I don't get why people think Japan is bereft of political violence. It's been a steady occurrence since the early 20th century (history: https://theconversation.com/shinzo-abes-killing-the-history-of-political-violence-in-japan-186679). Here are some recent occurrences from this article:

1990: Motoshima Hitoshi, was also the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by a right-wing extremist over public comments he made regarding Emperor Hirohito’s war responsibility https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-18-mn-323-story.html
2006: Senior Liberal Democratic Party politician Katō Kōichi’s home was subject to an arson attack by a right-winger angered by comments Katō had made critical of prime minister Koizumi Junichirō’s visit to Yasukuni shrine. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/06/01/national/kato-home-arson-nets-rightist-eight-year-term/

[–] pingveno@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Fair enough. Maybe I'm mostly thinking of how they compare with the US and its poor record in this area. Seems like a lot of this comes from ultra-nationalists of some stripe, no?

[–] foxglove@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

While nationalistic ideologues seem to dominate the political violence in Japan and the US, it's a bit disingenuous to assign blanket statements to these things.

[–] pingveno@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

As I said, a lot, not all.