The most surprising thing here is that he was shot. How does someone even get a gun in Japan?
Number two is he’s the exPM, so what would shooting him gain?
Number two is he’s the exPM, so what would shooting him gain?
Abe still has important impacts on Japan politics. He leads the largest faction in the Liberal Democratic Party[1], therefore he could influence many voters during LDP President election. And LDP is the ruling party, so LDP President will be the PM.
Another example is he stated “If Taiwan has a problem, then Japan also has a problem.” last year as an ex-PM[2], although it is not official policy, this statements is still being discussed among Japanese government/people till now, it shows he still has huge influence in Japan.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factions_in_the_Liberal_Democr...
Shotguns are most common. Rifles are rarer but possible with a history of ownership of a shotgun.
He may be an exPM but he is the leader of the current mainstream faction (Hosoda faction) within the ruling party. So this is kinda huge.
To send a message.
Seemed like more of a personal project though.