Photo/Illutration A cylindrical object is left undetonated at the Saikazaki fishing port in Wakayama on April 15. (Provided by a witness)

WAKAYAMA--Explosive specialists believe that an undetonated object seized from the suspect in an attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was a homemade pipe bomb. 

The Wakayama prefectural police specialists said the object, about 20 centimeters long, has metal caps on both ends and contains what appears to be a fuse and a detonator, suggesting it is a homemade explosive device. 

The cylindrical object was taken from Ryuji Kimura, 24, who was arrested on the spot, along with a lighter on April 15.

Another device exploded about 50 seconds after it was hurled at Kishida when he was campaigning in a Lower House by-election at the Saikazaki fishing port here.

The prime minister was uninjured but a police officer and a man in his 70s among the spectators suffered minor injuries.

Divers searched the nearby sea area in the port and docked boats on April 18 for missing components of the exploded device including one of the two caps used to cover the ends of the pipe-like object.

Police also revealed on April 18 the contents of the backpack that Kimura was carrying.

They include another lighter, a small bottle containing powder, a water bottle, and a metal plate approximately 30 centimeters square and 2 millimeters thick. The powder has yet to be identified.

Soichiro Takakura, a firearms expert, told The Asahi Shimbun that the two cylindrical objects appeared to be typical pipe bombs given their design using what appears to be water pipes and caps on both ends. 

Judging from the loud blast and the large amounts of white smoke sent aloft by the explosion, Takakura suspects that the bombs were filled with black powder, which is also used for fireworks.

“It took 50 seconds to detonate, possibly because the gunpowder got damp,” Takakura said.

Noting the nut-like objects found at the scene, he said “They were probably meant to be propelled and scattered about in the explosion.”

“They could have been as lethal as a small firearm and there could have been fatalities in a worst-case scenario,” he added.

Details have emerged about the suspect, including that he filed a suit against the central government in June 2022 seeking to change election laws since he did not meet the age requirement to run for an Upper House seat nor had the 3 million yen ($22,280) deposit to file his candidacy. 

Investigators also learned that Kimura had criticized Kishida’s decision to hold a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead during an election campaign speech in Nara in July 2022.

Kishida’s administration “pushed ahead with the funeral despite opposition from the majority of the public,” Kimura said in a statement submitted to the court in his lawsuit against the central government.

He also criticized some politicians, saying “they have managed to remain in office thanks to their ties with cults like the Unification Church and other groups that provide organized support for votes.”

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