Nagasaki mayor assassinated

The mayor of Nagasaki was assassinated by a yakuza thug last night. It is suspected that the thug killed him because of some sort of problem he had with the city/mayor and an auto accident he was involved in when he drove his car went into a ditch at city construction site. (One report says he had hit a pothole.) The mayor, Itcho (? not my spelling of the name, but from an article) Ito, is survived by his wife and two daughters.

As I recall, another Nagasaki (or near there) mayor was shot by a rightist, but survived, in the late 80s (1990 according to one article) because he hinted that the late emperor Hirohito bore some responsibility for WW2. Reports here, and here and everywhere.

Handguns are banned for normal people in Japan, but rifles and shotguns are permitted in rural areas. The yakuza has firearms of all types and has few problems acquiring or using them.