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Yomiuri Shimbun
04-05-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Asahi Reporter Remembered 38 Years after Gun Attack
The Yomiuri Shimbun A man prays in front of a photo of Tomohiro Kojiri in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on Saturday. NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo (Jiji Press) — Saturday marked the 38th anniversary of a gun attack on the Asahi Shimbun major Japanese daily's Hanshin bureau in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, that killed one reporter and seriously injured another. Some 330 people including local residents visited the bureau to pay tribute to the victim, Tomohiro Kojiri, then 29. On the evening of May 3, 1987, a man wearing a balaclava broke into the bureau and shot Kojiri and his colleague, Hyoe Inukai, on the second floor with a shotgun. Kojiri died in the attack, and Inukai suffered serious injuries. A group calling itself 'Sekihotai' (red revenge squad) claimed responsibility for the attack. 'He was a hardworking and warm person,' recalled Keiko Yoshikawa, 67, who was interviewed by Kojiri about a year before the incident. 'I think he wanted to work more as a reporter,' said Yoshikawa, a resident of Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, which neighbors Hyogo. Fuku Nomura, a 19-year-old student at Kindai University from Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, who wants to become a journalist, visited the reference room on the third floor of the bureau. 'When I saw the vivid exhibits, I realized once again that the suppression of speech through violence should never be allowed.' On Saturday, officials of Asahi Shimbun and others offered silent prayers at 8:15 p.m., the exact time when the attack occurred 38 years ago. A series of attacks on the Asahi Shimbun occurred around the time of the May 1987 shooting. The status of limitations, however, has expired on all of the cases, which remain unsolved.
03-05-2025
Asahi Reporter Remembered 38 Years after Gun Attack
Nishinomiya, Hyogo Pref., May 3 (Jiji Press)--Saturday marked the 38th anniversary of a gun attack on the Asahi Shimbun major Japanese daily's Hanshin bureau in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, that killed one reporter and seriously injured another. Some 330 people including local residents visited the bureau to pay tribute to the victim, Tomohiro Kojiri, then 29. On the evening of May 3, 1987, a man wearing a balaclava broke into the bureau and shot Kojiri and his colleague, Hyoe Inukai, on the second floor with a shotgun. Kojiri died in the attack, and Inukai suffered serious injuries. A group calling itself "Sekihotai" (red revenge squad) claimed responsibility for the attack. "He was a hardworking and warm person," recalled Keiko Yoshikawa, 67, who was interviewed by Kojiri about a year before the incident. "I think he wanted to work more as a reporter," said Yoshikawa, a resident of Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, which neighbors Hyogo. Fuku Nomura, a 19-year-old student at Kindai University from Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, who wants to become a journalist, visited the reference room on the third floor of the bureau. "When I saw the vivid exhibits, I realized once again that the suppression of speech through violence should never be allowed." [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Asahi Shimbun
23-04-2025
- Asahi Shimbun
Asahi Shimbun Hanshin Bureau to pay tribute to slain reporter
A photograph of slain reporter Tomohiro Kojiri is on display in the archive room at The Asahi Shimbun's Hanshin Bureau in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on May 3, 2024. (Asahi Shimbun file photo) NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Prefecture—A special altar will be set up in The Asahi Shimbun's Hanshin Bureau here on May 3 on the 38th anniversary of a deadly attack that took the life of a young reporter. The event will commemorate slain reporter Tomohiro Kojiri, 29. The public can visit the special altar on the first floor of the bureau, which is located near Hanshin Nishinomiya Station, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the day. It will also make a notebook available for the public to write down their thoughts. The archive room documenting the case, located on the bureau's third floor, will be open to the public on the day. The incident occurred on Constitution Day in 1987. At around 8:15 p.m., a masked man armed with a shotgun entered the editorial office on the second floor of the bureau and fired two shots, killing Kojiri and seriously wounding another reporter, Hyoe Inukai, who was 42 at the time. An extremist group calling itself 'Sekihotai' claimed responsibility for the attack, but the culprits have never been found. The case remained unsolved and the statute of limitations for prosecution expired in May 2002. There were eight incidents involving people claiming to be Sekihotai members from the late 1980s to 1990. They include a shooting at The Asahi Shimbun's Tokyo Headquarters in January 1987; an attack on The Asahi Shimbun's Nagoya Headquarters' dormitory in September 1987; and the attempted bombing of The Asahi Shimbun's Shizuoka Bureau in March 1988. The National Police Agency conducted a wide investigation, but the statute of limitations expired on all these cases by March 2003.
