The man accused of fatally shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pleaded guilty Tuesday as the country’s new prime minister hosted President Donald Trump.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, appeared in court when Trump was in the country to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, widely described as an ideological heir to Abe and someone Trump regularly praises. Takaichi joins the late former prime minister’s push to overhaul Japan’s pacifist constitution and boost the country’s defense capabilities.
On Monday, Trump said he heard Takaichi “was a great ally and friend of Shinzo Abe, who was my friend.”
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Tetsuya Yamagami, the alleged assassin of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, leaves a police station in Nara, western Japan, on July 10, 2022. (Nobuki Ito/Kyodo News via AP, file)
Yamagami pleaded guilty to the charges read out by prosecutors, The Associated Press reported, citing broadcaster NHK. Multiple media outlets reported that Yamagami was wearing a black shirt and gray pants and had his hair tied back.
“It’s all true. There is no doubt that I did all this,” Yamagami said when a judge at the Nara District Court asked him to enter a plea. The Japan Times reports this. The outlet added that the suspect said he would consult with his lawyers on legal issues.
The AP reported that Yamagami is accused of fatally shooting Abe with a homemade firearm as the former prime minister gave a speech out of resentment against the controversial Unification Church, which he believed was linked to Abe and other politicians.
While Yamagami pleaded guilty, his lawyers reportedly objected to the details of the charges against him. The Japan Times reported that lawyers argued that the homemade weapon he used at the time of the shooting should not be considered a firearm under Japanese law. The law was changed after Abe’s assassination.
Yamagami reportedly told officials that his mother made huge donations to the church, which led to the family’s financial collapse, according to the AP. The Unification Church was founded in South Korea a year after the Korean War ended in 1953.
A portrait of Abe Shinzo, the former Prime Minister of Japan, at an altar installed near the site where he was assassinated on Friday in front of the Yamato-Saidaiji Station on July 10, 2022 in Nara, Japan. (Jinhee Lee/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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The trial will take place in the western city of Nara and will end in mid-December, the AP said, citing Kyodo news agency.
Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister since World War II. When Abe was assassinated in 2022, Trump issued a statement declaring it was “really bad news for the world.”
“Few people know what a great man and leader Shinzo Abe was, but history will teach them and be kind. He was a unifier like no other, but above all he was a man who loved and cherished his beautiful country, Japan. Shinzo Abe will be deeply missed. There will never be another like him,” Trump wrote. Truth Social in 2022.
President Donald Trump listens as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 18, 2018. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
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Upon his arrival in Japan on Monday, Trump praised 64-year-old Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister. She came to power earlier this month following the resignation of former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after the Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority in the House of Lords in July.
Trump left the Japan leg of his Asia trip with trade and rare earths deals signed, which he and Takaichi said would mark the “golden age” of U.S.-Japan relations. He told Takaichi that the US would be there for “anything you want, any favors you need, anything… to help Japan,” the BBC reported.
Addressing US troops aboard the USS George Washington at Japan’s Yolosuka Naval Base, Trump said the first batch of missiles for Japan’s F-35 fighter jets “will arrive this week.”
President Donald Trump speaks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with members of the military aboard the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier docked at a U.S. naval base, in Yokosuka, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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Trump praised the U.S. alliance with Japan, calling it “one of the most remarkable relationships in the world.”
Takaichi, who shared the stage with Trump, said Japan is “committed to fundamentally strengthening its defense capabilities” and “is ready to contribute even more proactively to peace and stability in the region.”
