6 months after Abe shooting, mourners still visiting site

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:08 JST, January 9, 2023

NARA — People were seen mourning Sunday in front of Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara, where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead just six months ago.

Throughout the day, people with flowers and other offerings came to the street near the Kintetsu Line station where the shooting took place.

“I wish Mr. Abe was still here working. All of us left behind must bear through it,” said an office worker in Yamashina Ward, Kyoto, visiting the site at the same hour the incident occurred.

“He was a politician who did his best for the future of the country, and I still feel terribly sad about what happened. I just want to thank him again for his hard work,” said an unemployed man, 76, from Ikoma, Nara Prefecture.

　In December, the Nara city government removed the guardrails at the site as part of a station improvement project that has been ongoing since before the incident. Currently, construction barricades are in place, and the roadway will be finished by March.