I didn’t realize he still had a position in government.
I’ve read so much about Japan’s clean streets, politeness and low crime.
Mental illness can still strike anywhere.
CNN:
CNN needs to wake up this morning. See if you can find what is wrong with their lede:
Abe was shot dead on Friday in the city of Nara while delivering a campaign speech and remains in critical condition undergoing emergency treatment, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
Sounds like someone was told “change it to lead with that he’s dead” and did exactly and absolutely only that.
Actually, I recalled that, too. But googling revealed that it is Junichiro Koizumi that is the Elvis fan.
He may very well have been mostly dead at that point.
Schrödinger’s former PM?
Oops.
Well, I still hope Abe got to see a movie about something he liked before he died.
I was thinking of that too. The curious cinephile who doesn’t mind subtitles or a touch of the avant garde might consider:
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
That’s right, folks. Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas Present. With a soundtrack by Phillip Glass. About a Japanese novelist who led a… four-man coup with a samurai sword?
2nd Abe shot in a century.
The assassin probably won’t have to commit seppuku. (OK, he won’t have a sword. But anyway…)
When the death warrant has been signed, the condemned prisoner is informed on the morning of their execution.
It was only four years ago that the leader of Aum Shinrikyo was executed.
I wonder what you can mean by this observation? Nothing I can think of makes any sense at all.
Referencing Abe Lincoln? But he died more than 100 years ago
My understanding is that traditionally, people who were executed also forfeited all their belongings to the emperor, but if they were allowed to honorably commit suicide, instead, their families got to inherit.
And his name wasn’t “Ah-beh”. And his surname was Lincoln.
Miss on all counts
This maybe?
NY Post article contains a complete video of both shots on Abe. No obvious blood/gore in the video, but since this is murder footage, I’ve spoilered the link because the video will start automatically after the page loads:
Abe froze on the spot for a full two seconds after the first shot happened (which missed), only turning around to look a split-second before the second shot happened. Freezing up was perhaps not the best option, but I guess everyone reacts differently when startled. Abe quickly steps down off the podium and kneels under his own power, and that’s really the last you see of him. The footage ends at 12 seconds with the takedown of the assassin.
The police have mentioned that the assassin was motivated by the idea that Abe was a member in some unspecified organization. They seem to be deliberately not publicly naming the organization. anyone heard?
He might not have guessed he was being shot at.
Even someone familiar with the sound of gunfire might not have thought it was a gunshot; that homemade firearm really BOOMED. But even without ID’ing the sound as gunfire, I feel like I would have instantly ducked/squatted as an automatic response, as well as turning around to see just what the hell made such a monstrous noise. That’s what most of the people around him appeared to do. Again, not intending to blame Abe - I think it just was an unfortunate automatic reaction on his part.