Asahi reporter killed in 1987 gun attack remembered

May 4, 2019

Nishinomiya, Hyogo Pref.--A reporter of the Asahi Shimbun major Japanese daily who was killed in a gun attack in 1987 was remembered on Friday, which marked the 32nd anniversary of the crime.

People came to the newspaper publisher's Hanshin bureau in the city of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, where the incident occurred, to pay tribute to the victim, Tomohiro Kojiri.

On the night of May 3, 1987, a balaclava-wearing man fired a shotgun at Kojiri, 29, and another Asahi Shimbun journalist, Hyoe Inukai, at the Hanshin bureau. Kojiri died in the bloody attack.

Inukai survived, but suffered serious injuries. He died in January last year at the age of 73.

"I don't want the incident to be forgotten," said a housewife in her 60s from the western city of Osaka who visited the bureau on Friday.

"It is regrettable that the statute of limitations has expired for the crime," she said.

"The atmosphere of not allowing people to express their opinions freely appears to be increasing" compared with when Kojiri was alive, said Baku Cho, 62, a resident of Osaka and acquaintance of Kojiri.

A series of attacks targeting the Asahi Shimbun also occurred around the time of the May 1987 shooting. A group calling itself "Sekihotai" (red revenge squad) claimed responsibility for the attacks.

But the statute of limitations has run out for all of the crimes, with the attackers unidentified.

Some 590 people visited the Hanshin bureau on Friday, according to Asahi Shimbun.

Officials of Asahi Shimbun, including its president, Masataka Watanabe, offered silent prayers at 8:15 p.m. (11:15 a.m. GMT), the exact time when the attack was carried out 32 years ago.Jiji Press