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Japan: Shinzo Abe "changed the context in which Japan operates on the international scene"

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Pedestrians watch a large public video screen showing an image of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo's Akihabara district on July 8, 2022. The former prime minister was shot and killed by an assailant who opened fire on him full election rally in the city of Nara.

AFP - TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA

By: Clementine Pawlotsky

1 min

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died after being shot and seriously injured on Friday July 8 while campaigning for senatorial elections in Nara, western Japan. 

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Shinzo Abe was giving a speech when a man opened fire, wounding him in the neck.

The ex-Prime Minister collapsed, bleeding.

The suspect, a Japanese man in his forties, has been arrested.

He then confessed, confusingly presenting himself as a political opponent.

He is a Japanese, ex-member of the Japanese navy.

Shinzo Abe, 67, served as prime minister for eight years before stepping down for health reasons.

The main political parties in the archipelago condemned the attack and tributes to the former prime minister also poured in from abroad.

The death of Shinzo Abe shocks, because firearms are almost non-existent in Japan.

Interview with Guibourg Delamotte, lecturer in political science at INALCO, invited by the University of Tokyo where she is currently located.

Co-director of

, Lexington editions, also author of

, ENS editions.

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• Japan

• Shinzo Abe

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