political

Shinzo Abe Assassinated in Nara — Japan's Longest-Serving PM

| Japan History

On July 8, 2022, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot twice and fatally wounded while delivering a campaign speech outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara. The attacker, 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, used a homemade firearm. Abe died at Nara Medical University Hospital at 5:03 PM. It was Japan's first assassination of a prominent political figure since 1960. Subsequent investigations revealed Yamagami's grievance against the Unification Church, which had bankrupted his mother.