Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma

Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma
Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma
Part of the Anpo Counter-Protests and far-right assassinations in post-war Japan
	Yasushi Nagao's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Yamaguchi attempting to stab Asanuma for a second time
Location	Hibiya Public Hall, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Date	October 12, 1960 ; 3:05 p.m. (UTC+09:00)
Target	Inejirō Asanuma, Chairman of the Japan Socialist Party
Attack type	Assassination by stabbing
Weapon	Wakizashi
Deaths	2 (Asanuma and the perpetrator who committed suicide on November 2, 1960)
Perpetrator	Otoya Yamaguchi
Motive	Opposition and resentment towards Asanuma's words and actions during his visit to China and during the Anpo protests; Deter the spread of left-wing movements in Japan;

On 12 October 1960, Inejirō Asanuma (浅沼稲次郎, Asanuma Inejirō), chairman of the Japan Socialist Party, was assassinated at Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo. During a televised debate, 17-year-old right-wing ultranationalist Otoya Yamaguchi charged onto the stage and fatally stabbed Asanuma with a wakizashi, a type of traditional short sword. Yamaguchi committed suicide while in custody.

The assassination weakened the Japan Socialist Party, inspired a series of copycat crimes, and made Yamaguchi an enduring hero and subsequently a martyr to the Greater Japan Patriotic Party and other Japanese far-right groups.

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