Osaka –

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed on July 8 in Nara while delivering a campaign speech two days prior to a national election.

The alleged shooter, Tetsuya Yamagami, used what local media are referring to as a 手製の銃 (tesei no jū, handmade gun) to kill Abe. Although the former prime minister was rushed to the hospital after the attack, he died later that day due to 大量出血 (tairyō shukketsu, massive blood loss).

Abe’s death might be a rather somber topic for the Bilingual section, but in the reporting that followed the incident an interesting language lesson emerged. While English-language media described what happened as an 暗殺 (ansatsu, assassination), the Japanese media largely avoided using that term.

Instead, most headlines simply stated Abe had been shot (銃撃された, jūgeki sareta) and the result was death (死亡, shibō). (“死亡” is a noun whereas “死ぬ” [shinu, to die] is the verb. In conversation, then, it would be more common to say 安倍元総理が死んだ [Abe moto-sōri ga shinda, Former Prime Minister Abe died].)

The typical headline read, 安倍元総理銃撃され死亡 (Abe moto-sōri jūgeki sare shibō, Former Prime Minister Abe shot dead), while the Japanese Wikipedia entry on the topic is under the heading “安倍晋三銃撃事件” (Abe Shinzō jūgeki jiken, Shinzo Abe shooting incident). The English entry, on the other hand, is titled “Assassination of Shinzo Abe.”

Why is it that the Japanese media didn’t go with the headline, 安倍元総理暗殺された (Abe moto-sōri ansatsu sareta, Former Prime Minister Abe assassinated)?

Assassination attempts were more common in Japan prior to World War II. During that time, newspaper headlines first used the now outdated term 凶変 (kyōhen, calamity) when reporting them, later replacing that word with 暗殺 as details and motives emerged.

In postwar Japan, the term began being used almost exclusively for 海外で起きる事件 (kaigai de okiru jiken, incidents that occur overseas). So, for example, coverage of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 featured the use of 暗殺, as did the killings of North Korea’s Kim Jong Nam and Haiti’s Jovenel Moise.

By definition, “暗殺” refers to a killing that is grounded in 政治上の立場や思想の相違 (seiji-jō no tachiba ya shisō no sōi, differences in political positions and ideologies). Furthermore, 暗殺は密かに相手を狙って殺すことを意味する (ansatsu wa hisoka ni aite o neratte korosu koto o imi suru, an assassination [refers to the act of] targeting and killing someone in secret). At the time of the shooting, neither of these conditions had been met: The motive wasn't understood and the attack occurred in broad daylight.

In response to questioning by the police, Yamagami has reportedly said he did not target the former prime minister for political reasons. According to ANN News, he was “政治的信条以外の安倍元総理の態度に不満を持っていた” (seiji-teki shinjō igai no Abe moto-sōri no taido ni fuman o motte-ita, dissatisfied with former Prime Minister Abe’s behavior, but not his political beliefs). It is now believed that the incident had more to do with Abe's involvement with the 統一教会 (tōitsu kyōkai, Unification Church), to which the suspect's mother had donated large sums of money. So it could be that reporters made the right call on not using the word 暗殺, but it could also just be that they felt strange about using a term that was last used during the tumultuous runup to war.

Another linguistic aspect of the incident came in people’s response to it, which was largely with a sense of shock. In everyday speech, びっくりした (bikkuri shita) is perhaps the most common term for expressing “I was surprised.” You might use it when someone sneaks up on you, for example. However, many people used it when describing how they felt when they heard the news: 安倍元総理が銃で打たれたと聞いてびっくりした (Abe moto-sōri ga jū de utareta to kiite bikkuri shita, I was surprised when I heard that former Prime Minister Abe was shot with a gun).

There are several other terms that can also be used when reacting to shocking news. Some of these include the slightly more formal 驚いた (odoroita, I was surprised), 信じられない (shinjirarenai, I can’t believe this/unbelievable) and 衝撃的だった (shōgeki-teki datta, it was shocking).

Nara Mayor Gen Nakagawa, who was standing near Abe when he was shot, recalled that he initially didn't realize that what he heard was gunfire.「銃撃だとはすぐに理解ができず、音の衝撃にまず驚いた」 (Jūgeki da to wa sugu ni rikai ga dekizu, oto no shōgeki ni mazu odoroita, I didn’t immediately realize that it was a gunshot, and was first surprised by the impact of the sound), he said.「常識とはかけ離れた惨状が目の前に広がっていた」(Jōshiki to wa kake hanareta sanjō ga me no mae ni hirogatte-ita, A disaster far removed from common sense was spreading out in front of my eyes).

Speaking to reporters on the day of the shooting, Hiromichi Watanabe, a senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party, expressed his disbelief to the Sankei Shimbun. 「大変ショックだ。まさか日本でこのようなことが起きるのは信じられない」 (Taihen shokku da. Masaka Nihon de kono yō na koto ga okiru no wa shinjirarenai, It’s a huge shock. I can’t believe that something like this happened in Japan), he said.

While Abe’s murder was certainly surprising, 銃規制が厳しい日本でこのようなことが起きるのは衝撃的だった (jū kisei ga kibishii Nihon de kono yō na koto ga okiru no wa shōgeki-teki datta, it was shocking to see something like this occur in Japan, where there are strict gun laws).

As news of Abe’s death spread throughout the country and overseas, 哀悼の意を表した人は多かった (aitō no i o hyō shita hito wa ōkatta, there were many people who expressed their condolences). Some commentators have said that 安倍元総理の死は日本にとって大変大きな損失だ (Abe moto-sōri no shi wa Nihon ni totte taihen ōkina sonshitsu da, former Prime Minister Abe’s death is a big loss for Japan).

With new details of the suspect’s background and the circumstances that led up to the shooting beginning to emerge, commentators have also stressed 社会は、悩み、孤立する人々がいる現実に目を向けることも大切だ (Shakai wa, nayami, koritsu suru hito-bito ga iru genjitsu ni me o mukeru koto mo taisetsu da, It is also important for society to pay attention to the reality that some distressed and isolated people face).