‘A huge loss to Japan’: Abe assassination shakes famously safe country
The assassination of Japan’s former prime minister Abe Shinzo while campaigning for a local politician in Nara has shocked a country rarely exposed to political violence. But even as leaders have said that parliamentary elections will be held as planned on Sunday, the searing loss of the country’s longest-serving prime minister – still a force in national politics – is raising uncomfortable questions around everything from security to social stability.
In the wake of the assassination, by a former navy member who had a homemade gun, Japanese streamed to the site near Yamato-Saidaiji Station, putting their hands together in prayer and bowing deeply. Others placed flowers and candles
