And So It Goes

Problems of Translation:

Assassination of a lawmaker to stop his political activities by force should never be allowed-regardless of circumstances. I feel strong indignation over what happened.
- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reacting to yesterday's murder of opposition MP Koki Ishii, in today's Asahi Shimbun.

There is absolutely no excuse for the use of violence to silence politicians. I feel anger rising up inside me.
- The version of the quote in the Associated Press, The Guardian, and others.

Under no circumstances should attempts to suppress political activities or erase politicians with violence be allowed. I feel strong resentment toward the incident.
- The Japan Times version.

We won't tolerate suppression of political activities through violence. I am filled with anger.
- The Mainichi Daily News' version.

Political Assassination:

Lost in the flood of news about the (probable) capture of the DC-area sniper, the rescue of the hostages in Moscow, and the death of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, was a front-page item I caught in this morning's Asahi Shimbun, namely the assassination of opposition political figure Koki Ishii. Ishii, a 61-year-old MP from the Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) was stabbed outside his house in Setagaya Ward yesterday morning, and died a few hours later at a hospital in Meguro.

I don't follow politics much, even the scandals du jour, so of course I didn't know who Ishii was. But the description of man in the news stories makes me admire him greatly: an opposition lawmaker (and in Japan, given the ruling LDP's perpetual stranglehold on the Diet, the other parties are always the opposition) who fought to expose corruption, most recently those involving now-disgraced lawmaker Muneo Suzuki, heading an anti-corruption squad with the American-style nickname of "the G-man Squad". Two details about Ishii's personal life popped out at me: he earned a doctorate in philosophy from Moscow University, and his wife was a Russian-born woman named Natasha.)

According to the latest reports I've read on Japantoday.com, a 48-year-old member of an extreme-right-wing group called Shukojuku ("emperor protection corps") has turned himself in to the police and confessed. I'm assuming that Shukojuku is one of those seemingly countless right-wing groups that drive flag-draped loudspeaker-equipped buses around town blaring martial music at bone-rattling volume.

This is, of course, shocking: the papers say that this is the first political assassination in over forty years, since Socialist leader Asanuma Inejiro was stabbed during a TV debate in 1960 by a right-wing youth who later hanged himself in his cell. (I believe I've seen the news photo of the murder, as graphic and violent a photo I've ever seen despite the lack of visible blood.)

I can only hope that this doesn't portend further violent reaction by the always touchy right-wingers against reform or the reformers. I have no direct resaon for my fears, other than simple anxiety over the stories I've heard about Japanese right-wingers/ This is coupled with recollections of vaguely threatening statements by people like Tokyo's nationalist governor Shintaro Ishihara: few months ago, I read an article in the Asahi Shimbun about the still-officially-unsolved 1987 murder of reporter Tomohiro Kojiro, and Ishihara was quoted in the story as saying that, in effect, perhaps some people needed to be silenced.

In any case, details about the murder can be found in the links below. One thing I noticed about the Asahi Shimbun paper version was that it was placed below the fold: above the fold were an interview with the daughter of a Japanese abducted by North Korea and unable to visit Japan, a story about revoking the license of a TEPCO nuclear reactor, and a story about North Korea's efforts at normalization. I find that to be a weird exercise of journalistic judgment. Of course, in the US it would be a no-brainer, given the US media's unofficial motto is "If it bleeds, it leads."