Head of Japanese Restaurant Chain Is Shot Dead TOKYO - In a brazen gun attack that shocked a country tough on firearms, the head of a nationwide dumpling restaurant chain was shot dead in front of his company's headquarters on Thursday. The restaurant executive, Takayuki Ohigashi, 72, the president of Ohsho Food Service, was shot at close range in a parking lot in the western city of Kyoto early Thursday, according to the police and news reports. An employee found him slumped beside his car and alerted the authorities. Mr. Ohigashi was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. His attacker remains at large, and the Kyoto Prefectural Police said it had set up a special unit to investigate the killing. The armed attack was unusual in Japan, which severely restricts access to firearms and is often held up as an example of what strict gun regulations can achieve. Most of the 250,000 registered guns in Japan are hunting rifles, obtainable only after extensive background checks and training, according to the National Police Agency. The agency recorded four gun-related murders last year, and only 44 gun-related robberies and attempted robberies. At the scene of Thursday's killing, the police found Mr. Ohigashi's wallet with cash still in it and did not suspect robbery, according to news reports. The president was known to arrive early at work, and investigators believe that he may have been ambushed, the reports said. Mr. Ohigashi ran a fast food chain called Gyoza no Ohsho, or King of Dumplings, started in 1967 by his brother-in-law. The chain has about 660 restaurants across Japan. Mr. Ohigashi took helm of the company in 2000 and is credited with using aggressive cost-cutting to turn around restaurants struggling to make a profit in Japan's deflationary economy. At a board meeting, the company named the managing director, Naoto Watanabe, 58, as its new president. It also opened its restaurants as usual on Thursday, though local news media reported that restaurant workers expressed fear and dismay at the shooting. Most gun crime in Japan takes place among the yakuza, Japan's notorious organized crime groups, which are known to have access to smuggled firearms. Of the four victims of last year's gun-related murders, three were known gangsters.