Shinzo Abe is gone, but his controversial vision for Japan lives on

Police inspect a sidewalk near the site where former Japanese premier Shinzo Abe was fatally shot in Nara, western Japan. Picture: Kyodo News via AP
The assassination of Shinzo Abe still hasn’t really sunk in, but the tremors are rippling across Japan and the world.
He was shot from behind in a nation where firearm-related homicides are rare: in 2021, there was just one, compared with more than 20,000 in the US. It was an assault on democracy and an act of barbarism.