Photo/Illutration The hole in the outer wall of a warehouse at Saikazaki fishing port where a cap of a pipe bomb is believed to have been wedged (Noriki Nishioka)

WAKAYAMA--Prefectural police tightened its security setup for a campaign speech by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, but even the best-laid plans could not stop a tossed pipe bomb from coming within a few meters of Japan's top leader.

Police padded the buffer zone between Kishida and the audience but that did not prevent a pipe bomb from being lobbed about five meters behind the front of the crowd and rolling near the feet of the prime minister.

Kishida was pushed away by his security detail and unharmed, and the suspect, Ryuji Kimura, 24, was taken down and arrested at the scene on April 15. 

The attack comes on the heels of the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 while giving a campaign speech in Nara city. Since then, the National Police Agency has been reviewing all security plans submitted to it by prefectural police departments regarding protection of VIPs.

According to sources, NPA officials pointed out that the original Wakayama security plan only left about 5 meters between the podium where Kishida was to speak and the front row of the crowd at the Saikazaki fishing port.

Based on the NPA instruction to deal with the matter, Wakayama prefectural police and officials organizing the campaign speech for a candidate running in the Wakayama No. 1 district by-election decided to space out the buffer zone.

They would have local officials as well as those connected with the fisheries cooperative fill the first few rows of the crowd to prevent outsiders from coming close to Kishida.

A local official with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said such a setup was not unusual because it was common practice to have party insiders at the front of the spectators to generate "enthusiasm" for the speech.

The creation of such a buffer zone was intended to maintain some distance between the prime minister and the crowd to allow security police time to react and take measures should something suspicious occur. But the security precaution ultimately failed.

Police sources said anyone could enter the speech area because no clear entrance to the venue was set up. Police also did not check personal belongings such as bags and backpacks before allowing people to enter the venue.

While police at the scene were instructed to question anyone acting in a suspicious manner, no officer detected the actions of Kimura before he threw the pipe bomb.

Investigative sources said the pipe bomb that exploded had the potential to inflict severe damage.

A metal fragment was removed by Wakayama prefectural police from a warehouse wall about 60 meters from where the device exploded, sources said.

The fragment is believed to be one of the caps used in the pipe bomb and likely flew over the heads of the 200 or so people who had gathered at the fishing port to listen to Kishida’s speech.

About two meters up the outer wall of the warehouse a hole measuring about 6 centimeters by 3 cm and about 3 cm deep was clearly visible.

Sources said police found the metal piece stuck in the hole during a crime scene investigation on April 18.

Police also found another metal fragment lying on a net covering a fish tank about 40 meters from the explosion site. The object is believed to be the main part of the explosive device.

(This article was written by Shimpachi Yoshida, a senior staff writer, and Amane Sugawara.)

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