Shinzo Abe's killing: the history of political violence in Japan

By Hugo Dobson, Professor of Japan's International Relations, University of Sheffield
Kristian Magnus Hauken, Teaching Associate in East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield

Our reaction upon hearing the news of the shooting of former prime minister Shinzo Abe was one of shock and incredulity in equal measure. What followed was a frenzy of trying to piece news reports and gossip together to make sense of events, until his eventual death was announced a few hours later.

At first glance, Abe’s assassination harks back to the 1920s and 1930s when the assassination of sitting and former prime ministers (Hara Kei, Hamaguchi Osachi, Inukai Tsuyoshi, Takahashi Korekiyo, Saitō Makoto)…

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