Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has been assassinated in Nara, where he was giving a campaign speech for the upcoming elections for the upper house of the Diet.

At this point, this appears to be a lone nut job, and not right wing nationalists, who have been responsible for the overwhelming majority of political violence in Japan, so Abe’s ties to right wing nationalists, he served as the parliamentary advisor for Nippon Kaigi (日本会議), do not appear to be related to this.

According to multiple reports, the shooter claimed that he shot Abe because of his alleged support for the Unification Church.

It should be noted that there are to my knowledge no evidence of any such ties. The story originated from a fringe party whose primary focus is the abolition of television license fees.*

That’s all we know at this point.

*As Anna Russell would say, “I’m not making this up, you know.”