Japan’s Response to Campaign Violence

The recent assassination attempt against Republican Party presidential candidate Donald J. Trump shocked Americans and reminded Japanese of their own experience with violence on the campaign trail. Former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo lost his life to a lone shooter and his shocking death was broadcast around the globe. Not long after, Prime Minister Kishida’s life was also threatened as he made a stop along the campaign trail.

Both suspects remain in police custody, and thus, information on why they attempted to kill their political leaders is available. Contrary to initial assumptions that these crimes were motivated by ideological differences, the grievances were far more personal. On July 8, 2022, several days before the Upper House election, Yamagami Tetsuya, a forty-one-year-old, used a handmade gun to kill former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo while he was campaigning in support of a Liberal Democratic Party candidate, Satō Kei, in Nara City. Abe drew a large crowd, and his bodyguards moved to the front of Abe to place themselves between him and the 300 Japanese citizens who had arrived to hear him. Yamagami, who had been following Abe’s schedule for some time, positioned himself fifteen meters behind Abe. He fired two shots, one from eight meters and the second from five.

Less than a year later, twenty-four-year-old Kimura Ryuji attacked Prime Minister Kishida, who also was on the campaign trail. On April 15, 2023, Kimura joined the crowd gathered to hear Kishida endorse his Liberal Democratic Party pick for the Lower House at a campaign stop in Saikazaki fishing port in Wakayama Prefecture. He threw a homemade bomb at the prime minister, but one of Kishida’s security agents blocked the device with his briefcase while other agents covered Kishida and got him to safety. New security recommendations had been put in place after the Abe assassination, and the prefectural police had followed these, asking organizers, a fishery cooperative, to add metal detectors and other procedures to ensure Kishida’s safety. Because the organizers felt Kishida would be safe among the fishermen, they did not heed that advice.

The hesitancy to impose heavy security may reflect the desire to ensure political candidates can mingle with Japanese citizens. Japanese electoral campaigns remain old-school by United States’ standards. Stump speeches rather than rallies or town halls are the norm. Election campaigns are often noisy affairs, with small trucks traveling up and down streets blasting candidate messages. Train stations are the typical choice for larger gatherings to catch Japanese commuters. Blocked traffic and grumpy pedestrians are often the result. Luckily, however, national election campaigns are short-lived: twelve days for the House of Representatives and seventeen days for the House of Councillors.

Despite these recent violent attacks, Japan’s candidates for public office continue to work the crowds. Photos of the recent Tokyo Metropolitan Governor’s race showed hundreds gathered to hear candidates speak, and the national politicians who were part of the campaign walked the streets with little or no protection.

The next Diet election will be a test of the security enhancements, however. Security procedures in Japan have tightened, especially for senior leaders. Now, the National Police Agency asks prefectural police to submit their protection plans for VIPs in advance. The Agency includes in this category “Prime Ministers, state guests and persons designated as required protection.” From August 2022, after Abe was killed, to June 2024, 6,300 plans were submitted to the National Police Agency. According to NHK, about 75% of these, or 4,800 plans, were revised.

But Kishida’s focus has been primarily on ensuring that Japan’s elections are uninterrupted by the threat of violence. In the aftermath of the Abe assassination, Prime Minister Kishida focused his remarks on the venue rather than the weapon or the motive: “Free and fair elections are the pillar of democracy. We must absolutely protect them. We cannot allow them to be shaken by violence.” Similarly, after the attempt on his own life, Kishida emphasized that violence had no place in democratic elections.

Kishida repeated this warning about what is at stake for democracy after the U.S. shooting in Pennsylvania. On X (formerly known as Twitter), Japan’s prime minister sent the following message: “We must stand firm against any form of violence that challenges democracy. I pray for former President Trump’s speedy recovery.” 

In Japan, the men who sought to take the lives of Abe and Kishida appear to have acted alone. Both seemed motivated by their own personal grievances. Abe’s killer held a deep grudge against the former Prime Minister’s association and support for the Unification Church.  Kimura, on the other hand, may have been frustrated because he was too young to run for public office. He has yet to testify to the police, but before his attack on Kishida, Kimura had sued the Kobe City government because he was under the required age for candidates for the Upper House.

Violence against political leaders is often assumed to be driven by ideology or political extremism. Japan’s recent cases suggest that individual grievance rather than partisanship drove the attackers. A thorough and calm review of the Pennsylvania shooting will reveal more about possible motives. But the goal of all political leaders now should be the same message that Japan’s prime minister continues to send: we must not allow our democratic elections to be shaken by violence.