Japan in shock after ex-PM's assassination

Japanese mourners still shocked by the assassination of their former prime minister visited in long lines the scene of Shinzo Abe's murder on Saturday.

Abe, Japan's longest serving modern leader, was gunned down while making a campaign speech in the western city of Nara on Friday morning. 

His murder has shocked many in Japan, a country where the level of social violence is low and the carrying of weapons by ordinary people is strictly regulated.

On Saturday, people were queuing to lay flowers at a table featuring a photo of Abe giving a speech, with more arriving. 

Meanwhile, a hearse carrying his body accompanied by his wife, Akie, arrived in Tokyo on the same day from Nara.

The hearse was later seen arriving at his residence in the Tokyo suburb of Shibuya.

Japanese media reported that a wake would be held Monday evening and a funeral on Tuesday for his close family and associates.

The gunman identified as Tatsuya Yamagami, 41, said that he had no political motive for this murder, but said Abe was affiliated with an unspecified organization which caused his family financial problems.

Japanese media have not mentioned the name of the organization, but said the organization mentioned by Yamagami was a religious one.

The published pictures of the accused, who formerly served in the Maritime Self-Defense Force, show he was behind Abe and allegedly 10 feet away from him during his speech.

According to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, the man didn't try to flee after shooting the ex-prime minister.

Abe held office in 2006 for one year and again from 2012 to 2020, when he was forced to step down due to the debilitating bowel condition ulcerative colitis.

His first term was turbulent, plagued by scandals and discord, and capped by an abrupt resignation.

He was a hawkish conservative who pushed for the revision of Japan's pacifist constitution to recognize the country's military and had stayed a prominent political figure even after stepping down.

His assassination was not the first in Japan. In 2007, the mayor of Nagasaki was shot and killed by a Yakuza gangster. The head of the Japan Socialist Party was also assassinated during a speech in 1960 by a right-wing youth with a samurai short sword. A few other prominent postwar politicians were attacked but not injured.

MG