Character Assassination

Since the famously photographed murder of a Socialist leader by a right-wing youth in 1960, being a Japanese politician has been hazardous to little more than one's ego. That may have changed with the shocking murder last Friday of Diet member Koki Ishii. The 61-year-old Ishii was steps away from his car outside his home when he was stabbed repeatedly with what appeared to be a 30-cm sashimi knife by Hakusui Ito, a 38-year-old with ties to right-wing extremists. Ito fled the scene but turned himself in to the police the following day. The news stunned lawmakers, many of whom were...