I was just listening to a discussion of the assassination this morning (my morning). Apparently Japan has up until now been so bereft of political violence that it is common for even prominent politicians like Abe to have minimal security and maximum exposure to their constituents. There have certainly been protests before, but they didn’t descend into violence. In terms of gun deaths overall, they typically number in the double or single digits per year for the entire country. Unfortunately, this will likely mark a change in how Japanese politicians interface with their citizens.