July 9, 2022

I have been visiting Japan regularly for the last 27 years. In recent years, I worked in Tokyo from 2010 to 2016 and then again from 2019 to most of 2020. Prime minister Shinzo Abe took the top office on his second term from 2012 to 2020. As such, during my entire years in Japan, Shinzo Abe was on news almost every day, on television at our home when we watched evening news. We also had his honorable presence at one of our company events. My son grew up watching Abe-san almost daily on television and at some point, learned to impersonate him, that was amazing to see at times. So, when I heard the news of Mr. Abe getting shot by an isolated psychopathic criminal by a homemade gun, it naturally shook me. Gun violence in Japan is unimaginable enough, beyond was the fact that he could be shot at. I still had hope, really hoped that Abe-san will somehow survive, somehow the bullet will not be as strong as an industry gun. But Alas that was not the case, by the morning of US time, world ended up losing a great global leader from Japan. Global leadership from Japan is especially rare and what left, was wasted by the hand of a pathetic evil who is likely an output of Japan’s dark side of the society.

Perhaps due to those daily news and my family’s deep interest in world politics, we developed an attachment with this renowned leader. When I heard the news, I felt kind of lost in mind, had a combination of disbelief and despair. Even though he was not someone I personally knew, I still felt disheartened, felt I lost someone close. Multiple videos were spread both on the internet and news media very quickly- and watching the video created even deeper impacts on mind.

History has taught us again and again that there is a certain component of society that is pure evil. Whether it is a mental disability or disease, those component in every society has shown time and time again and killed a leader or people who tried to lead changes. Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Seikh Mujib, Mahttama Gandhi, Martin Luther King, MalcolmX are examples who got killed in similar manner.

Over the years, technologies have developed significantly to protect leaders or people who possess risk. Due to this development, intelligence agencies are way more advanced than they used to be. As such, killing of political leaders have reduced over time. Yet, there are times when it is not enough. The gap in security of Abe-san is badly exposed despite he was an ex-PM. But candidly, not every ex-PM carries the same weight as Mr. Abe. Regardless, there will be a need of significant overhaul in Japan leader’s internal security model for key figures. More clarity on killer’s motive is also expected to be susceptible. Nevertheless, whatever comes next, a huge damage is already done to Japan and to the world. A leader like Shinzo Abe will not come often and it is tremendously painful to see that he could not be saved.

安倍さん、ありがとうございました。 惜しい人を亡くしました。どうぞ安らかにお眠り下さい。