Lawmaker who gave letter to emperor receives death threat

a group of assassins will be dispatched shortly

Likely the sender has be watching too much Precure.

Little old men hiding behind black windows and shouting through loudspeakers? I'd hardly call them 'assassins'. Anyway, even though we know the threats are a joke, it's going way too far on a non-issue.

Life is like a boomerang.

Good intend always not accounted.

Yamamoto has at least drawn some public attention to the potential health risks faced by children from the Fukushima area and plant workers.

The nutters must have ran out of bullets!

Mr Yamamoto is a hero to people who have been in a limbo for over 2 years since the disaster and only one who exemplified what "NOBLESSE OBLIGE" really is in absolutely selfless way by representing people who have been abandoned by incompetent Officials and Politicians who only act like they care.

@smithinjapan

Don't take this lightly Japan has a long history of right winged nuts that have killed people over their perceived threats to Japan.

Surely , in this day & age when a representative ask for help from the Emperor , others want him to commit Seppukku? Sad day for the everyman AND Japan!

Another publicity for a guy like Yamamoto

Idiots

People are stupid, the guy handed a letter, stop making such a fuss and get a job.

For starters, if this idiot thinks he knows more than the emperor, he is a fool. Just because the emperor doesn't talk much about it, doesn't mean he know a hell of a lot about what is going on, a LOT more than stupid Yamamoto.

He pushed himself into an area that he shouldn't have been in, and was only in that area because he knew that was the place where the cameras were. He could have given it to him somewhere else, not right in front of the cameras. It was an attention-seeking act that went wrong. Because nobody is talking about whatever he wrote in the letter, they are talking about how much of a naive, selfish, stupid idiot he is.

I fear that Yamamoto's actions will only have a negative effect on what he was trying to draw attention to. Sure his group of supporters are happy with what he did, but he has also turned a lot of people off by his actions. I also think he has put the Emperor's future activities in a compromised position. If he goes to Fukushima, people will say he believes Yamamoto. If he stays away, then these actions will be seen as a slap to Yamamoto. The people who will suffer are the survivors of this terrible disaster.

Agree with the Chronic. Royalty are nothing special, and it's a sad state that so many people can get swayed by this rather than worrying about the core issue. Actually, this sums up the mentality of Japan in many ways.

Don't have to be a "Japanese National" to agree with Probie. His / Her point is very well taken. Yamamoto's intent WAS NOT to inform the emperor. The symbolic figurehead deserves protocol. Lots of angry peasants here.

In Japan breaking protocol is a pretty major deal. Sort of like kissing the queen. While death threats are over the top you have to expect that Yamamoto's actions were going to generate controversy; not all of it positive. Bit of a publicity stunt as much as useful. I might agree with his thought but I question his methods.

In other news sources today already there is a report of a new leak at the Fukushima plant, and a report in a high increase in thyroid cancer in people under 18. Yamamoto-san bringing this to the public forefront again, regardless of how he did it, is a GOOD thing. As to giving it to the emperor, I'm sorry, but not being able to is an outdated tradition, and only that. People should be outraged over the situation in Fukushima, not that someone is trying to help.

davejenks: Lots of angry peasants here.

Count me among the proud, angry peasants here. This is just a bunch of idiots blowing things out of proportion because they don't want to deal with any real issues - like Fukushia. Grow up and move on people.

Mr. Yamamoto applying himself to do the right thing is nothing short of a great samaritan as well to the cryout people of Fukushima who are depending on his support with this deadly sensitive matter.

And...The Emperor, marrying a simple-graceful commoner, goes to show He is a People's Emperor - a simple man with simple ways, in a highly imperial-noble manner, if you will.

Lots of people are upset? From where I sit, many Tohoku refugees think he is right on. I know quite a number in Kyushu. Nagasaki prefecture/localities have even given farmers free land. Most of those I have met believe they have been raped by the grand business govermnent alliance which brought us Fukushima.

The JCP takes issue with his defecto recognition of the Emperor system, but o not criticize his actions. That leaves the unrepentant ideologues who were left in power by the US at the end of WWII....the LDP and those to the right of them.

These monsters are just thumbing their noses at the victims by continuing to promote nuclear plants abroad and refusing to take responsibility for the crimes of Repco and METI.

All I have to say is .......Mr Yamamoto for Prime Minister!!!!!!!!!

there are many Japanese who think the whole emperor thing is a waste of tax money. Comparing Yamamoto to "kissing the queen" is ridiculous. The queen is a constitutional monarch, the emperor is a figure of state, only allowed to remain by the occupying forces in order to transistion to a "democracy" or interest of the occupier. Read Bix book about Hirohito see for yourself.

This is just too queer to be a real threat. The person who sent the knife has just given him lots of free publicity. For his actions. I'm going to say it was staged by an actor...

This man only wants the best for the people of Japan, and he's being sent death threats? It shows the priorities of his opposition - they would rather fight to kill than to save. I hope the police do something about this threat - it's no joking matter.

Death threats? Let's hope nothing comes of it. But if Yamamoto is such a hero for the people of Fukushima.... .....why hasn't he even visited there yet?

gelendestrasse

In Japan breaking protocol is a pretty major deal.

While making a historical nuke disaster is not?

Lawmaker who gave letter to emperor receives death threat

well, that was not unexpected

however all the posters saying it is a joke, kind of a surprise

I don't know about a "team of assassins", nor if they could be successful, but I imagine quite a lot of people could be wanting to make some kind of statement or make an example of him. Hope nothing much happens tho...

"which some critics say was a breach of protocol"

It's more than a breach of protocol. I was an attempt to politicize the emperor.

To use him for political purposes (which sets of the black van nutters). Assuming he has a role in politics and governing of the nation (which sets off the other end of the spectrum).

I don't think he thought to deeply about what his action meant. He was well-intentioned and really wanting to garner attention for his cause.

With the exception of some foreign media, I think he largely failed. The domestic media is talking about the medium, and not the message.

Two impoliteness of Yamamoto to the Japanese Emperor exists.

Directly, the participation to a political subject matter was required of the Japanese Emperor.

The riot was caused with the mass media journalist at the entrance of the Imperial Palace.

In Japan, Yamamoto is treated as a Terrorist. It is both nonsense.

The Japanese Emperor went to Fukushima repeatedly,And people were encouraged.

Yamamoto has not gone to Fukushima once. He is hated by the residents of Fukushima. He is shame of Japan.

Yamamoto is Junior high school dropout. This fool can not understand anything. Before becoming a politician, he should study from an elementary school once again.

@Bartholomew Harte

The honorable death penalty to the samurai who is respectable with "Seppukku".

"Shichu-Hikimawashi,Uchikubi-Gokumon" will suit this fool. The death penalty to a criminal large offender.

Japanese Law enforcement agency investigator must be checking where that particular knife was sold, who purchased, fingerprint on letters, envelope, knife, etc beside new kind of DNA test that has been used efficiently to people who cleaned up the object. I am not going to write my guess because one I wrote People who has to use "Gofujo" are not God. and someone decided I think Emperor is God. Look at Japanese dictionary to know what gofujo is in English. In that article, I can not write because I am the last one so I write here. Japanese right wing are itchy constitution is revised so they can use emperor as a puppet, like WW II time. I don;t think Yamamoto is a right wing but he declared Japan is a terrorist country just after emperor gave speech on 3/11.