Shinzo Abe (1954 – 2022) was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, first for a year from 2006 to 2007, then from 2012 to 2020. Although he was still popular, he had to resign as prime minister due to a chronic colon disease. But he was still an important figure in Japanese politics. On Friday morning, he was at an election rally in Nara outside Osaka and gave a speech. A 41-year-old former Marine has shot and killed him with a homemade weapon. Politics in the blood Shinzo Abe was born into a high-profile family in Japan. The country was in full reconstruction after World War II. Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, played a key role in that work, including when he was Prime Minister from 1957 to 1960. Former Prime Minister of Japan Nobusuke Kishi and then President of the United States Richard Nixon in 1969. Photo: Anonymous / AP Kishi, who also participated in the occupation of China during the war, founded the Liberal Democratic Party LDP, which has since ruled Japan almost uninterruptedly. Grandfather Kan Abe was also no unknown figure, as a wealthy landowner and representative in the National Assembly. Foreign Minister of Japan Shintaro Abe in 1985. Photo: HL / AP Politics was in the blood, and Abe’s father, Shintaro Abe, was a representative for 33 years, from 1958 to 1991. In the 1980s, he was also Foreign Minister. Ambitions Abe was ambitious and quickly aimed for a political career. The Bachelor of Political Science at Seikei University was followed by public administration studies in the United States. Then he worked as an assistant and advisor in various ministries and institutions. But it was not until his father Shintaro died in 1991 that Shinzo Abe really entered politics. In 1993, he was elected to the National Assembly, where he rose through the ranks at record speed. Shinzo Abe aboard one of Japan’s self-defense forces’ ships in 2006. Photo: FRANCK ROBICHON / AP Abe chose a nationalist, ultra-conservative and right-wing line, and became a member of the LDP known as “Nippon Kaigi” (“The Japanese Conference”). The group are steadfast monarchists who want to give Japan a constitutional right to have its own army, and deny the war crimes committed during World War II. It was with this group behind him that Shinzo Abe was finally elected Prime Minister in 2006. At the age of 52, he was the youngest Prime Minister of Japan since the war. Shinzo Abe with his wife Akie when he was elected in 2006. Photo: STR / AFP Prime Minister for two terms There was only one year in power between 2006 and 2007. The LDP lost big in the election to the upper house, and Abe made an unpopular choice about not to support a possible female heir to the throne after Emperor Akihito. But when the Democratic Party lost the majority in the National Assembly in 2012, Abe was ready with new plans. Shinzo Abe at an election rally in Sapporo in 2012. Photo: AP With the slogan “Japan is back”, and plans for a total economic reform called “Abenomics”, Abe sailed in as prime minister with the support of 328 of the assembly’s 480 representatives. Japan was a country faced with an economic crisis and a growing proportion of pensioners. At the same time, the political aftershocks following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima could still be felt. Dressed in a Mario suit, Shinzo Abe descends on stage during the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 to take over the Olympic flame. Photo: Masanori Takei / AP «Abenomics», Olympics and «Japan is back» Abe defined Japan’s course in this uncertain time. He stabilized the economy with weak but positive growth figures. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to people affected by floods in Mabi in 2018. Photo: MARTIN BUREAU / AFP He paved the way for the Japanese self-defense forces to be sent abroad to assist allied countries. He signed important trade agreements, and he maintained Japan’s status as a technological leader. Last but not least, he managed to host the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020, despite the corona pandemic. Shinzo Abe, one of the most prominent Asian leaders of modern times, leaves behind a wife and a significant political legacy. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to the press after Shinzo Abe was shot on Friday, July 8. Photo: Eugene Hoshiko / AP
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The man who changed Japan – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
