Photo/Illutration Police escort Ryuji Kimura to the Wakayama District Public Prosecutors Office on April 17. (Jun Ueda)

The young man suspected of throwing a pipe bomb at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may have expressed anger at current political practices and the status quo on a Twitter account linked to him. 

The first confirmed tweet on June 27, 2022, criticizes the law requiring candidates running for the Upper House to be at least 30.

A photo of the lawsuit was included along with a tweet about a man in his early 20s filing a lawsuit seeking compensation from the central government.

The suspect in the bomb attack, Ryuji Kimura, 24, filed a lawsuit in late June 2022 seeking compensation because he could not run in that summer’s Upper House election because of the age requirement and the need to put up a deposit.

He was arrested on April 15 in connection with the hurling of a pipe bomb in the direction of Kishida as he was preparing to give a campaign speech in Wakayama city.

A tweet was posted on July 16, 2022, eight days after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated while giving a campaign speech in Nara city.

The tweet gives the date for oral arguments in the lawsuit and calls on readers to attend the court session.

Subsequent tweets explain the progress of the lawsuit, but gradually the messages vent anger at certain politicians.

A tweet on Aug. 16 blames the current laws about elections for allowing tyrants to win seats by allowing them to rely on the votes of organizations.

A tweet dated Sept. 8 quotes Kishida’s explanation for holding a state funeral for Abe and blasts the prime minister as someone who normally would not be able to become a politician who ignored the will of the people. The tweet pointed to the fact that Kishida’s father and grandfather were also lawmakers.

On Nov. 18, the Kobe District Court rejected Kimura’s compensation request of 100,000 yen ($743). 

Ten days later, a tweet says an appeal would be filed seeking to gain a victory for democracy.

The last confirmed tweet was posted April 11 and said second- and third-generation lawmakers and corruption were being created through votes from organizations and religious groups.

The bombing attack occurred four days later at a fishing port in Wakayama.

Wakayama prefectural police are aware of the Twitter account, according to sources.

Ikuo Gonoi, a political science professor at Takachiho University in Tokyo who read the tweets, said while the individual who posted the messages had a strong interest in politics, there did not appear to be any characteristic ideology but only a casual form of hate often found among those in their 20s.

“One characteristic is expressing anger through the tweets toward politicians who have a geographical base, money and name recognition” because of family ties, Gonoi said.

He added that the criticism directed at the prime minister was not based on policy, but on the fact that he considered Kishida among the politicians who had everything handed to them. 

Gonoi also said the tweets showed jealousy toward those who could count on election support from religious groups.

Despite the criticism of the voting system expressed in the tweets, Gonoi said that if Kimura was the individual who made the tweets, his actions in Wakayama did far more to damage democracy than anything he criticized.

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