Shinzō Abe

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—Shinzō Abe, campaigning in June 2010.[1]
“”Before there was Trump and other right-wing populists, Prime Minister Abe was the first nationalist leader to win an election in an industrialized democracy and successfully govern as a (right-wing) nationalist.
—Steve Bannon[2]

Shinzō Abe（安倍 晋三) (1954–2022) was a former Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – despite the name, it is a conservative party.[note 1] He served two terms as prime minister – from September 2006 to September 2007 (succeeded by Yasuo Fukuda) and from December 2012 to September 2020 (succeeded by Yoshihide Suga).

He was a Japanese far-right[3][4] ultra-nationalist, reactionary conservative who supported a Shinto, historical revisionist agenda. Abe was a senior member of the Nippon Kaigi, an ultra-nationalist group that is homophobic, misogynistic, racist and historical negationist with a reverence for the former Japanese Empire and Emperor worship, with many members of his cabinet being fellow members of the group. Particularly nasty cabinet members included former prime minister and current deputy prime minister Tarō Asō who once amongst a litany of offensive statements stated Hitler had the "right motives"[5] and former Defence Minister Tomomi Inada who denies the Rape of Nanjing and has been compared to Sarah Palin and Marine Le Pen.[6]

In July 2022, he was assassinated while giving a speech, by an individual who was disgruntled with the LDP's links to and support for the Unification Church.[7] Guns are highly restricted in Japan, making this an even more unusual event; the killer used a crude, homemade gun held together with tape.[8] Intriguingly, the assassination actually sparked widespread scrutiny of the LDP's links to the Unification Church, scandalizing the party for the better part of a year.[7]

Runs in the family[edit]

One of Abe's grandfathers, Nobusuke Kishi,Wikipedia (1896–1987) was also Japanese Prime Minister (1957-1960). Kishi was an early supporter of Japanese fascism when he was still a law student in 1919.[9]:279[10]:33n79 Kishi was an untried war criminal from World War II and was also the economic tsar of the puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria) from 1931, which was crucial in enabling Japan's war of aggression, itself a war crime.[11]:444-445 Kishi worked closely with General Hideki Tōjō, who was himself executed as a war criminal.[11]:445 During his tenure, Kishi oversaw Chinese and Korean slave labor within Manchukuo.[12] In 1937 Kishi wrote Japan's first slave labor policy in 1937.[9]:xv Kishi was racist against the Chinese, which was not unusual for the Japanese at that time.[9]:266 Kishi was heavily involved in opium trafficking through Yakuza connections while economic tsar of Manchukuo.[9]:278-279 Kishi was a compulsive frequenter of brothels by his own admission at a time when Japan's "comfort women" program was active, making him a serial rapist since the women were sex slaves.[9]:xv,267

As PM, Kishi used his Yakuza connections both to enrich himself and then in an attempt to overthrow his own political party for not being right wing enough, only being stopped by the largest protests in Japanese history.[13]:17-34

All of this might be viewed as inconsequential to Abe except that Kishi was influential on Abe's political career, with the two of them having similar policies on some subjects, including on nationalism.[14][15]

The shitshow[edit]

Abe with fellow failure George W. Bush in 2007.

Japan's strict immigration policies, relative ethnic homogeneity, and denial of historical war crimes have made it somewhat of a model for the international far right – Steve Bannon admired him so much that he said, "a great hero to the grassroots, the populist, and the nationalist movement through the world." He even praised Abe as "Trump before Trump."[16][17] The LDP, since its creation in 1955, has also harboured far-right factions and politicians but since the government of Junichiro Koizumi that faction has grown ever stronger. As a result of this, the LDP, similar to the Republican Party, had largely absorbed the far-right into its electoral coalition and increasingly pander to it rather than it existing as a separate party as in countries such as France and Germany.

Comparisons to Trump should be treated with caution, however, as naming Abe as a populist is a stretch. Abe comes from a political dynasty – his father was foreign minister during the 1980s, his maternal grandfather and granduncle were both prime ministers in the 1950's-1970's and his brother is the current defence minister – and he is personally seen as aloof and uncharismatic.[18] His rhetoric, whilst extreme, is not anti-elitist which differentiates him from Japanese leaders who are often seen as populist, such as former prime ministers Kakuei Tanka and Koizumi and Osaka Governor Toru Hashimoto.[19] Abe's pet issues of revising the constitution and adopting a more nationalistic education system are broadly unpopular - when Abe focused on them in his first premiership, his approval rating tanked and he resigned after a year in office.[20]

Authoritarianism of Shinzō Abe[edit]

Abe can be better seen as a wannabe authoritarian who was more concerned with amassing power around himself rather than rigidly enforcing an unpopular ideological agenda. Under his governance, Japan has been ruled in a notably more authoritarian manner with Japan’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index falling from 22nd place in 2012 when he took office to 66th in 2020. Abe also cut committee meetings to scrutinise government policy in the Diet and implemented draconian legislation such as the 2017 anti-conspiracy law which significantly increases surveillance in Japan.[21] He suppressed the liberal national newspaper Asahi Shimbun, and when Abe met with Donald Trump in 2017, he reportedly said, "I’ve been successful in taming the Asahi Shimbun. I hope you will likewise be successful in taming The New York Times." Abe was also reported to get on well with other authoritarian leaders such as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[note 2]

Embarrassing opportunism and anti-Korean racism[edit]

But despite this and massive parliamentary majorities attained through exploiting opposition weaknesses, electoral gerrymandering and voter apathy (the LDP received fewer votes in their 2012 landslide victory than in their 2009 defeat as turnout plummeted), Abe largely shied away from implementing the more controversial aspects of the Nippon Kaigi agenda. It is not particularly popular overall with Abe's post-2012 image as a mainstream politician extolling Japan as a nation of the free world being more attractive both domestically and internationally – but also because Abe, as a bona fide ultranationalist, largely does not need to worry about the far-right making a challenge against him, as they already support him without reservations.[22] This has helped Abe somewhat keep the most vocal elements of the far-right quieter on issues such as the Senkaku islands (which the previous liberal government was constantly under pressure to look tough on China) and thereby erroneously contributed to his image in the West as a "defence against populism". As an opportunist, Abe will rarely pick fights with Japan's larger neighbour due to the fear of being economically squeezed and thereby losing voter support, instead indulging his far-right supporters by attempting to bully the smaller South Korea over historical revisionist issues.[23]

Another indicator of his opportunism was his relationship with the Yasukuni Shrine, a Shinto shrine that holds several class-A war criminals from the WWII era and which in the past, prior visits by Japanese prime ministers such as Yaushiro Nakasone and Koizumi have aroused protests from the Koreas and China. When Abe visited the shrine in 2013[24] backlash from China and South Korea meant he refrained from further visits in his premiership - but showed where his true colours lay shortly after his resignation as Prime Minister he prayed at the shrine again.[25]

Abe was a blatantly anti-Korean racist to the point where even Donald Trump was seen as a liberal. Indeed, his anti-Korean racism has been compared to Donald Trump's anti-immigrant policies, and some Western experts and almost ALL Koreans perceive Abe to be far more "far-right" than Trump. Abe and politicians around him have formed alliances with anti-Korean racist far-right groups.[note 3][26][27][28] In fact, Abe opposed Moon Jae-in's appeasement policy toward North Korea from a far-right Japanese nationalist perspective, but Donald Trump supported Moon. Therefore, liberals in the South hate Abe very much and regard him as a "fascist", but not completely hostile to Trump.[29][30]

Corruption[edit]

Unsurprisingly, Abe was also incredibly corrupt but unlike previous LDP leaders consistently refused to resign over corruption scandals. He had a big political scandal in 2017, which is the allegation that he secretly sponsored a radical kindergarten class that taught anti-Korean far-right nationalist ideas. If true, this is a clear abuse of children, let alone racial discrimination against Koreans.[31]

His government launched a massive economic retaliation in 2019 in protest of a South Korean court's ruling to compensate the South Korean victims involved in the "Japan's wartime forced labor" during World War II. (Here, let's change the subject "Japan" to "Germany" and change the subject "South Korea" to a country damaged by Nazi Germany.)[32]

Reaganomics 2.0 (*Sigh*)[edit]

What Abe must have been thinking when coming up with his revolutionary economic plans

Abe is also known abroad for his "Abenomics" programme that consists of three features – monetary stimulus, fiscal stimulus and structural reform.[note 4] The first two goals are broadly Keynesian – monetary stimulus including slashing interest rates and devaluing the yen to make Japanese exports more competitive, whilst fiscal stimulus has seen the Japanese government embrace huge raises in government spending. However the third arrow – structural reform – is designed to continue the neoliberal reforms of Abe's predecessor Junichiro Koizumi, including deregulation, particularly in the labour market and opening up Japanese markets through free-trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. These policies have been compared to the similarly loose monetary policy and neoliberal reforms of Ronald Reagan.[33] The effect of Abenomics has been greater wealth inequality in Japan due to it being based the same principle of trickle-down economics adopted in North America and Europe and as such more of benefit to Japan's already-dominant corporations than the general populace.[34]

Just being a total asshole[edit]

Abe became the longest serving prime minister of Japan in November 2019[35] surpassing imperial-era prime minister Katsura Tarō and achieved the longest single term on August 24 2020 surpassing his grand uncle Eisaku Satō. Abe achieved this long term through a mixture of his adroit handling of factional politics, a weak and divided opposition providing him with little electoral challenge and a widespread view that there was no alternative within the ruling party. Japan from 2006-2012 had cycled through a prime minister a year, and as mediocre as Abe was, he represented some semblance of stability. This combined with a compliant press, fawning support from the LDP and business community and a strong authoritarian approach allowed Abe to weather scandals and bursts of unpopularity.

Like his peers Trump, Boris Johnson and Jair Bolsonaro, Abe came under fire for his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan. Although Japan recorded fewer infections per capita than other G7 countries, this was mainly credited to prefectural leaders and the ever-efficient bureaucracy. Abe was criticised for indecision, attempting to protect the economy and 2020 Tokyo Olympics over health concerns, and being out of touch with citizens.[36][37]

Facing low approval ratings and a resurgence of his ulcerative colitis condition (which had previously been the catalyst for his resignation in 2007) on August 28th 2020, Abe resigned from the premiership.[38] His successor, former cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, was strongly supported by Abe and his faction in the ensuring leadership, allowing the latter to easily become LDP president and prime minister on a platform of continuing Abe's core policy priorities.[39]

Shadow shogun[edit]

After his resignation, Abe retained a dominant role in the LDP and by extension Japanese politics, being the unofficial leader of the ultranationalist faction of the LDP. Certain former prime ministers often remain powerful after leaving office as so-called "shadow shoguns", controlling the factions within the LDP to appoint puppet prime ministers who appoint the "shadow shoguns" allies to cabinet.

Following the resignation of Suga in 2021, Abe moved to secure control over the next prime minister. The most popular candidate amongst the general public, Taro Kono, was a reformist who implicitly threatened the hold Abe and his allies such as Tarō Asō had over the party. Abe subsequently endorsed the campaign of a fellow far-rightist, Sanae Takaichi, rather than that of former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, who has long been seen as being groomed for the premiership and was the best shot of defeating Kono. However, Kishida has shown himself to be a moderate by LDP standards, and by endorsing Takaichi, Abe and his allies consolidated the right-wing vote in the leadership race entering and gambling on a second round where they could cut a deal with Kishida, giving him Takaichi's votes in exchange for Kishida tacking to the right and maintaining core Abe policies. The gambit paid off with the anti-Kono vote consolidating around Kishida, handing him the premiership.[40] Kishida subsequently appointed key Abe allies, including Takaichi, to senior leadership positions as well as embracing more Abe-esque rhetoric on China. Abe, therefore, got to remain the power behind the throne, and his key policies will most likely continue, though it remains unclear how his assassination will affect the internal politics of the LDP.[41]

Assassination[edit]

On July 8th, 2022, Abe was shot in the back in the middle of a speech in Nara, Japan. He collapsed to the ground, bleeding, and was rushed to the hospital, while the suspect, Yamagami Tetsuya, 41, was arrested for attempted murder. Abe died in the hospital a few hours later.[42] Many world leaders expressed their shock and sadness at the assassination; US President Joe Biden gave a statement about the incident stating that he was “stunned, outraged and deeply saddened by the news that my friend [was shot and killed]”.[43] In contrast, due to the revelation of Abe's ties with the Unification Church (see below) as well as costs to the taxpayer, many Japanese citizens expressed opposition to a state funeral, leading to protests and drop in approval ratings for the current PM Kishida.[44]

The alleged assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, reportedly told authorities that his crime was motivated by Abe's support of the Unification Church.[45] Yamagami's mother had donated the family's savings to the Unification Church, bankrupting the family and led to several suicides due to neglect, including Yamagami's own failed suicide.[46] Abe, his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, and more generally the LDP have associated with the Unification Church for their shared anti-communist ideology.[46] According to Koichi Nakano, an international politics professor at Sophia University, the assassination could lead to a re-examination of how the LDP's political views have been distorted by the Church with regards to gender equality and sexual diversity issues.[46] While in prison, Yamagami himself reportedly received lots of gifts from his supporters and a petition to reduce his sentence, which can be attributed to sympathy towards his status as a Shūkyō niseiWikipedia, child victims of religious cults.[47]

See also[edit]

  • Tarō Asō – Japan's deputy prime minister and prime minister from 2008-2009.
  • Comfort women
  • Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – friendly to Abe
  • Holocaust denial – This is the case if we change Japan to Germany in the act of historical revisionism that Abe does.
  • Junichiro Koizumi – More than anyone else, Abe and his far-right supporters owed their rise in Japanese politics to Koizumi's successful right-wing populist posturing.
  • Narendra Modi – a friend and ally of Abe's
  • Benjamin Netanyahu – Another of Abe's geopolitical partners.
  • Netto-uyoku – just as the alt-right supported Donald Trump, the Netto-Uyoku supported Shinzō Abe.
  • Nippon Kaigi – Abe was a member of this group.
  • Viktor Orban – Similar to Abe, Orban is a politician whose increasingly authoritarian government has allowed him to impose a far-right agenda.
  • Yasukuni Shrine

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ In North America, "liberal" usually means social liberalismWikipedia, but in fact liberalism is not entirely a left-wing ideology. Of course social liberalism, cultural liberalismWikipedia, and (historical) radicalismWikipedia are left-wing ideologies, but conservative liberalismWikipedia, liberal conservatismWikipedia, classical liberalismWikipedia, and economic liberalismWikipedia are right-wing ideologies. Outside North America, "liberal" does not always refer to only social liberalism. That is why Japan has a much more conservative and un-(socially)liberal social culture than the United States, but right-wing political forces sometimes refer to themselves as "liberal".
  2. ↑ This example, in particular, should not surprise you.
  3. ↑ For example, Lee Yong-sooWikipedia, a victim of comfort women and a feminist, was very negative about the comfort women during the Obama administration, and he met President Donald Trump with the help of President Moon Jae-in in 2017. For the former comfort women in South Korea, Donald Trump will feel far more of a feminist than almost all Japanese conservative politicians as well as some Japanese liberal politicians. Indeed, in Japan, even liberals are comfort women negatives. Japan politics is extremely ultra-conservative.
  4. ↑ Shinzō "Rip-off" Abe, anyone?

References[edit]

  1. ↑ https://youtu.be/IHJsoCAREsg
  2. ↑ Ex-adviser Steve Bannon says Abe was 'Trump before Trump,' urges him to play hardball with China. MAR 8, 2019.
  3. ↑ Shinzo Abe? That’s Not His Name, Says Japan’s Foreign Minister The New York Times May 22, 2019
  4. ↑ "The Dangerous Impact of the Far-Right in Japan". Washington Square News. 15 April 2019.
  5. ↑ Japanese minister Taro Aso praises Hitler, saying he had 'right motives' The Guardian, August 30 2017
  6. ↑ ‘Japan’s Sarah Palin’ and prime minister-in-waiting Tomomi Inada to make Washington debut South China Morning Post September 14 2016
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Justin McCurry (January 10, 2023). "How Shinzo Abe's murder and his ties to Moonies blindsided Japanese politics". The Guardian.
  8. ↑ Yuri Kageyama (July 10, 2022). "Abe's killing haunts Japan with questions on homemade guns". The Associated Press.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Absolute Erotic, Absolute Grotesque: The Living, Dead, And Undead In Japan's Imperialism, 1895-1945 by Mark Driscoll (2010) Duke University Press. ISBN 082234761X.
  10. ↑ Planning for Empire: Reform Bureaucrats and the Japanese Wartime State by Janis Mimura (2011) Cornell University Press. ISBN .ISBN 150171354X.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "The Kishi Effect: A Political Genealogy of Japan-ROK Relations" by John Delury (2015) Asian Perspective 39(3):441-460.
  12. ↑ America's Favorite War Criminal: Kishi Nobusuke and the Transformation of U.S.-Japan Relations by Michael Schaller (July 1995) Japan Policy Research Institute Number 11 (archived from March 23, 2004).
  13. ↑ Kapur, Nick (2018). Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674984424. 
  14. ↑ To fathom Abe, just look at his grandfather: Kishi pushed the agenda of today decades ago by Reiji Yoshida (Dec 28, 2006) The Japan Times.
  15. ↑ 安倍晋三の敬愛する祖父岸信介 by Manabu Miyazaki (2006) Dōjidaisha. ISBN 4886835864.
  16. ↑ Ex-adviser Steve Bannon says Abe was 'Trump before Trump,' urges him to play hardball with China. MAR 8, 2019.
  17. ↑ Why Steve Bannon Admires Japan. The Diplomat, June 22, 2018.
  18. ↑ The legacy of Japan's Abe: A bridge to the US, a great wall against China The Hill, September 22 2020
  19. ↑ Power politics: Japan's most popular political platforms Japan Times April 29, 2017
  20. ↑ Embattled Japanese PM stepping down CBC, September 12 2007
  21. ↑ The Leader Who Was 'Trump Before Trump' The New York Times. May 29, 2019
  22. ↑ The Rise and Fall (and Rise?) of Japan’s Neocons Tokyo Review, November 2019
  23. ↑ Abe Ruined the Most Important Democratic Relationship in Asia Foreign Policy September 4, 2020
  24. ↑ Japan PM Shinzo Abe visits controversial Yasukuni war shrine, China says move is 'unacceptable' ABC News, 26 December 2013
  25. ↑ Yasukuni Shrine: Japan's ex-PM Abe visits controversial memorial BBC News, 19 September 2020
  26. ↑ "트럼프와 포옹한 이용수 할머니, 일본에 일침 "참견 마라"" [Elderly lady Lee Yong-soo hugged Trump. ... She spoke strongly to the Japan's [right-wing Japanese nationalist government] "Don't interfere"]. 중앙일보.
  27. ↑ Adelstein, Jake (July 8, 2022). "Shinzo Abe Was 'Trump Before Trump'—Except He Pulled It Off". The Daily Beast. "His authoritarian legacy will live on for decades to come, and in retaining power, he even trumped Trump. ... During his exile from power, Abe and his cabinet members allied with anti-Korean and other xenophobic groups. Abe drummed up anti-Korean sentiment to bolster his support, and made sure his allies did the dog-whistles while he kept his hands clean. While Trump portrayed immigrants as the boogeyman threatening Japan; Abe latched onto deep-rooted anti-Korean sentiment, towards both the Korean residents of Japan who stayed after the war and citizens of South and North Korea, former colonies of Japan. He appointed Eriko Yamatani, a woman closely associated with the flamingly anti-Korean group Zaitoku-Kai, to be the head of the National Public Safety Commission that oversees the National Police Agency."
  28. ↑ "아베는 철저히 '아름다운 일본'을 고수했다". 경향신문. July 25, 2021. 한국에서 아베 전 총리는 흔히 극우 정치인 내지 일본 극우 세력의 핵심 인물로 여겨진다. 국제사회의 평가는 다르다. 아베 전 총리의 부고를 전하는 서구권 외신 기사 대부분은 "일본 전시 역사에 대한 모호한 태도와 안보에 대한 강경한 자세로 한국과의 갈등을 초래했다"(워싱턴포스트)고 짚으면서도 그를 '극우'로 여기는 경우는 많지 않다. "트럼프와 같은 민족주의자는 아니었으나 극우 세력의 사랑을 받았다"(시애틀타임스)는 정도로 표현한다. [In South Korea, Abe is mostly considered a "far-right politician" or a "key figure in Japanese far-right forces". However, the international community's assessment is different. Most Western foreign articles that convey Abe's obituary pointed out that "the ambiguous attitude toward Japanese war crimes history and hawkish attitude toward security caused conflict with South Korea" (Washington Post), but it is not common to regard him as a "far right". [Western media] Mainly describe [Shinzo Abe as] "not a nationalist like Trump, but loved by far-right forces" (Seattle Times).]
  29. ↑ "문정인 "바이든이 미 대통령 되면 북한 문제 풀기 어려워"" [Moon Chung-in said, "If Biden [not Trump] becomes the U.S. president, it will be difficult to solve the North Korean problem".]. 동아일보. 3 July 2020.
  30. ↑ "김어준 "바이든 찍으면 미북 정상회담 못 봐" 황당방송" [ Kim Eo-jun said, "If [Americans] vote Biden, [Korean] can't see the North Korea–United States summit", it is absurd remark broadcasting.]. 조선일보. August 8, 2020.
  31. ↑ Ultra-nationalist school linked to Japanese PM accused of hate speech.
  32. ↑ Korea eyes WTO suit over Japan’s move against Korean chips. AsiaNews Network. July 2, 2019
  33. ↑ Abenomics Looks a Lot Like Reaganomics Bloomberg. 29 March 2018
  34. ↑ Abenomics reminds us why ‘trickle down’ doesn’t work Asia Times. 27 November, 2017.
  35. ↑ Shinzo Abe weathers scandals to become Japan's longest-serving prime minister November 20 2019
  36. ↑ How Shinzo Abe has fumbled Japan’s coronavirus response ABC News, April 27 2020
  37. ↑ Shinzo Abe accused of going awol as Japan tackles Covid surge The Guardian, August 6 2020
  38. ↑ Justin McCurry, "Japan PM Shinzo Abe quits over health concerns", The Guardian, August 28 2020
  39. ↑ Yoshihide Suga officially named as Japan's new Prime Minister, replacing Shinzo Abe CNN, September 16 2020.
  40. ↑ The first challenge for Japan’s new Prime Minister is party unity Tokyo Review, September 2021
  41. ↑ Analysis: Japan 'shadow shogun' Abe assured clout over next PM Kishida Reuters, September 2021
  42. ↑ "Shinzo Abe: Japan ex-PM shot dead at campaign event," BBC
  43. ↑ "Yamagami intended to kill Shinzo" forbes
  44. ↑ Shinzo Abe: man sets himself alight in protest at state funeral for killed Japan PM. Justin McCurry. The Guardian, September 21, 2022
  45. ↑ Michael Penn, The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe. Singetsu News Agency, 10 July 2022.
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 The Unification Church's ties to Japan's politics: The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has revealed long-suspected, little-talked-of links between him and the Unification Church by Mari Yamaguchi (July 14, 2022, 7:21 PM) Associated Press via ABC News.
  47. ↑ The Church, the State and Kishida's headache Deep Dive Podcast. The Japan Times. December 7, 2022
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