Blast raises queries about Japan's G7 preparedness

There are growing concerns about Japan safely holding the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May, after a bomb went off near Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a campaign event in Wakayama on Saturday.

Kishida tried to assuage concerns saying Japan will do its best to increase security for the summit. The country's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno stressed that the government will ensure "watertight" security for the summit.

A well-trained special security unit under the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, which was set up in 1975 after then prime minister Takeo Miki was attacked, looks after the security of Japan's top leaders. However, the security system's effectiveness is under a cloud following the killing of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot twice while giving a speech on the streets of Nara in August, and the latest blast near Kishida.