Quick Action by Fishermen at Japan PM Attack Credited with Swarm of Suspect

Tsutomu Konishi, a fisherman from the port of Wakayama in Japan, noticed something fly over his head and then hit Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a political event. He and the other fishermen there immediately surrounded the person who had thrown it – the suspect later identified by officials.

As the security guard protected an unknown item with a bulletproof case, three fishermen stopped the guy and held him back; one of them grabbed his neck from behind, another pushed his head down, and at last Konishi latched onto his leg. Police officers then took control over it and brought the suspect to the ground. After that there was a loud explosion which caused everyone near to run away in fear as police kept carrying him away with a silver backpack on his shoulders.

The fishermen in this tight-knit neighborhood have worked together and it has become really popular on social media in Japan. This made a lot of people think that they were undercover cops.

The people in the fishing community were prepared for the prime minister’s arrival. But some questioned if enough security was arranged, especially since something bad happened last summer to Japan’s previous leader Shinzo Abe.

Konishi, 41, was taking a break while sipping a can of coffee at the port of Saikazaki. He said he couldn’t believe something like this could happen in his small fishing village. He mentioned how shocked and stunned he was over what happened to Kishida. Police were still investigating at the port facility.

The police arrested a 24-year-old man after he threw an explosive metal tube at Japan’s Prime Minister who was visiting. Maybe, for the safety of everyone, a metal detector could have been used to detect any dangerous items.

A police officer from Wakayama said that Kishida was saved before the explosion took place. Sadly, the blast wasn’t totally destroyed and hit one of the cops in his arm. His injury was due to the fragments of a “tube bomb”.

The police quickly sent a team that specializes in preventing explosives to the home of a suspect located in Hyogo prefecture. This was done in order to see if they could find anything related to building bombs before local elections are held across Japan soon. That same weekend, countries from around the world were invited to go to Karuizawa for the Group of Seven meetings which will culminate on a summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21.

Isao Itabashi, a public safety expert, said on NHK TV that the latest attack is dangerous because it could make Japan’s government not be able to do its job properly. This could also make other countries not trust Japan as much.

Itabashi added that this attack raised questions about how elections should be run. Protecting important politicians in campaigns is very hard and finding the balance between tight security and an open election can also be tough.

Masaki Nishide, a 55-year-old fisherman, had gone to an event on Saturday where he noticed that all the people there were wearing similar clothes. There was one person who stood out though; they had a silver backpack and seemed different.

“Everyone looked like me but this one person with the backpack,” said Nishide, pointing to his own sweatsuit and red rubber boots. “If it were up to me, I would have asked them to check the bag.”

Kiyotaka Hamada, who is 70 years old and a member of the town’s fishing association, said he felt something hit him on his shoulder just as he was running away after hearing a loud bang. Police took his jacket to check if he got hurt by a piece of the explosive. He wanted to ask the person responsible for all the trouble why did they even come here in the first place.

Hamada and other fishermen feel worried because they can’t work for a few days since the port services are closed for investigating.

Hamada said, “We worked really hard to make sure the Prime Minister had a great visit our village, but now we can’t even go fishing.”