... a moment in history... (189/365, 8 Jul 2022)
I was off to work early today, another 8:50am class. At the station, the Communist Party was setting up their stall for a bit of spruiking for Sunday's election. Normally I would stop, and chat. Can't stop on these early mornings (they can't start speaking until after 7:00am) so our times didn't match but I stopped to take a pic nonetheless, I'll use it in class at some point, I thought.
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| The scene was more poignant when I looked again after getting home after midnight |
It turned out to be a very different day. At about 11:30am we received news that former PM Abe had 'collapsed' while speaking on the hustings; 'collapsed' turned to 'been shot' (which in a country like Japan where firearms are strictly controlled seemed hard to imagine) and by 5:46pm, his death, having been made official at 5:03pm, was confirmed on TV, not long after his wife Akie, who had travelled from Tokyo to Nara where he was campaigning, arrived at the hospital.
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| The newsflash, at 5:46, announcing Abe's death (at 5:03pm) |
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| His schedule for the day, starting in Nara (where he was shot), he was due to head to Kyoto and then back to Saitama (near Tokyo) |
There is much to process about this event. I spend a lot of time during election campaigns going from point to point, 'on the hustings' as the regular reader of this blog will know. I answered several media calls, wanting 'instant' analysis, and yet... I will write at length about this over on the other blog soon. Suffice to say, although political violence is not 'unheard of' in Japan, there is a long history, the circumstances of Abe's death, today, almost on the eve of the Upper House election, were shocking. There will be, as they say, more to come.
The JCP stall this morning took on another meaning when I looked at it again tonight.
Pics on the iPhone 12 mini.
