Otoya Yamaguchi

was a Japanese political activist and assassin. He killed Inejirō Asanuma, the head of the Japanese Socialist Party (JCP). Socialist Leader is Slain in Tokyo; Asanuma, Who Led Agitation Against U.S. Treaty, Is Stabbed at a Rally," New York Times. October 12, 1960; retrieved 2012-3-15.  On October 12, 1960, the killing was broadcast live by NHK television.TokyoReporter.com,  "Assassin of Inejiro Asanuma remembered by right-wing groups on 50-year anniversary," October 14, 2010; retrieved 2012-3-15.

Assassin
Yamaguchi was an assassin because he killed a politically active man. His reasons for the murder were political.

Yamaguchi was a member of a radical group. In 1960, he killed Inejiro Asanuma, a Socialist, when he was at a public meeting. Soon after, Yamaguchi killed himself in a juvenile center. He wrote on the wall of the room in which he hung himself. His last words were written using a paste made from tooth powder and water. "Leftist's Killer Suicide in Japan; Young Rightist Who Stabbed Asanuma Hangs Himself in Detention Center," New York Times. November 3, 1960; "Assassin's Apologies,"  Time. November 14, 1960; retrieved 2012-3-15. He wrote "Seven lives for my country ..." which was a reference to the last words of 14th century samurai Kusunoki Masashige.

Legacy
Yasushi Nagao captured the assassination in a dramatic photograph.  The image won the 1960 World Press Photo award. 1960 World Press Photo by Yasushi Nagao; retrieved 2012-3-15.

Nobel Prize-winning writer Kenzaburō Ōe based his book Seventeen on Yamaguchi.Remmick, David.  "Reading Japan," New Yorker. February 6, 1995; retrieved 2012-3-15.

Related pages
 John Wilkes Booth
 Gavrilo Princip
 Lee Harvey Oswald
 Osama bin Laden
 Kim Gu

References

Other websites
  1960 World Press Photo by Yasushi Nagao

Category:1943 births
Category:1960 deaths
Category:Anti-communists
Category:People from Tokyo
Category:Assassins
Category:Japanese activists