Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old former soldier, accused the former prime minister of supporting a religious group to which his mother gave so much money that she went bankrupt
It was not for political reasons, but for a personal revenge of an economic nature with a religious background. The man announced this Friday who shot and killed former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a demonstration in the city of Nara. This solves one of the greatest unknowns of this crime that has shocked the Japanese country and destroyed the myth of its safety and tranquility.
The attacker, a 41-year-old former soldier named Tetsuya Yamagami, has told police he shot Abe because he believes he supported a religious group to which his mother donated all his money, the Kyodo news agency said. Furious that his mother had gone bankrupt, he first planned to attack the leader of said religious organization, but in the end he did it against Abe, whom he had followed in several speeches during the campaign for the elections to the Upper House of Parliament. , which are celebrated this Sunday. His will was clear: “Kill Abe”, whom he held a “strong grudge” for the demise of his family.
Although police have not revealed the name of said religious sect, everything points to the Unification Church, founded in South Korea in 1954 by the famous Reverend Moon and known around the world for its mass weddings. Because of the fervent anti-communism of the “moonies,” as his three million followers are derogatoryly called, Abe was in close contact with said organization and even participated in some of its events with his friend, former President Trump.
Apparently, this relationship dates back to the time of his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, who was Prime Minister between 1957 and 1960 and before that he was part of the Imperial government going into World War II. Although he spent three years in prison and was on the verge of being tried as a Class A war criminal for atrocities in the puppet state of Manchukuo, where the Japanese invasion of China began, the United States ultimately did not charge him for leading the transition. to democracy in Japan. Interestingly, Abe’s grandfather was also attacked when he was stabbed by a far-right radical in 1960.
Other Japanese media also point to the Sanctuary Church, a splinter group of the Unification Church. Founded in the United States by Reverend Moon’s son, this group is known for its fondness for guns and even participated in the 2021 Capitol attack in support of Trump. With his crown adorned with bullets, Shrine Church head Hyung Jin Moon is currently touring Japan giving lectures.
Another coincidence, or not, is that the headquarters of the Unification Church in Nara is very close to the train station where Abe was shot, whose visit was only announced the day before. Without further explanation, Yamagami told investigators that he learned of his presence through the internet portal of the local Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) candidate and went there by train.
As all these hypotheses are clarified, more details are revealed about the life of the aggressor, who seems to be responding to the typical profile of the social misfit. Currently unemployed, Tetsuya Yamagami worked until last year at a factory in the Kansai industrial region, where his city, Nara, as well as Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe are located. Between 2002 and 2005 he was part of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces, as the Japanese navy is called, and learned to use firearms there. When searching his house, police found homemade explosives and weapons, such as the one he used to shoot Abe, formed with a trigger, detonator and two cylinders joined with tape like a sawed-off shotgun. Good proof of his antisocial nature is that he already wrote in his graduation book that he had “no idea” of what he was going to do in life. Paradoxes of fate, he will go down in history because he committed the biggest murder in Japan.
After the autopsy performed in Nara, Shinzo Abe’s body was transferred to his home in Tokyo this Saturday. As the doctors who tried to save his life confirmed yesterday, he died from losing a lot of blood from the two gunshot wounds to the neck and left arm, as one of the projectiles struck his heart.
Pending the funeral, which will take place next week, elections to the upper house of parliament will take place this Sunday, as planned, in Japan. Under tight security measures and the shock of the assassination of Abe, the most powerful and influential Japanese politician to date in this 21st century, this election will be the strongest rejection of the attack. As Prime Minister Fumio Kishida points out, this will show Japan’s willingness to “protect democracy without succumbing to violence”.
Source: La Verdad
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