JULY 21, 2006
Posted July 28, 2006
Nihon Keizai Shimbun
ATTACKED
An unidentified man hurled a Molotov cocktail at the headquarters of Japan’s largest business daily, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, according to local and international press reports. No one was hurt in the attack, and the office suffered minor damage.
At around 2:17 am, a man threw a firebomb at the south entrance of the building in Tokyo’s Otemachi business district, a police official told Agence France-Presse.
Police are investigating possible motives, including the newspaper’s exclusive story about the late emperor Hirohito’s refusal to visit the war memorial, known as the Yasukuni Shrine, after it began honoring 14 convicted war criminals in 1978.
The report has raised a debate over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s controversial annual visits to the shrine, according to local press reports.