Former Japanese Prime Minister shot at campaign rally

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So the guy wasnt surrounded by trained action heroes.

Yes...its weird.

You would assume that a politician's murder would have something to do with politics, and that the killer was some kind of ideological extremist.

But the killer apparently had no ideology, and was the victim of some kind of religious cult. The cult took his life savings, so he took out his anger on the touring candidate. Why he thought that Abe had any connection to, or any power over, the cult is not obvious. Abe was not in power at the moment. But he blamed Abe for not getting him ...his money back.

TOKYO — When Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, he told the police he had “a grudge” against a “certain group.” But the authorities haven’t identified the organization or explained its connection to Mr. Abe.

Scrutiny, amid a swirl of Japanese media speculation, is now focused on the Unification Church, the Christian group known for its mass weddings and efforts to cultivate relationships with conservative political parties worldwide.

At a news conference on Monday, church officials detailed the organization’s ties to Mr. Yamagami’s mother, describing her as a longtime member. She had joined the church in 1998 but lost touch with the group for a long period before returning earlier this year, Tomihiro Tanaka, the head of the church’s Japan branch, said.

The church, which did not specifically identify itself as the group cited by the police, said it had no records indicating that Mr. Yamagami had ever been a member and was not aware of any threats directed by him at its members. The church also said it had had no direct relationship with Mr. Abe, although it had interacted with other lawmakers through an affiliated organization.
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The Unification Church was founded in South Korea in 1954 by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. It later expanded overseas, building a network of newspapers and civic organizations that it used to develop ties with conservative political parties around the world. It also generated questions about its recruiting and business practices. In the 1970s and 1980s, the group faced lawsuits over soliciting funds and charges of “brainwashing” by parents who said their children had been forced to join.

The church established its branch in Japan in the late 1950s, and it soon found common cause with right-wing Japanese politicians, including Mr. Abe’s grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, over their shared animosity for Communism.

Ties between church-affiliated organizations and members of the ruling L.D.P. developed in the following decades as the church grew in size and Japanese followers generated billions of dollars in income for the group.
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In 2021, Mr. Abe and other politicians from several countries, including the United States, addressed a gathering in South Korea run by a Unification Church-affiliated group. Speaking by video feed, Mr. Abe praised the group for its “focus and emphasis on family values.”
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His connections to the Unification Church were probably “very weak,” Mr. Sakurai said, describing Mr. Abe’s remarks to the group as “ordinary work for politicians who wanted to collect votes.”

The church was just one of many religious organizations with right-wing political beliefs that Mr. Abe and his fellow conservatives in the L.D.P. have counted on for political support, said Levi McLaughlin, an associate professor at North Carolina State University who studies the connection between politics and religion in Japan.

“None of this is unusual, and it’s certainly not exclusive,” he said, adding that it just “happens that the church shares a lot of the policy platforms of the L.D.P. and specifically of Abe.”

TOKYO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday amid growing public anger about the ruling party's ties to the controversial Unification Church, saying the group had held no sway over party policy.

The Liberal Democratic Party's longstanding links to the Unification Church, which critics call a cult, has become a major liability for Kishida in the month following the killing of former premier Shinzo Abe, helping send Kishida's approval ratings to the lowest since he took office in October.

Abe's suspected killer has said his mother, a member of the church, was bankrupted by it and blamed the politician for supporting it. Founded in South Korea in the 1950s and known for its mass weddings, the group has come under criticism for its fundraising and other issues.

Since then, a dozen or so politicians from the conservative LDP have disclosed links to the church or affiliated organisations - such as speaking at events - highlighting a relationship with the fiercely anti-communist church that stretches back to the Cold War.

"We need to respect freedom of religion but it's only natural that these groups need to obey laws and be dealt with if they veer from them," Kishida told a news conference, adding he did not believe he had any connection with the church.

"I don't think the Unification Church's policies have unjustly influenced party policies," he said.

Key cabinet members, such as the foreign and finance ministers, retained their posts, but some seven ministers who had disclosed links to the church were moved out of the cabinet.

Among those was Abe's younger brother, Nobuo Kishi, who had been defence minister, although many had expected him to leave for health reasons.

The cabinet shake-up came earlier than analysts had expected, underscoring how quickly the issue has spun into a crisis for Kishida.

"Criticism over the Unification Church caused a big drop in public support for the administration and stopping that decline was a big reason for bringing forward the reshuffle of the cabinet and major party positions," said Shigenobu Tamura, a political commentator who previously worked for the LDP.

A man set fire to his clothes near the Prime Minister's residence with documents against the state funeral

A man set himself on fire in a street near the Prime Minister's residence in Chiyoda District, Tokyo, and lost consciousness. It is said that the man held documents against the state funeral.

Just before 7:00 a.m., a woman saw a man on fire in the street near the Prime Minister's residence in Chiyoda District and dialed 110. According to the Metropolitan Police, a man in his 70s burned his clothes and lost consciousness after being taken to the hospital.

The man said, "I smeared oil on myself and then lit it", leaving a handwritten document against the state funeral of former Prime Minister Abe. The police are investigating how the man set fire.

The public opinion survey on the state funeral of former Prime Minister Abe showed 62.3% opposition

With regard to the funeral of former Prime Minister Abe Jin on September 27, according to the FNN poll, 31.5% of the people are in favor and 62.3% are against it. This time, the opposition is much more than the result. Prime Minister Kishida is in trouble, and the LDP heavyweights have complained about this situation.