Photo/Illutration Employees of The Asahi Shimbun offer a silent prayer to mark the 33rd anniversary of the fatal shooting of a reporter at the paper’s Hanshin Bureau in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on May 3. (Toyokazu Kosugi)

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Prefecture--The Asahi Shimbun held a low-key memorial service May 3 to mark the 33rd anniversary of the fatal shooting of a reporter at its Hanshin Bureau here due to concerns about the novel coronavirus pandemic.

But it did not stop mourners from paying their respects at an altar set up at the entrance to the bureau and vow to fulfill Tomohiro Kojiri's last wish: freedom of speech.

Kojiri, a 29-year-old reporter assigned to the newspaper’s Hanshin Bureau, was killed when a masked gunman stormed the office and opened fire with a shotgun. Another reporter was severely injured.

The perpetrator fled and has never been identified.

The incident occurred on the evening of Constitution Memorial Day in 1987.

Former colleagues, as well as current employees of the newspaper and people who knew of Kojiri, gathered at the bureau and offered prayers in front of his picture.

To minimize the risk of spreading virus, it was decided not to make notebooks available for people to write their names and thoughts.

A special room dedicated to the incident on the third floor of the bureau was closed to the public.

Visitors instead offered silent prayers in front of a small altar set up at the bureau’s entrance from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“All kinds of things have been canceled due to the novel coronavirus, and it has been difficult for people to raise their voices,” said Naomi Kumakura, 69. “Now is the time to think about freedom of speech. I don’t want to cower before (authority).”

Shoichiro Numayama, a 56-year-old high school teacher who had been interviewed by Kojiri, said, “We are told not to go out under the (state of emergency), but I think we need to remember the significance of the incident.”

Kuninori Okamura, managing editor of the newspaper’s Osaka Headquarters, referred to frustrations people feel as they try to protect themselves from the risk of infection and the tendency for rumors to arise in such situations that engender fear.

“We should never forget the incident and keep fighting to protect freedom of speech,” Okamura said. “We need to keep striving to create a society where people empathize with others and speak freely.”