On September 5, according to the Asahi Shimbun, news from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said that at about 23:40 local time on the 4th, the car taken by Japanese variety celebrity and film director Takeshi Kitano was suddenly attacked by a man in the courtyard of TBS TELEVISION station located in Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo.
According to reports, the man involved was suspected to be a member of the local gang, and at the time of the incident, he rushed to the car with a pickaxe-like weapon and knocked on the body, while also holding a 10-centimeter-long knife. Takeshi Kitano and the driver were not injured in the attack. The man, who was about forty years old, was uniformed by a police officer who rushed to the scene after receiving a security alarm and was arrested on suspicion of violating the Firearms and Knives Act. The Tokyo Shimbun quoted investigators as saying that the man involved confessed to his crime after his arrest and said in his confession, "In June, I knelt in front of Kitano Takeshi's car and said that I wanted to enter the entertainment circle, but Kitano Ignored it." ”
Takeshi Kitano is one of Japan's most famous directors, and his unique film style has been repeatedly recognized by major film festivals, making Takeshi Kitano the most awarded Asian director in international film festivals after Akira Kurosawa. Takeshi Kitano's directing career began in 1989, he won the Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Rookie Awards at the Japan Film Awards that year for his self-directed debut film "Violent Man"; subsequently, Takeshi Kitano won the Best Film Award and the Best Director Award at the 1991 Japanese Film Blue Ribbon Awards for "That Summer, The Sea of Tranquility", won the Golden Lion Award at the 1997 Venice Film Festival and the Best Director Award at the Montreal Film Festival for "Fireworks", and the Best Director Award for "Humpback City" Won the Best Director Award at the Venice Film Festival. In 2010, Takeshi Kitano's self-written and self-directed crime film "Extremely Evil" was shortlisted for the main competition section of the 63rd Cannes Film Festival.
After the attack, media such as the Asahi Shimbun speculated in relevant reports that Takeshi Kitano was attacked for his political remarks. It is reported that before the attack, Kitano Takeshi just participated in THE TBS live broadcast of current affairs information. In the episode, Takeshi Kitano commented on politics such as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's abandonment of re-election and his candidate for prime minister.
This is not the first time Takeshi Kitano has made sarcastic remarks about Japan's political and social issues. Outside of movies, Takeshi Kitano has always shown himself as "dare to speak". In 1973, Takeshi Kitano entered the show business as a manga actor and became a household name for his large-scale spat on Japan. Subsequently, Takeshi Kitano participated in the production of programs such as "Enemy Laughter" and "Nippon Broadcasting", and his program "Kitano Takeshi's TV Tackle" has been broadcast since 1991 and is one of the longest-lived programs of TV Asahi.
On July 24, 2021, Takeshi Kitano publicly complained about the opening ceremony of the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games on a TV show, and Kitano Tookshi bluntly said that he was ashamed of the opening ceremony.
Kitano also expressed his dissatisfaction with Japan several times in his writings. In "Covid-19 and The Fool," published in 2021, Takeshi Kitano questioned and blamed the Japanese government for what it had done during the COVID-19 pandemic. In his 2010 book, Takeshi Kitano, in which he attacked Japanese culture, he pointed out that Japan "is a people of extremists," and Kitano expressed dissatisfaction with Japanese politics, arguing that it was "almost an American colony... Japan has become a slave to the United States"; in the book, Kitano Takeshi also criticizes the Japanese prime minister's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, arguing that Japan's leaders should publicly apologize for the historical legacies of foreign aggression.
On September 6, Kitano Takeshi office denied that Kitano Washi had been attacked for making political remarks. At present, the cause of the attack on Kitano Takeshi is unknown.