Photo/Illutration Prayers are offered for Tomohiro Kojiri, an Asahi Shimbun reporter who was killed by a gunman 36 years ago, in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on May 3. (Norihiko Shinjo)

Colleagues and residents on May 3 mourned an Asahi Shimbun reporter who was killed by a gunman at the company’s Hanshin Bureau in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, 36 years ago.

A small altar dedicated to Tomohiro Kojiri, who was 29 years old when he died, was set up on the first floor of the bureau.

The killer, believed to have been a member of an extremist group, has never been caught.

As a precaution against the spread of the novel coronavirus, the bureau again did not leave a notebook where visitors could write down their names and thoughts.

In addition, a third-floor office in the bureau containing documents about the shooting was closed to the public.

At 8:15 a.m., when the shooting occurred, a moment of silence was observed by Asahi Shimbun employees.

Haruka Imura, a 22-year-old university student who lives in Osaka and aspires to be a reporter, offered a prayer at the site.

“In order not to forget the incident today, I realized that we need to keep talking about it tomorrow,” he said.

Kazuto Yamaura, who heads the editing office of the company’s Osaka Headquarters, visited Kojiri’s gravesite in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture.

“Democracy is maintained by different people having different opinions and talking about different things,” Yamaura said. “It is impermissible to use violence to contain different opinions.”

He said that he pledged in front of Kojiri’s grave to keep holding a pen without yielding to violence.

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