Autay

Autay

Introduction

Otoya Yamaguchi, was a young Japanese who jumped to fame for killing the politician Inejiro Asanuma during a debate that was being broadcast on television. Yamaguchi was a member of a group that sympathized with the most radical right ideologies in Japan.

The reasons why Yamaguchi attacked the political leader never met. With only 17 years he managed to enter with a short saber typical of Japanese culture to the enclosure where the debate was taken for parliamentary elections. It is believed that Yamaguchi, for his sympathy with ultra nationalism, wanted Japan to return to the line of more traditional ideas. While Inejiro was the head of the Socialist Party of Japan.

Developing

It all happened in the Tokyo Hibiya Hall on October 12, 1960, where more than a thousand people were present with the aim of listening to the political approaches of the moment. The attack was recorded thanks to the cameras of the NHK television company, whose name can be translated as a Japanese broadcasting society.

Yamaguchi committed suicide just a few days after the attack, while he was detained. According to the information that police gave the young man never explained that he motivated him to kill the politician. The murder caused a large number of demonstrations later against the Police for not having guaranteed the security of the Socialist Party politician. The news was quickly replicated in the media around the world.

Murder

On October 12, 1960 Inejiro Asanuma was one of the protagonists of the political debate that was being carried out before more than a thousand people in Tokyo.

Asanuma was the leader of the Socialist Party of Japan. In addition, the NHK company was taking care of broadcasting the politician’s words in the Hibiya Hall.

From one moment to another the confusion reigned in the place and Yamaguchi Otoya could be seen, who had attended the event as part of the Patriotic Society of the Great Japan. The only 17 -year -old appeared on the left of Asanuma with a samurai sword about 30 centimeters long. Yamaguchi in the first attempt nailed his sword in the stomach of the political leader. At that time some security forces arrested Yamaguchi, while other attendees worried about Asanuma’s health.

Yamaguchi was evacuated from the place on the right side of the stage and Asanuma was taken to the hospital. Both left the enclosure by different places according to the press releases of the time. The response of the attendees, despite having been as fast as possible, was not enough to avoid the death of Asanuma an hour after the attack occurred.

Precedents

Yamaguchi information is void prior to murder. Their ultra -nationalist motivations are not known. It was only learned that Yamaguchi was part of the Uyoku Dantai group, a radical association of right -wing supporters, totally contrary to Asanuma’s ideas. Among the ideas that Asanuma raised was normally that the United States was enemy in a whole of China and Japan. He was one of the candidates to occupy a position in what would be the Parliament of Japan.

Yamaguchi was a member of the Patriotic Society of the Great Japan who wanted the return of traditional ideas and governments, which had more than 10 years losing strength. They rejected the lifestyle of foreign nations, especially from Western countries. One of the event attendees was Japan’s Prime Minister, Hayato Ikeda, who was sitting near where the scene occurred.

Victim

The politician Inejiro Asanuma was the victim of Otoya Yamaguchi. He died two months before he turned 62. He had a very important role in talking about the benefits of socialism at the cultural and economic level.

It was not well seen by conservatives for their criticism to the United States. After his death, Japan’s Socialist Party was divided between left and right -wing politicians. After his death, many protests occurred in the streets of the country. Among them, 15 thousand people marched to Tokyo Police Station to demand the resignation of the agency’s director for their inefficiency to guarantee the security of the politician.

The United States ambassador to Japan immediately expressed condolences for the news of the murder and described the act as a deplorable event. Despite the bad relationship between Asanuma and American politicians, the American government showed its respect for the death of the Japanese and showed its opposition the act committed. Russia and China also demonstrated. The first blame the fascists for the act of horror, while in the Asian media there was talk of a murdered hired.

Death of Yamaguchi

Otoya Yamaguchi, with only 17 years, was sent to a youth prison. After three weeks in the enclosure the murderer prepared a combination of toothp and water pasta with which he could write on one of the walls: “Seven lives in my country. Long life for his majesty the emperor ". With the savanna of his bed he managed to form several strips that served him to make a spice of rope with which he hung from the cell lamp. He was considered a hero by some groups of the extreme right. During the burial they gave him honors and his parents received multiple gifts in honor of his son.

Hero

When the news became known in the United States as The Guardian badly reported his name and identified him as Futaya. 50 years that Otoya Yamaguchi committed the crime was remembered by a small group in the Hibiya room where the murder occurred. One of the members of the Dai Nippo Aikoku-to group acknowledged that Yamaguchi was honored for having achieved justice.

conclusion

The photo in which the murder was portrayed, the work of Yasushi Nagao, received that the photographer won the Pulitzer award a year later than what happened. In it you see the moment when Yamaguchi attacks Asanuma’s Samurai saber. Nagao was also awarded with the World Press Photo.