Re: The Mayor of Nagasaki

On Apr 18, 11:26 pm, Oliver <oacoom...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
And don't underestimate the links between the Yakuza and the (far)
Right in Japan.

Further to the above, this is from the 'Japan Times' website:

"It is not the first time a mayor has been shot in Nagasaki. Hitoshi
Motoshima was shot and seriously injured in January 1990 by a
rightwing extremist after he refused to retract remarks that Emperor
Hirohito, known posthumously as Showa, was partially responsible for
World War II.

Nagasaki and Hiroshima are the only two cities ever hit by nuclear
weapons. Their mayors have traditionally been pacifists who have
appealed for world peace.

Ito, backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, took over from
Motoshima in 1995. He was campaigning for a fourth term.

Ito has cautioned Japan from leaning to the right.

The National Police Agency said in its annual report last year that
the country's estimated 10,000 hardcore rightists have become
increasingly violent in recent years.

Last year, a rightwing extremist burned down the house of Koichi Kato,
a leading lawmaker who criticized former Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi's pilgrimages to Yasukuni Shrine."

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