, the National Diet Building and the Prime Minister's official office, before being taken to Kirigaya Funeral Hall in the Shinagawa ward for a private cremation. During the funeral, Abe received a posthumous name that reflected his life on the political stage.

A farewell ceremony has been planned for sometime after the funeral and the traditional 49-day mourning period. The location is planned to be within the Yamaguchi 4th district and within Tokyo. A state funeral is being planned to be held on 27 September at the Nippon Budokan.

Suspect

Tetsuya Yamagami
山上 徹也
Born	(1980-09-10) 10 September 1980 Mie Prefecture, Japan
Capture status	Arrested
Military career
Allegiance	Japan
Service / branch	Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
Years of service	2002–2005
Rank	Leading seaman

Tetsuya Yamagami (山上 徹也, Yamagami Tetsuya), a forty-one-year-old man living in Nara City, was arrested by Nara Prefectural Police at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder; this was upgraded to murder after Abe was pronounced dead. Yamagami was transferred to the Nara Nishi Police Station upon his arrest. He was described as being calm and having made no attempts to flee. Yamagami had no prior criminal history. As of July 26, 2022, formal charges have not been brought against Yamagami, he is currently held at the Osaka Detention House for a mental evaluation until November to determine if he is mentally competent to be indicted.

Personal life

Born in Mie Prefecture, Yamagami was born to affluent parents who ran a local construction business. Described as quiet and reserved in high school, he wrote in his graduation yearbook that he "didn't have a clue" what he wanted to do in the future. Yamagami dropped out of university due to his family's financial problems. His father died by suicide when Yamagami was 4 years old. After the death of his maternal grandfather, his mother took over the construction business.

Yamagami joined the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) in August 2002; he was posted to Kure Naval Base and assigned to the destroyer JS Matsuyuki. He was discharged from the JMSDF in August 2005 as a quartermaster with the rank of leading seaman.

In October 2020, Yamagami started working as a forklift operator in Kyoto Prefecture for a manufacturer that operated in the Kansai region. There he was described as quiet. He quit in May 2022 after claiming that he was "feeling unwell". Yamagami was unemployed at the time of his arrest.

Motive

Yamagami told investigators that his motive had been personal rather than political. After joining the Unification Church around 1991 to 1998, his mother had given the church about 100 million yen (US$720,000), a parcel of land she had inherited from her father, and the house where she lived with her three children; she subsequently declared bankruptcy in 2002. She had continued donating to the church following the bankruptcy. A male relative later recalled being contacted by Yamagami and his siblings to complain that they had no food at home, prompting the relative to deliver meals and money for living expenses.

Yamagami's uncle said that he attempted suicide in 2005, in hope of offering his life insurance benefit for his siblings. Yamagami's older brother, who had a longtime struggle with cancer, was not able to afford medical treatment; he died by suicide in 2015. This tragedy greatly impacted Yamagami, according to his uncle.

Yamagami blamed the Unification Church for his family's financial problems and held a grudge against the group. Researching the church's connections to Abe in the months before the attack, he believed the former prime minister spread the church's influence in Japan.

In a letter sent to journalist Kazuhiro Yonemoto on 7 July, the day before the incident, Yamagami introduced himself as "まだ足りない" (lit. 'not enough'), a regular commenter under that handle on Yonemoto's blog posts, and stressed that he "had spent [much time] trying to obtain guns". Kazuhiro Yonemoto is the editor of a blog reporting on problems experienced by the children of religious cult believers. The letter was sent from Okayama and didn't mention the name of the sender, but a "statement of mutual agreement" between Yamagami's family and the Unification Church was enclosed. The agreement arranged the repayment of 50 million yen by the Unification Church, Tetsuya Yamagami's name and address was handwritten on the agreement. Yonemoto found the letter in his home mailbox on 13 July, five days after the assassination. A draft copy of the letter was found on Yamagami's computer.

In the letter, Yamagami wrote that his "connection with the Unification Church dates back about 30 years", he also expressed a desire to kill the entire Moon family but noted that it was unrealistic. He also noted that killing Hak Ja Han, the leader of the Unification Church, or her daughter, wouldn't achieve his goal of getting the Unification Church dissolved. He also wrote that Shinzo Abe was "not my enemy, originally, although I have had negative opinions about him. Abe was just one of the Unification Church's sympathizers who wields the most influence in the real world."

Kazuhiro Yonemoto, who never had met Yamagami before, said: "I think he probably had no one to talk to and wanted to express his feelings to someone. He may have thought I was his friend because I operate the blog he posted on. I understand the suffering of believers' children. But I wish he had consulted with me directly before going that far." Yonemoto initially refused to hand the letter over to police, and it was later seized.

Yamagami's posted on Twitter that he was "willing to die to liberate every person involved in the Unification Church", and that he had "no concern about what will happen to the Abe administration as a result". Yamagami's Twitter account was suspended from July 19 due to an unspecified violation of Twitter's company policies.

Responses by the Unification Church

Yamagami's account of his mother's involvement with the Unification Church was confirmed by Tomihiro Tanaka, the chair of the church's Tokyo branch, during a press conference on 11 July. Tanaka said that Yamagami's mother first joined the church in 1998, stopped attending around 2009, and reestablished connection with the church in 2019 or 2020. He refused to disclose the total sum of the donations contributed by Yamagami's mother since her admission in 1998, claiming the lack of her donation records. He said that he was not able to find out the timing and amount of the suspect's mother's donations.

Tanaka also downplayed the alleged close tie between the organisation and Abe, stating that the former prime minister, not being a registered member or advisor, only delivered speeches for their "friendly entity", the UPF.

On 14 July, the church released a statement claiming that before the assassination, they reached an agreement to refund 50 million yen donated by Yamagami's mother from 2004 to 2015, and no more record of new donations made by her after the refund. On the other hand, the 50 million yen refunded was again donated to the Unification Church, according to Yamagami's relatives.

At a press conference in Seoul on 19 July 2022 Chung Hwan Kwak, who had long held a position second to Moon and was considered to be his right-hand man in the Unification Church, apologized. Saying that the UC was responsible for the assassination of Shinzo Abe, he stated: "I feel a deep responsibility (for the attack on Abe) because I heard that the motive of the attacker was associated with a grudge against donations (at the UC). I sincerely apologize," he said. Kwak said that Moon enjoyed a close relationship with his grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, Shinzo Abe's father and former Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe. He stated: "Donations from Japan have greatly contributed to Moon's activities around the world". Kwak argued that he tried in 2001 to turn the Japanese branch into a normal organisation after making it an "economic unit" that collected donations, but Jung Ok Yoo and other church leaders resisted. As a result, the Japanese branch is still forcibly collecting donations from believers, leading to criticism of the cult for causing bankruptcies, divorces and suicides. South Korean church officials and the Japanese branch, on the other hand, denied Kwak's claim, saying that it was Kwak who called for the transfer of Japanese money to the UC's headquarters.

Appeal by civil society in Japan

Almost a year before the assassination, in September 2021, the advocacy group National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales sent an open protest letter to Shinzō Abe, after he had sent the video message to an online meeting of the UC's front organisation. In the letter, the lawyers protested that his video message constituted an "endorsement," stating: "We urge you to think carefully about this for the sake of your own honour."

According to the association the total of confirmed financial damages linked to the UC during the 35 years through 2021 has surpassed 123.7 billion yen ($899.2 million).

On 11 July 2022, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward lawyers for the advocacy group held a press conference in response to the assassination. After offering their condolences to Abe, they objected to the UC's claims that it reformed its practices in 2009 after it came under police investigation. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, an advocacy group representative, said that the UC's "explanation that there is no coercion of donations is a lie." The amount of damages reported by victims in Japan has been higher in recent years, the lawyers said, totalling 5.1 billion yen in more than 400 cases between 2017 and 2020. They emphasized that the activities of the UC are inseparable from front groups, including the UPF, they are all part of a "religious conglomerate" working toward the goal of "unifying" the world under their church. The advocacy group released a statement urging politicians to refrain from any actions that express support for the religious group. They pointed out that for more than 30 years, Abe and other Japanese politicians and administrators had taken no action against the UC.

Masaki Kito, a lawyer who is familiar with the actual damage caused by the UC in Japan, said donations amount to 55-60 billion yen and the worst case was to have believers prostituting themselves to raise money.

Planning

Yamagami said his initial plan was to assassinate a high-ranking official of the Unification Church, but later decided to target Abe instead. From around the time his mother went bankrupt, Yamagami wandered around the Unification Church building carrying a knife, looking for an opportunity to kill Hak Ja Han. He planned to kill Han with a Molotov cocktail when she visited Aichi Prefecture in 2019, but gave up because he could not enter the church building. Yamagami told investigators that he initially considered making a bomb and purchased a pressure cooker to create a bomb. But he decided to change his plan after realising it could maim or kill innocent bystanders when it exploded. Instead, he made guns that he "could easily fix on a target". Yamagami allegedly decided to change his target to Abe after learning of his video speech to the UPF in September 2021. He proceeded to stalk the former prime minister at various locations as he planned his attack over a period of several months. On the day before the assassination, Yamagami travelled by Shinkansen and attended an LDP rally in Okayama Prefecture with the intent of killing Abe there; he was forced to backtrack due to entry protocols. After Abe's schedule was changed to allow him to visit Nara City on 8 July, Yamagami kept track of his movements via Abe's website.

Yamagami's residence is five-minute walk from Shin-Ōmiya Station, the westbound next stop on the Kintetsu Nara line is Yamato-Saidaiji Station where the assassination was carried out.

In order to dry his homemade gunpowder, Yamagami rented an apartment between March and September last year. He later rented a garage in Nara from November 2021 to February 2022 for the same purpose, costing him 15,000 yen per month.

Yamagami was unemployed after resigning in May 2022, at that time he was 600,000 yen in debt with 200,000 yen in his savings account. His one-room apartment's rent was 30 thousand yen per month. He spent most of his loan on equipment for making his homemade weapons.

Investigators suspected that Yamagami would run out of cash very soon and be would be unable to afford his regular expenses, which pushed him to proceed with assassinating Abe in July 2022.

Yamagami told police that he had test-fired his homemade gun in a facility linked to the Unification Church on July 7, the day he went to Okayama to attend Abe's election campaign and assassinate him, he later gave up. Six bullet holes were discovered by the investigators at the entrance of a building next to the Nara branch of the Unification Church.

Weapon preparations

Yamagami allegedly built the weapon used in the shooting. Police discovered seven homemade firearms similar to that weapon, two of them not finished, as well as possible explosive devices, during a search of his home following his arrest. They were later seized as evidence and taken by bomb disposal officers after nearby residents were evacuated.

Yamagami stated that he tested his improvised firearms by firing them at multiple wooden boards with an aluminium-covered tray for storing dry gunpowder, which were later recovered from his vehicle. Plastic-based shotgun shells were also seized by police. Yamagami also claimed that he tested his firearms in mountains in Nara Prefecture.

Yamagami told investigators that he learned how to make guns and bombs a year prior from watching YouTube videos on the subject. Websites about bomb-making and weapons manufacturing were discovered in Yamagami's browsing history. He told investigators that he originally intended to carry out the assassination using explosives. However, notes obtained from Yamagami's parents' home by the investigators reveal that he did not want to "cause trouble to the bystanders" and believed that an explosive may not kill Abe, so he instead began making his own gun.

False information

Several media outlets misidentified the video game developer Hideo Kojima as the assassin. The misreporting allegedly stemmed from jokes on the online message board 4chan and Twitter that were taken as fact and subsequently published by the far-right French politician Damien Rieu, the Greek news outlet ANT1, and the Iranian website Mashregh News. ANT1 additionally reported that the suspect was "passionate about Che Guevara". ANT1 uploaded the broadcast to its YouTube account, but later removed it. Rieu took down the original tweet and issued an apology. Kojima's company, Kojima Productions, condemned the false reports and threatened legal action against those perpetuating the rumor.

Copycat threats

Thirty minutes after the shooting, a threatening call was made to Matsuyama's office, where Abe had been initially scheduled to deliver a speech. A suspect was arrested on 9 July for making threats.

Hours after the shooting, online assassination threats were made in Singapore and Taiwan against their respective leaders, Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and Republic of China president Tsai Ing-wen. In Singapore, a 45-year-old man was arrested after his threats online were reported to the police. In Taiwan, the threat came from a 22-year-old man in Tainan, who was arrested at his home in Yongkang District.

Thailand additionally tightened security around its government officials and planned to increase security at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, due to be hosted in Bangkok on 17–18 November.

Reactions

Domestic

Nara Medical University Hospital, where Abe was pronounced dead

Incumbent prime minister Fumio Kishida called the assassination an "unforgivable act" and an "act of cowardly barbarism". Noting that Abe was shot while delivering a campaign speech, Kishida also denounced the assassination as an attack on Japan's democracy and vowed to defend a "free and fair election at all costs".

Before Abe's death was announced, Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, stated that "no matter the reason, such a heinous act is absolutely unforgivable. It is an affront against democracy." Kazuo Shii, chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, called the assassination "barbaric", an attack on free speech and an act of terrorism in a post to Twitter. Tomohiko Taniguchi, a former advisor to Abe, compared his death to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in terms of likely social impact in Japan.

Tomoaki Onizuka, head of Nara Prefecture Police, acknowledged security lapses at the political rally where Abe was killed, and pledged to identify and resolve the flaws, "It is undeniable that there were problems with the security for former prime minister Abe, and we will immediately identify the problems and take appropriate measures to resolve them".

On 11 July, Kishida's cabinet decided to award Abe Junior First Rank (Ju Ichi'i (従一位)), as well as the Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum and Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (Dai Kun'i Kikkashō Keishoku (大勲位菊花章頸飾)) (Dai Kun'i Kikka Daijushō (大勲位菊花大綬章)) effective 8 July, making Abe the fourth former prime minister since Yasuhiro Nakasone to be conferred the Collar under the current Constitution.

International

In response to the shooting and Abe's subsequent death, representatives of numerous countries, including present and former world leaders, expressed their condolences.

Anthony Albanese, prime minister of Australia, said that Japan had emerged as "one of Australia's most like-minded partners in Asia" under Abe's leadership. Albanese also mentioned Abe's foreign policy contributions, adding that the "Quad and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership are in many ways the results of his diplomatic leadership". Albanese said that Abe's legacy was "one of global impact, and a profound and positive one for Australia". Landmarks in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth were lit up in red and white, and flags were flown at half-mast on the day of the funeral.

National days of mourning were declared in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, Cuba and Sri Lanka, with all countries flying their flags at half-mast on their respective days of mourning. In Bangladesh, a day of state mourning was declared for 9 July. Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, ordered three days of national mourning in Brazil, which is home to the world's largest population of Japanese descent outside of Japan. Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, announced that India would observe a day of national mourning on 9 July; Modi's reaction was regarded by some as an extremely personal one compared to other world leaders particularly for his addressal of the former Prime Minister as "Abe-san" in his blog where he paid tributes. The Nepalese government decided to declare on 9 July the day of national mourning with the flags lowered to the middle of the mast. Bhutan declared on 9 July the day of national mourning with the flags lowered to the middle of the mast. Cambodia's prime minister announced 10 July as Day of National Mourning with flags half-masted with entertainment venues closed. Cuba announced 11 July as the day of national mourning, with flags lowered to the middle of the mast. On 12 July, Sri Lanka observed a day of national mourning with its flag flown at half-mast on state buildings. While formal mourning days were not proclaimed in Thailand, the government did fly flags at half-mast on 8 July, and the Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha paid a visit to the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok to pay respects in person.

US President Joe Biden ordered flags of the United States to be flown at half-staff until 10 July 2022, and visited the Japanese embassy to sign a condolence book. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unscheduled stop in Tokyo per request from President Biden, en route from the G20 Summit to the US, then met with PM Kishida to offer condolences in person, and shared letters that President Biden had written to the Abe family. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen canceled her visit to the Port of Yokohama during her visit to Japan, which was scheduled prior to the assassination of Abe. Yellen, alongside the Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, attended Abe's wake at Zōjō-ji Temple on 11 July. Back in the US, members of both the Democratic and Republican parties offered tributes to Abe.

The European Council released a photo and video library in memory of Abe, featuring the former prime minister's diplomatic interactions with leaders across the EU.

Releasing a joint statement, the leaders of the Quad nations of Australia, India, and the United States noted that the organisation would redouble its work towards "a peaceful and prosperous region" in honour of Abe. The White House noted that Abe played a formative role in the founding of the Quad partnership and worked tirelessly to advance a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. In his official statement regarding the assassination, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau seconded the calls made by the Quad.

President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Tsai Ing-wen announced that the nation would observe a national day of mourning on 11 July, with the flag of Taiwan flown at half-mast. Taipei 101 was also illuminated in multiple messages mourning the death of Abe. Lai Ching-te, Taiwan Vice President, visited Abe's residence as a special envoy of President Tsai to mourn Abe, along with Frank Hsieh, Taiwan's envoy to Japan, on 11 July. Lai became the highest-ranking Taiwanese official to visit Japan in 50 years after Japan severed its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan in 1972 in favour of China.

Individuals and non-governmental organisations

The University of Southern California (USC) paid special condolences to Abe, who attended the university for three semesters studying English and Public Policy during a study abroad program. USC's president Carol Folt personally sent her own condolences.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Thomas Bach, recognised Abe for being instrumental in securing the 2020 Summer Olympics for Tokyo before his tenure ended in 2020 as well as his "vision, determination and dependability" that enabled the IOC to make an unprecedented decision to postpone the Olympics by a year. The Olympic flag was flown in Lausanne at half-mast for three days.

Despite official condolences sent by the Chinese and South Korean governments, many Chinese and South Korean internet users were unsympathetic to Abe's death. This stemmed from grievances concerning historical colonialism and war crimes by Imperial Japan, and towards nationalist Japanese politicians – including Abe – who denied or questioned some accounts of the atrocities.

The UN Security Council paid tribute to Abe, saying, "He will be remembered as a staunch defender of multilateralism, respected leader, and supporter of the United Nations."

The American magazine Time unveiled the cover of its next issue, prominently featuring Abe's portrait in black and white. This will be Abe's fourth time featured on the magazine, with Time writing Abe would be "remembered for remaking Japan".

See also

• Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma
• Assassination of Itō Hirobumi
• List of assassinations in Japan