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Man shoots himself at Japan's parliament
Saw this on the news today...
March 5 A man carrying a protest letter to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has fatally shot himself in the head in front of Japan's parliament building, police say. The man, who appeared to be in his 60s, got out of a taxi in front of the south gate of the parliament building and fired the gun, according to local police official Hiromu Kawaguchi. He was later confirmed dead at a hospital, another Tokyo police official said on Wednesday. Media reports said that the man was a right-wing activist. The man was carrying a protest letter to Fukuda urging him to handle foreign policy and the issue of the Yasukuni war shrine "firmly," according to the second official. He also was carrying another letter to the media calling on them to promote visits to the war shrine by the people of Japan, the Tokyo Police official said. While critics call Yasukuni a symbol of Japan's past militarism, right-wing Japanese extremists support the shrine, which honours Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including wartime leaders executed for their World War II crimes. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi infuriated China and South Korea with his repeated visits. Fukuda, a foreign policy dove, says he will not visit the shrine. Source: Yahoo! News |
Did they say where he got the gun from?
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As far as i know, it is really hard to get a firearm in Japan, so i also thought it was rather strange. |
i was in shock for a second there as i thought each line was a new sentence. so the line that said : "Yasuo Fukuda has fatally shot himself in the head in front of Japan's parliament building, police say" freaked me out for a second.
people are going to be angry at me for this but i support the visits to the shrine myself. If the visits are there to honour those who gave their lives for their country and NOT to honour the crimes and awful things done then I don't see a problem with it. Should Japan just forget all those lives lost in it's war because they lost and were the aggressor while other east asian and involved western countries are allowed to remember because they were the victims and liberators? People make things too political, former Prime Minister Koizumi went to the shrine for personal reasons as well, i believe he had a relative who died in the war and he wanted to honour him. as i said i support visiting the shrine from the point of honouring those who gave their lives for their country but NOT for the actions they they committed. |
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Did you say "it's"?
You meant "its," right? Good points, though. |
....I would visit Yasukuni. Not because I support what Japan or Germany did, but because I respect Japanese religion and I hold sympathy for the axis as well as the allies.
Are foreigners allowed at Yasukuni? |
Food safety
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I think this incident has more to do with growing mistrust in quality of Chinese products imported into Japan and many other countries, especially food and manufactured goods. This is a serious problem for us. |
Well since he's 80 I can say that's a pretty classy death.
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I'm just wondering:
1. where did he get the gun from 2.What the reaction of other activists will be after seeing this man's sacrafice over the shrine?? |
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There probably won't be much of any reaction by other activists. The man was very old. As well, once you can get past the fact that he only took his own life it was a very peaceful protest. |
I hope this is nothing to do with any terrorist act..
huhuhu |
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It's the 21st century; surely Yasuo had other options?
Maybe the foreign dove justifies his not visiting the shrine as a depiction that he will never give in to activist threats? Reassures and warns at the same time. Edited: His name is Fukuda too, isn't it? Coincidence? Quote:
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whoops, lol XD *curses internet*
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Tenchu : because i know from my chinese and korean friends that they are very sensitive about this issue (not helped by their media and governments making it out to be the biggest insult) so i assume those who grew up in china/korea who read this site and i believe there are a couple, will not be happy.
CoolNard - i think hitler was an amazing man for how he was able to get to power and achieve the things he did within his country. but i still consider him an awful person for his beliefs and actions directly or indirectly taken through his command. |
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Strange how this guy could own a gun... anyways my point of view of what I've just read is :-
Japan didn't do more crimes than any other country, but because Japan lost the war, it is humiliated and said to have commited so much crimes, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor ( army vs. army ) wich is usually part of war, USA hit Japan with two nuclear bombs, on two cities filled with citizens and children ( bomb vs. citizens ), it's still not considered a war crime, how come? it's quite simple, the Winner always writes History, therefore if Japan won the war, USA leaders would have been executed for THEIR crimes, and so on... What I am trying to say is that such things as visiting a shrine doesn't make any real problem for other countries like China, but considering that China hates Japan, China would MAKE a problem out of it so that it can worsen the relationship between the two of them, that's all. |
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People at everywhere were always telling me that they wouldn't allow foreigners in Shinto. I guess if you're told something enough, you start to believe it. Or at least strongly wonder if it's true. Great then, I look forward to taking part in all sorts of Shinto when I return to Japan. :) |
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