The streets of Hiroshima were tight with security on Thursday as Group of Seven leaders arrived for a three-day summit from Friday, with last month’s attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida while election campaigning in Wakayama Prefecture still fresh in people’s minds.
Up to 24,000 police officers from across the country were mobilized to safeguard the G7 summit, topping the approximate 23,000 police officers dispatched to Mie Prefecture during the last summit Japan hosted in 2016.
“The government needs to make sure necessary measures are taken for the security of the VIPs, (preventing) cyberattacks, and the security of related facilities,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Wednesday in Tokyo.