Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Dead Lead

For those of you who don't know Japan is a country where firearms are strictly forbidden with no exception. The Place is peaceful and if you want to get your hands on guns you must do it through the black market. As far as I know not even the Yakuza have great access to peacemakers which is why the recent news story surprises me.

Official Story
The mayor of Nagasaki Iccho Ito, 61, was shot to death outside of a train station just this Tuesday evening (4/16). According to the report the gunman was Tetsuya Shiroo, a senior member of Yamaguchi-gumi a large crime organization in Japan. This is quite big news since only five politicians have been killed in Japan since WWII.

Apparently Shiroo had his car damaged at a public construction site and he couldn't get compensation. What I can draw (or bet on) is that the guy was probably trying to get an insurance claim or cash from the government. On a side note insurance companies over in Japan are just as stingy but from what I read a lot more nice when it comes to working out a solution to an accident that involves another party. Anyway the man had a previous encounter back in 03 when his car was damaged in a similar matter so what I figure is that he was trying to get money for a very plausible form of damage. However in my opinion those who con hardly look suspicious on purpose.

I think it's interesting that this would happen over such a trivial matter. However it's also proof that the Japanese don't live in a society where you express your opinions openly without causing trouble and "dishonour" as it were.

---CP Out---

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