Japan Rightist Fires Shot Over Emperor Tax

A Japanese rightist, angry at taxes being levied on the estate of the late Emperor Hirohito, brandished a pistol at the staff in a government tax office and fired a shot at the ceiling before being arrested, police said Wednesday.

The 31-year-old man, Kazuyoshi Fukuda, did not injure anyone in the tax office near the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo, police said.

Hirohito died Jan. 7 at age 87, leaving $15 million in cash and other assets. Tokyo newspapers said the imperial family has been asked to pay about $2.8 million in inheritance taxes.

Rightist groups, who revere the emperor as being above such mundane matters as taxes, have been enraged that his successor, Emperor Akihito, was presented with the tax bill.