Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Mobster Guns Down Nagasaki Mayor

Officials attribute slaying to grudge against city

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 18, 2007 1:36 PM CDT

(Newser) – The mayor of Nagasaki was murdered yesterday by a gangster affiliated with Japan's largest organized-crime syndicate. The assassin, who shot Iccho Ito twice in the back, reportedly was steamed that the city refused to pay for damages to his car after he drove it into a hole at a construction site.

Police captured Tetsuya Shiroo immediately after the shooting, which occurred days before Ito, an international peace activist, was to stand for reelection to a fourth term. "This murder, which took place in the middle of an election campaign, is a threat to democracy," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today. Shootings are rare in Japan, which bans handguns.

Mayor Itcho Ito of Nagasaki (Associated Press)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Missing Olympus Billions Tied to Yakuza Crime Gangs

$4.9B unaccounted for at Japanese firm

(NEWSER) - To make a serious financial scandal much, much worse, simply quadruple the sums involved and add gangsters. Investigators probing the shady accounting at Japanese camera maker Olympus believe that in addition to the $1.4 billion the firm paid in merger fees to mask losses, some $4.9 billion is unaccounted for and much of that went to Yakuza organized crime groups, according to a police memo obtained by the New York Times . More»

Say It Ain't So: Sumo's Fixed!

Wrestlers admit arranging matches in Japan

(NEWSER) - Three Sumo wrestlers have admitted fixing matches in Japan, and the scandal is only expected to grow, reports the Guardian . "It is certainly the national sport," said Prime Minister Naoto Kan. "If matches have been fixed, it is a serious betrayal of the people." Police found incriminating texts on the mobile phones of several wrestlers during an investigation into gambling. Now the investigation will widen into whether they were making money off the fixed sumo bouts, notes AP . More»

Japan Should Apologize for Hiroshima

Or for nation's bloody actions leading up to bombing

(NEWSER) - Japan will commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing today, and for the first time, the US ambassador to Japan will be present. The son of the man who dropped the first atomic bomb called that gesture “an unsaid apology” from the Obama administration. But it’s not the US that needs to apologize, says Warren Kozak of the Wall Street Journal , who’s a little fed up with Japan’s fixation on the bomb. More»

Japanese Man, 93, Survived Both A-Bombs

Was on business in Hiroshima; lived in Nagasaki

(NEWSER) - At 93, a Japanese man has become the first certified survivor of both atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the AP reports. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on business Aug. 6, 1945, when the US bombed the city; after a night there, he returned home to Nagasaki, bombed Aug. 9. Japan offers survivors a monthly allowance and free health checkups, and pays for funerals. More»

In Japan, Sun Sets on Yakuza Mob Scene

Japan's criminal gangs are losing their semi-legitimate status

(NEWSER) - The role of the yakuza in Japanese society has always been hard for Westerners to understand. Since the 1950s the mafia-like organization has been tolerated by government and the public, trusted to run gambling and prostitution rackets with a modicum of respect for social order. But as a tough economy forces the yakuza into new industries, that fragile social bargain is coming undone, the Economist reports. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Mobster Guns Down Nagasaki Mayor

Officials attribute slaying to grudge against city

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Related articles

Japan • organized crime • Iccho Ito • Yakuza • murder • Nagasaki • Tetsuya Shiroo

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Missing Olympus Billions Tied to Yakuza Crime Gangs

$4.9B unaccounted for at Japanese firm

Say It Ain't So: Sumo's Fixed!

Wrestlers admit arranging matches in Japan

Japan Should Apologize for Hiroshima

Or for nation's bloody actions leading up to bombing

Japanese Man, 93, Survived Both A-Bombs

Was on business in Hiroshima; lived in Nagasaki

In Japan, Sun Sets on Yakuza Mob Scene

Japan's criminal gangs are losing their semi-legitimate status

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?

Mobster Guns Down Nagasaki Mayor

Officials attribute slaying to grudge against city

Bookmark & Share

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Related articles

Japan • organized crime • Iccho Ito • Yakuza • murder • Nagasaki • Tetsuya Shiroo

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Missing Olympus Billions Tied to Yakuza Crime Gangs

$4.9B unaccounted for at Japanese firm

Say It Ain't So: Sumo's Fixed!

Wrestlers admit arranging matches in Japan

Japan Should Apologize for Hiroshima

Or for nation's bloody actions leading up to bombing

Japanese Man, 93, Survived Both A-Bombs

Was on business in Hiroshima; lived in Nagasaki

In Japan, Sun Sets on Yakuza Mob Scene

Japan's criminal gangs are losing their semi-legitimate status

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?