Tomohiro Kojiri

Who is Tomohiro Kojiri?

Tomohiro Kojiri was an Asahi Shimbun reporter shot on 3 May 1987 by a Japanese rightist with a shotgun. Kojiri was 29 years old when he died the next morning. One of his colleagues, Hyoe Inukai, then 42, was also shot and seriously injured. A rightist group calling itself a special unit "Sekihōtai" of the "Japanese Independent Volunteer Army" sent typed letters to Japanese media, claiming it carried out the murder and threatening to kill other "anti-Japanese elements" in the media. The murder was still unsolved when the 15-year statute of limitations expired in 2002, yet the Japanese police told the press that it would continue the investigation. Asahi Shimbun has held a memorial for him every year. The attack is known in Japan as the Asahi Shimbun Hanshin Bureau Attack.