The calm and ordered veneer that has become a hallmark of Japanese society was shockingly ripped away with Shinzo Abe's killing. Yet the country is also well-known for sporadic but significant examples of politically motivated violence.
But it was the 1930s when a spate of assassinations made the role of Japanese prime minister very dangerous indeed.
In 1932 he distributed automatic pistols to his followers but only two carried out the plan — killing former finance minister Junnosuke Inoue and businessman Dan Takuma. Takahashi Korekiyo, who was in office from 1921-1922. Following his political career, Takahashi worked for the Bank of Japan and introduced a series of controversial policies. But it was his decision to cut government spending, and ensuing unrest within the Japanese military, that saw him targeted.Japanese Red Army co-founder Fusako Shigenobu, left, was released from prison in May.
Ultranationalist far right groups, known as Uyoku dantai in Japanese, are also active in Japan with the National Police Agency estimating as many as 1000 groups operate with up to 100,000 members. Many of the right-wing groups are affiliated with Japan's so-called yakuza — mafia-style criminal gangs that operate widely in the country controlling drugs and human trafficking as well as collecting feudal tax and extortion as forms of protection rackets.Kudo-kai yakuza boss Satoru Nomura.In 1998 a 70-year-old man wasfor allegedly refusing to give special treatment to yakuza in a public works deal.
In June 1960 hundreds of thousands of protesters surrounded Japan's parliament building in Tokyo every day.
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