Existing comment:
1961: Assassination of Asanuma:
Election time in Japan meant debate. On Oct. 12, 1960, 3,000 people crammed Tokyo's Hibiya Hall to hear Socialist Party Chairman Ineijiro Asanuma battle it out with Liberal-Democratic Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda. Journalists crowded the stage. Among them: Yasushi Nagao, Mainchi Shimbun photographer.
The socialist ripped the government for its defense treaty with the United States. Right-wing students heckled him. The police tried to quell the protest. The press flocked to the hecklers. Nagao had only one shot left in his camera. He stayed close to the stage.
Student Otoya Yamaguchi rushed out. "I thought Yamaguchi was carrying a brown stick to strike Asanuma," Nagao remembered. The photographer suddenly realized it was a samurai sword. The student stabbed the party chairman. He staggered. The student pulled out the blade. Nagao lifted his camera. His last frame captured Yamaguchi spearing Asanuma again -- this time through the heart. |