Upper House Election: Party Leaders Protected During Street Speeches; Metal Detectors, Vigilance from High Places Employed

By Daichi Hara and Chihiro Nakanishi Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

20:00 JST, July 6, 2025

Stringent security measures are in place to protect the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties as they make speeches in support of their candidates during campaigning for the July 20 House of Councillors election. There have been a series of attacks targeting politicians during campaigning in the about three years that have passed since the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022. Under these circumstances, campaign offices are increasing their vigilance.

Police questioning

“We want to be close to you when we make our speeches, but considering it’ll soon be the anniversary of former Prime Minister Abe’s death, we can’t. I’m very sorry,” said Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of a speech by a Liberal Democratic Party candidate in Joestu, Niigata Prefecture. It was just before noon on Saturday, the first weekend after election campaigning officially kicked off on Thursday. Ishiba tried to get the understanding of the about 750 members of the audience, who were separated from the speaker by a fence more than 20 meters away. Their personal belongings had been checked with a metal detector, and stickers had been placed on their chests and other areas to verify that they had been inspected. Before the speech began, police officers talked with passersby and watched surrounding areas from high places using binoculars.

“Since safety should be the top priority, these intense security measures are inevitable,” one of the audience members said, demonstrating that they understood the situation. Others, however, were disappointed, with a man in his 60s lamenting, “I couldn’t see the speaker’s face very well because they were so far away.”

Meanwhile, an audience area was set up on Saturday about 10 meters away from a speaker’s platform, which had a bulletproof blanket behind it, at JR Matsudo Station in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, where Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda gave a speech in support of the party’s candidate. The campaign office said that it had discussed the security arrangements with the Chiba prefectural police beforehand and doubled the number of staff members in preparation for the event. “We must not let anything happen,” an official from the campaign office said. “We ran the event with a strong sense of vigilance.”

Outside speech venues

In the wake of Abe’s shooting, the National Police Agency introduced a system in which all security plans devised b prefectural and metropolitan police are checked by NPA in advance. As of the end of May, the NPA had examined about 9,700 plans, with revisions ordered to about 7,200 of them to strengthen VIP protection.

During this election period, police focus on strengthening their vigilance at high places and areas outside speech venues. Keeping in mind the incident of U.S. President Donald Trump being shot from the roof of an building in July 2024, Japanese police use drones and other devices to monitor speech venues from above. Police officers are also deployed on rooftops around the venues.

The police have also inspected a total of approximately 900 locations across the country that are expected to be used as speech venues. Police officers skilled in questioning are deployed mainly in closely contested election districts to identify suspicious people inside and outside the venues. Given the attack on former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in 2023, in which an explosive device was thrown into a speech venue, the police are making sure that baggage is inspected.

Countermeasures have also been enhanced against “lone offenders” (LOs), who carry out terrorist attacks on their own. In June, the NPA established the LO threat information integration center to analyze information received by police departments nationwide as well as social media posts in order to find signs of explosive manufacturing and other threats.

Protests intensify

There have been protests at some speech venues, and respective campaign offices are becoming increasingly vigilant. On Saturday morning, dozens of people screamed angrily and raised signs reading “Hate Group” and “Don’t be fooled by the Sanseito party” in front of a department store in the Namba district of Osaka where Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya and a candidate from the party made speeches.

According to the candidate’s campaign office, such protests have intensified since last autumn, when the House of Representatives election was held. As a result, the office not only conducts baggage checks but also establishes an audience area to separate them from protestors.

An official from the campaign office said: “Under normal circumstances, we would like to offer voters opportunities to meet our party leader, to take pictures with him, and that kind of thing. However, it is difficult to do that under the current circumstances.”