Comments by "Jordan, inside-outsider in Japan" (@Jordan-inJapan) on "Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s death shocks Japan and world" video.

  1. I’d like to give another perspective. This incident is of course horrible and very upsetting, but I don’t think it’s actually an “assassination” — not in a political sense anyway. Sure, there will be political repercussions, but the guy who did this didn’t have any political motive. He was just angry. (He vaguely said something about blaming Abe because his mother had donated too much money to one of his campaigns I think.) Also…this is not a sign of some kind of growing social or political instability in Japan, as some people have been suggesting. From my perspective, there are really two factors at play here. One is simply a lack of security, based on people here not having a ‘sense of danger’. Since Japan is seen to be a “safe“ society, most people don’t take any precautions to protect themselves. (Or, apparently politicians.) also there is a long-term cultural trend of angry, isolated men who just mentally snap and do crazy stuff. (like the guy who burned down the Kyoto animation studio, and the guy who attacked a bunch of people in Akihabara.) The guy who killed Shinzo Abe is one of them. Not an “assassin“. All this said, I’m sure the event will have an effect on Japanese people’s psyche, at least in the short term. And yes, it is very upsetting.
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  2.  @lucky889s9  yeah, there are crazies anywhere, even “safe” places like Japan. And to have a high-profile figure like Abe unprotected like that… pretty hard to believe.
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  3.  @squallleonheart8494  I suppose it’s possible. (But then, you’d think the ‘lone wolf’ would also be taken out to hide the evidence. We’ll see…)
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