Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday denounced an attack the previous day in which an explosive device was thrown at him just before he was supposed to make a stump speech in the western Japan city of Wakayama.
"A violent act taking place during elections, the bedrock of democracy, can never be tolerated," Kishida told reporters at his official residence, a day after a man cast the cylindrical object that exploded and let out white smoke near the premier.
Kishida also called for stepped-up security measures during campaigning for lower and upper house by-elections slated for next Sunday ahead of the Group of Seven summit that Japan will host in Hiroshima in May.
The attack on Kishida came less than a year after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot last July during a stump speech in the city of Nara before the House of Councillors election, an incident that led the National Police Agency to bolster its VIP security.
Kishida, who was due to make a speech at a fishing port in Wakayama, was unhurt after the man threw the cylindrical-shaped explosive device at around 11:25 a.m. Saturday from among a crowd of about 200 people, sending them fleeing in panic.
The man was about 10 meters away from Kishida when he threw the object, police said. A local police officer sustained a minor injury following the explosion.
Ryuji Kimura, a 24-year-old man from Hyogo Prefecture, was arrested at the scene. He has refused to answer police questions in the absence of a lawyer.
Kimura was subdued by a 54-year-old man immediately after the device was thrown. The local fisherman told Kyodo News on Sunday that he jumped on Kimura "instinctively" as the suspect was "still doing something with his hands" after casting the object.
On Sunday, police searched Kimura's home for around eight hours. Investigative sources said the suspect brought two objects with him believed to be explosive devices, including the one used in the attack, which seems to have been a handmade pipe bomb.
The police seized metal pipes and tools, as well as powdery substances that could be gunpowder, the sources said, adding that Kimura may have used such items to make the explosive device. The motive behind the incident remains unknown.
Last year, Abe was assassinated by Tetsuya Yamagami, a former member of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force, using a homemade weapon, despite Japan being a country that has some of the world's strictest gun laws.
Kimura, meanwhile, was found to have brought a knife with him tucked inside his backpack, with the blade's length measuring about 13 centimeters, the sources said, causing the police to suspect he may have intended to carry out his attack differently depending on the situation.
The police plan to send him to prosecutors on Monday.
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