It’s been nearly a year since Tetsuya Yamagami allegedly opened fire on former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with a handmade gun, killing the country’s longest serving leader and shocking a nation to its core.
Since the assassination in Nara on July 8, 2022, just two days before an Upper House election, the case and the 42-year-old Yamagami have hardly left the headlines, with numerous reports focusing on his family history and his motives amid public thirst to understand why he allegedly assassinated the nation’s best-known politician.
With the case yet to be heard before courts, Yamagami has largely remained hidden from public view and is currently in detention awaiting trial. It is likely that court hearings, which may not take place until next year, will be the first time Yamagami speaks publicly about the Abe shooting.