In the trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, the defendant in the 2022 shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, details previously unreported came to light during the defendant questioning (November-December 2025). Yamagami himself pointed out inaccuracies in media reports. Following the incident, media outlets reported that "Yamagami, who led a difficult life due to the impact of donations, attended one of the top preparatory schools in the prefecture but gave up on university due to financial circumstances." However, this was not due to economic reasons. In his testimony, Yamagami described his childhood up to middle school as "smooth," noting that his maternal grandfather ran a business, allowing them to live comfortably. All three siblings attended cram schools and went to private schools. Yamagami's decision to forgo university was his own choice because "the universities had low deviation scores."

The financial troubles with the Unification Church were settled by 2014 with a repayment of 50 million yen, agreed upon by his mother and three siblings, and Yamagami himself recognized it as "resolved," so he had no intention of consulting a lawyer.

Yamagami testified that he supported former Prime Minister Abe's policies and repeatedly denied feeling "anger" toward Abe.

Just before the incident, he had poured money into making homemade guns and other preparations, causing his debt to swell to over 2 million yen. He quit his job in early June, and with no financial prospects in sight, he stated that he felt "compelled to cause some kind of incident or be cornered."

Triggered by journalist Eito Suzuki's reporting, it was revealed that just five days before the incident, he targeted former Prime Minister Abe due to his connection with the Unification Church, and aimed to deal a blow to the church by drawing public attention.

After the incident, large amounts of support funds were sent to Yamagami from across the country. However, Yamagami stated that there were inaccuracies in the reports about him, and once the trial ends, people will realize he is quite different from the image portrayed, so he believes the money should be returned.

This became a testimony from the defendant himself that overturned the media's initial reports on the motives and background of the incident.

2022年安倍晋三元首相銃撃事件の山上徹也被告裁判で、被告人質問（2025年11-12月）でこれまで報じられなかった詳細が明らかになった。山上被告自身、メディアの報道には不正確なものがあったと指摘した。

事件発生後、メディアでは「献金の影響で苦しい生活をしていた山上被告は県内屈指の進学校に通っていたが、経済的な事情から大学への進学を断念した。」と報じていた。しかし経済的理由で断念したものではなかった。山上被告の証言では、中学まで幼少期を「順調」と話し、母方の祖父が経営を営み不自由なく過ごしていた。兄弟3人全員が塾に通い私立校進学。山上被告の大学進学断念は「偏差値が低い大学だから」と自ら選択したものだった。

統一教会金銭トラブルは2014年までに5000万円返済で母と兄弟３人の同意のもと「解決済み」であり、山上被告自身も解決の認識でいたため弁護士相談の考えは無かった。

山上被告は、安倍元首相の政策を支持していたと証言し、安倍元首相への「怒り」の感情は何度も否定した。

そして事件直前は、手製銃の自作などのため金を注ぎ込み、借金は200万円以上に膨らんでいた。6月初めに仕事を辞め、経済的な見通しが立たなくなったため「何らか事件を起こさないと追い詰められていた」と語った。

ジャーナリストの鈴木エイト氏の報道をきっかけに、事件のわずか５日前に統一教会との関係を理由に安倍元首相を標的としたこと、そして世間の注目を集めることで統一教会に打撃を与えようとしたことを明らかにした。

事件後、山上のもとには全国から多額の支援金が差し入れられた。だが、山上被告は、自分に関する報道に不正確なものがあり、裁判が終わればイメージとかなりと違った人間とわかるはずなので、返すべきだと思っていると語った。

事件当初メディアが報じた動機や背景に関する報道内容を裏返す被告人本人の証言となった。