Otoya Yamaguchi

was a Japanese political activist and assassin. He killed Inejirō Asanuma, the head of the Japanese Socialist Party (JCP). On October 12, 1960, the killing was broadcast live by NHK television.
Assassin.
Yamaguchi was an assassin because he killed a politically active man. His reasons for the murder were political.
Yamaguchi was a member of a radical group. In 1960, he killed Inejiro Asanuma when he was at a public meeting. Soon after, Yamaguchi killed himself in a juvenile center. He wrote on the wall of the room in which he hung himself. His last words were written using a paste made from tooth powder and water. He wrote "Seven lives for my country ..." which was a reference to the last words of 14th century samurai Kusunoki Masashige.
Legacy.
Yasushi Nagao captured the assassination in a dramatic photograph. The image won the 1960 World Press Photo award.
Nobel Prize-winning writer Kenzaburō Ōe based his book "Seventeen" on Yamaguchi.