By: Ahmed Fathi
The killing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shocked me on several levels, the most evident being the weapon used, a home-made gun!! For those of you who are unfamiliar with Japanese culture, it differs considerably from the United States in terms of the ubiquity of the Gun Culture. Second, gun laws in Japan are exceedingly tight, making it nearly impossible to lawfully possess a gun there. To put things into perspective, the number of gun-related homicides in Japan since 2018 is at 9, while the number in the United States is close to 40,000!!
On a separate and more profound level, Abe's assassination occurred during an election rally campaigning for a parliamentary seat, an unparalleled event in Japanese democratic history.
Although Shinzo Abe was a contentious character in Japanese politics, he remained a powerbroker inside his party and was the country's longest serving Prime Minister, and his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific is now US policy in the region. Abe comes from a political dynasty similar to the Kennedys in America, with his grandfather serving as Prime Minister, his father as Foreign Minister, and his brother as Defense Minister.
Comments