Kirk here with a quote from a news article from 1994:

Kirk here with a quote from a news article from 1994:

“A suspected right-wing extremist fired a shot yards away from former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa yesterday in apparent protest over Mr. Hosokowa’s open apologies for Japan’s actions in World War II.”

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-05-31-1994151053-story.html

I was reminded of the attempted assassination (?) of former Prime Minister Hosokawa, a man with deep, deep roots in Kumamoto, while watching TV coverage of today’s horrifying assassination of former Primer Minister Abe. All in all, Japan is a pretty safe country but, at the same time, it is also true that there’s a history of attacks on politicians and journalists. :(