After recovering, Abe staged an unexpected political comeback in 2012, when he was again elected LDP president and led it to a landslide victory inthat year's election. He became the first former prime minister to return to office sinceShigeru Yoshida in 1948. Abe attempted to counter Japan'seconomic stagnation with "Abenomics", with mixed results. He was also credited with reinstating theTrans-Pacific Partnership witha new agreement in 2018. In 2015, he passedmilitary reforms which allowed deployment of theJapan Self-Defense Forces overseas, which was highly controversial and met withprotests. Abe led the LDP to further victories in the2014 and2017 elections, becoming Japan's longest-serving prime minister. In 2020, he again resigned as prime minister, citing a relapse of his illness, and was succeeded byYoshihide Suga.
In 2022,Abe was assassinated inNara while delivering a campaign speech for theupper house elections. The suspect,Tetsuya Yamagami, confessed that the assassination was motivated by Abe's ties with theUnification Church. This was the first assassination of a former Japanese prime ministersince 1936. A polarizing figure in Japanese politics, Abe was praised by his supporters for strengthening Japan's security and international stature, while opponents criticized him for his nationalistic policies andhistorical revisionism, which they view as threatening Japanese pacifism and damaging relations with China and South Korea.
Abe's maternal grandfather,Nobusuke Kishi, was thede facto "economic king" of occupied China andManchukuo, a Japanese puppet state in Northern China established after theJapanese invasion of Manchuria in the lead-up to theSecond Sino-Japanese War and World War II.[4][5] During the war, Kishi served as Vice Minister of Munitions in the cabinet of Prime MinisterHideki Tojo.[6] At the end of the war, Kishi was imprisoned as a suspected"Class-A" war criminal by theUS military occupation of Japan, but was released and later de-purged as part of the Occupation's "reverse course" due to theCold War.[6] Kishi helped found theLiberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 1955 and served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 until his 1960 resignation following theAnpo protests.[7][8] TheBBC speculated that Abe's aversion to protests may have originated as a result.[9] Abe viewed Kishi as his "No 1 role model" and was influenced by many of his beliefs, like Kishi's hawkish stance on China.[9][10] Regarding Kishi, Abe later wrote: "Some people used to point to my grandfather as a 'Class-A war criminal suspect,' and I felt strong repulsion. Because of that experience, I may have become emotionally attached to 'conservatism,' on the contrary".[10] His motherYōko was a notedcalligrapher.[citation needed]
Abe's paternal grandfather,Kan Abe, was aYamaguchi landowner who served in the House of Representatives during World War II. In contrast to Kishi, Kan Abe was a stalwart pacifist who opposed the Tojo government and war in East Asia.[11]
In April 1979, Abe began working forKobe Steel.[18] He left the company in 1982 and pursued a number of government positions including executive assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, private secretary to the chairperson of the LDP General Council, and private secretary to the LDP secretary-general.[19] Abe worked as a secretary for his father who visited 81 countries in the 1980s. These travels imparted to Abe the importance of building relations with foreign leaders.[17]
After his father's death in 1991, Abe was elected to thefirst district of Yamaguchi Prefecture [ja] in 1993 winning the most votes of the four Representatives elected in theSNTV multi-member district. Abe joined theSeiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, afaction in the Liberal Democratic Party.[20] Shintaro Abe had headed the faction from 1986 until his death. Yoshirō Mori and Junichiro Koizumi were seniors in the faction. In 1999, Abe became Director of the LDP Social Affairs Division.
In 2000, Abe's home and the office of his supporters inShimonoseki, in Yamaguchi Prefecture, were attacked withMolotov cocktails on numerous occasions. The perpetrators were severalyakuza belonging to theKudo-kai, aKitakyushu-based designated bōryokudan syndicate. The reason for the attacks was believed to be that Abe's local aide refused to give cash to a Shimonoseki real estate broker in return for supporting a Shimonoseki mayoral candidate in 1999.[21]
Abe was the leader of a project team within the LDP that conducted a survey on "excessive sexual education and gender-free education". Among the items to which this team raised objections wereanatomical dolls and other curricular materials "not taking into consideration the age of children", school policies banning traditional boys' and girls' festivals, and mixed-genderphysical education. The team sought to provide a contrast to theDemocratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which it alleged supported such policies.[23]
On 20 September 2006, Abe was elected to succeed Koizumi as the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.[24] His chief competitors for the position wereSadakazu Tanigaki andTarō Asō.Yasuo Fukuda was a leading early contender but ultimately chose not to run. Former prime minister Yoshirō Mori, to whose faction both Abe and Fukuda belonged, stated that the faction strongly leant toward Abe.[25]
Abe (pictured in 2006) was the youngest prime minister sinceFumimaro Konoe in 1941.
On 26 September 2006, Abe was inaugurated as Japanese prime minister.[26] Elected at age 52, he was the youngest prime minister sinceFumimaro Konoe in 1941.[27] He was also the first prime minister bornafter World War II.[28] Abe'sfirst cabinet was announced on 26 September 2006. The only minister retained in his position from the previous Koizumi cabinet was Foreign Minister Tarō Asō, who had been one of Abe's competitors for the LDP presidency. In addition to the cabinet positions existing under Koizumi, Abe created five new "advisor" positions.He reshuffled his cabinet on 27 August 2007.[29] Commentators noted that these changes seemed to be an effort by Abe to organize the Prime Minister's office into something more akin to theWhite House.[30]
The New York Times observed that his cabinet appeared to place a larger emphasis on foreign policy and national security instead of domestic concerns like economic policy. It also speculated that Abe's primary goal may have been to revise the pacifist constitution.[30]
Abe expressed a general commitment to the reforms instituted by his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi.[27] He took some steps toward balancing the Japanese budget, such as appointing a tax policy expert,Kōji Omi, as Minister of Finance. Omi previously supported increases in the nationalconsumption tax, although Abe distanced himself from this policy and sought to achieve much of his budget-balancing through spending cuts.[31]
Since 1997, as the bureau chief of the "Institute of Junior Assembly Members Who Think About the Outlook of Japan and History Education", Abe supported the controversialJapanese Society for History Textbook Reform and theNew History Textbook.[32] In March 2007, Abe, along with right-wing politicians, proposed a bill to encourage nationalism and a "love for one's country and hometown" among the Japanese youth (specific wording from the revised "Fundamental Law of Education"教育基本法, which was revised to include "love of country").[33]
In March 2007, Abe stated that there was no evidence that theJapanese military had forced women into sexual slavery during World War II, which the Japanese government had admitted and apologized for in the 1992Kono Statement.[34] Responding to a potential motion by the US Congress encouraging Japan to acknowledge the atrocity, Abe stated that the Japanese government would not apologize again.[35]
Abe generally took a hard-line stance onNorth Korea, especially regarding theNorth Korean abductions of Japanese citizens.[37][38][39] In 2002 negotiations between Japan and North Korea, Prime Minister Koizumi and general secretary Kim Jong-il agreed to give abductees permission to visit Japan. A few weeks into the visit, the Japanese government decided that the abductees would be restricted from returning to North Korea where their families live. Abe took credit for this policy decision in his bestselling book,Towards a Beautiful Nation (美しい国へ,Utsukushii kuni e). North Korea criticized this Japanese decision as a breach of a diplomatic promise, and the negotiations were aborted.
Abe publicly recognized the need for improved relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and, along with Foreign Minister Tarō Asō, sought an eventual summit meeting with PRC paramount leaderHu Jintao.[40] Abe also said thatChina–Japan relations should not continue to be based on "emotions".[41]
Abe expressed the need to strengthen political, security, and economic ties with Southeast Asian countries. Although the PRC is not within the Southeast Asian region, Japan has also sought its support. However, relations with the PRC and the ROC continue to be tarnished by theSenkaku Islands dispute and Abe's visits to theYasukuni Shrine.
Abe, in his four terms as the prime minister of Japan, sought to upgrade the strategic Japan–India relationship.[43] Abe initiated theQuadrilateral Security Dialogue between Japan, the United States, Australia, and India in 2007, which was seen as a counter to China's rising power.[44] His three-day visit to India in August 2007 inaugurated a new bilateral Asian alliance, building on the long history of friendlybilateral relations between India and Japan. Abe's initiative was to establish the "fifth" bilateral link in an emerging scenario, whereby, the US–Australia, US–Japan, Japan–Australia, and the US–India links are supportive strategic alignments. A sixth link of India-Australia would be the logical corollary, formalized as a new quadrilateral of a strategic bulwark. The eventual expansion to include Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines, and Indonesia in this arrangement has been speculated in the media of those states. Chinese strategic experts have labeled the evolving geo-strategic paradigm, the "Asian NATO".[45] Abe's pragmatic India foreign policy was to boost Japan's resurgent economic indicators while gaining a crucial partner in Asia.[46]
Abe sought to revise or broaden the interpretation ofArticle 9 of the Japanese Constitution in order to permit Japan to maintainde jure military forces. He stated that "we are reaching the limit in narrowing down differences between Japan's security and the interpretation of our constitution".[47] During his first period as prime minister, he upgraded the Japan Defense Agency tofull ministry status.[48] Like his predecessors, he supported the Japanese alliance with the United States.[26] Abe supported the US-ledIraq War.[49][50]
Abe resigned as prime minister in September 2007 (pictured).
In the lead-up to the July election, Abe's Agriculture MinisterToshikatsu Matsuoka committed suicide following a series of political funding scandals. He was the first cabinet member to commit suicide since World War II.[51] Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffered great losses in theupper house election, losing control for the first time in 52 years. Agricultural minister,Norihiko Akagi, involved in a political funding scandal, resigned after the election. Additionally, Abe's rejection of a possible female Japanese monarch, which led to the Japanese succession controversy, diminished[citation needed] his support base.[52] In an attempt to revive his administration, Abe announced a new cabinet in August 2007. Support for Abe rose by 10 percent as a result; however, the new agricultural ministerTakehiko Endo, involved in a finance scandal, resigned only seven days later.[53]
On 12 September 2007, only three days after a new parliamentary session had begun, Abe announced his intention to resign his position as prime minister at an unscheduled press conference.[54][55] The announcement came just minutes before opposition leaders were scheduled to question him in Parliament and shocked many. Abe had described himself as a "politician who fights" and previously pledged not to resign.[56] Abe explained that his unpopularity was hindering the passage of an anti-terrorism law, involving among other things Japan's continued military presence inAfghanistan. Party officials also said the embattled prime minister was suffering from poor health.[57]
Abe meeting with PresidentMa Ying-jeou during his 2010 visit to Taiwan
Abe remained in the National Diet following his resignation as prime minister. He was re-elected to hisYamaguchi 4th district seat in the2009 election, when the Liberal Democratic Party lost power to the DPJ.[58] On 15 October 2010, Abe delivered a speech in Washington DC to theHudson Institute onUS-Japan relations. Japan had recently been surpassed by China as the number two economy in the world, a position that it had held for the previous 40 years. Abe said: "It appears that China hopes to gain control not only over Taiwan, but also over theSouth China Sea, theEast China Sea and, indeed, the entire Western Pacific... China's military strategy has rested on the concept of a 'strategic frontier'. In a nutshell, this very dangerous idea posits that borders andexclusive economic zones are determined by national power, and that as long as China's economy continues to grow, its sphere of influence will continue to expand. Some might associate this with the German concept of 'lebensraum'." Abe saw in theASEAN countries a counterbalance to Chinese expansionism. Abe feared theFinlandization of Japan with respect to China, and saw the reaction of theKan Cabinet to the September2010 Senkaku boat collision incident as "a very foolish move" and "frighteningly naive". He stated the "imperative that Japan conduct a review of itsThree Principles on Arms Exports."[59][60]
While serving as a member of the Japanese Diet, Abe visited Taiwan in 2010 and 2011. There he met with presidentMa Ying-jeou, former presidentLee Teng-hui and future presidentTsai Ing-wen, who was then the leader of theDemocratic Progressive Party.[61][62][63] Ma described Abe as "the ROC's best friend" and said Abe was the third generation of his family to have close ties with the Republic of China.[61] Abe also visited theNational Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the war dead of the Republic of China, including those who died in the Second Sino-Japanese War.[64] Abe later revealed that the illness that contributed to ending his first term as prime minister wasulcerative colitis, but that he recovered due to access to a drug,Asacol, that was previously unavailable in Japan.[65]
Abe (pictured campaigning in 2012) briefly served as opposition leader.
Abe and other candidates campaigning during the LDP presidential election in 2012. His chief rival,Shigeru Ishiba, is standing immediately to his right.
Following the resignation of LDP president Sadakazu Tanigaki, Abe was re-elected as president of the party on 26 September 2012, coming in second out of five candidates in the first round of voting, but defeating former Defense MinisterShigeru Ishiba in a runoff vote by 108 votes to 89.[66]
Abe returned to the LDP leadership at a time of political turmoil, as the governing DPJ had lost its majority in the lower house due to party splits over nuclear policies and the cabinet's move to raise theconsumption tax from 5 to 10 percent. Prime MinisterYoshihiko Noda was forced to rely on the LDP to pass the consumption tax bill and in return was pressured by Abe and the opposition parties to hold a snap general election. Noda agreed to this on the conditions that the LDP passed a bond-financing bill and would support a commission to reform the social security system and address electoral malapportionment in the next diet session.[67]
On 16 November 2012, Prime Minister Noda announced the dissolution of the lower house and that thegeneral election would be held on 16 December.[68] Abe campaigned using the slogan"Nippon o Torimodosu" ("Take back Japan"), promising economic revival through monetary easing, higher public spending and the continued use of nuclear energy, and a tough line in territorial disputes.[69][70] In the elections on 16 December 2012, the LDP won 294 seats in the 480-seat House of Representatives. Together with theNew Komeito Party (which partnered with the LDP since the late 1990s), Abe was able to form a coalition government that controlled a two-thirds majority in the lower house, allowing it to override the upper house's veto.[71]
EmperorAkihito formally appoints Abe to office as prime minister, 2012
On 26 December 2012, Abe was formally elected as prime minister by the Diet, with the support of 328 out of 480 members of the House of Representatives. He and hissecond cabinet, which he called a "crisis-busting cabinet", were sworn in later that day.[72][73] The new government included LDP heavyweights such as former prime minister Tarō Asō asDeputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister,Yoshihide Suga as Chief Cabinet Secretary andAkira Amari as Economy Minister.[72] Following his victory, Abe said, "With the strength of my entire cabinet, I will implement bold monetary policy, flexible fiscal policy and a growth strategy that encourages private investment, and with these three policy pillars, achieve results."[74]
In February 2013, Abe gave an address at theCentre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., in which he explained his economic and diplomatic objectives, and that he had returned to the prime ministership to prevent Japan becoming a "Tier Two Nation", declaring that "Japan is back".[75]
The Second Abe cabinet revived the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) that had played a key role in formulating economic policy during the Koizumi cabinet, but had been abandoned by the 2009–2012 DPJ administrations.[76]
Abe declared in his January 2013 policy speech to the Diet that economic revival and escapingdeflation was "the greatest and urgent issue" facing Japan.[77] His economic strategy, referred to asAbenomics, consisted of the so-called "three arrows" (an allusion toan old Japanese story) of policy. The first arrow was monetary expansion aimed at achieving a 2% inflation target, the second a flexible fiscal policy to act as an economic stimulus in the short term, then achieve a budget surplus, and the third a growth strategy focusing on structural reform and private sector investment to achieve long-term growth.[75]
In 2019, it was reported that 40% of key economic statistics collected from 2005 to 2017 contained errors, casting doubt on the effectiveness of Abe's economic program and the reliability of Japanese economic statistics. It was discovered that the labor ministry did not follow protocol by only surveying about one-third of all the large Japanese businesses it was supposed to survey. The data was eventually corrected, and it was discovered that the faulty data presented Japanese economic statistics more favorably than the corrected data.[78] The faulty data costed 19.7 million people about 53.7 billion yen in unpaid benefits, and costed the Japanese government 650 million yen to correct the error.[78] Opposition politicians criticized the governments response; one lawmaker called Abe's economic program a fraud, with many journalists labeling the event as a data scandal.[78][79][80]
Haruhiko Kuroda, whom Abe appointed as Governor of theBank of Japan (BOJ) in spring 2013, implemented the "first arrow" monetary policy.
At the first CEFP meeting in January 2013, Abe declared that theBank of Japan should follow a policy of monetary easing to achieve a target of 2 percent inflation. Abe maintained pressure on the Bank's governor,Masaaki Shirakawa, who was reluctant to set specific targets, into agreeing to the policy. In February, after Abe publicly speculated that the government could legislate to strip the bank of independence, Shirakawa announced he was leaving office prematurely before his term expired.[81][82] Abe then appointedHaruhiko Kuroda as governor, who had previously advocated inflation targets, and who has pursued the government's policies of monetary easing.[83]
After the first meeting of the Bank's monetary policy committee after he had taken office in April, Kuroda announced an aggressive program of easing intended to double the money supply and achieve the 2 percent inflation target at "the earliest possible time".[84] Over the first six months of the second Abe Cabinet, the Yen fell from a high of ¥77 to the dollar to ¥101.8, and theNikkei 225 rose by 70 percent.[85]
In a surprise move in October 2014, Kuroda announced that the BOJ would boost the monetary easing program and accelerate asset purchases, the monetary policy committee split by five votes to four but supported the policy. This was interpreted as a response to disappointing economic figures in the aftermath of the increase in the consumption tax to 8 percent, inflation has fallen to 1 percent from its peak of 1.5 percent in April.[86][87]
Abe's Minister of FinanceTarō Asō, who also served as deputy prime minister
The Abe Cabinet's first budget included a 10.3 trillion yen stimulus package, composed of public works spending, aid for small businesses and investment incentives, that aimed to increase growth by 2 percent.[88] The budget also increased defense spending and manpower while reducing foreign aid.[89]
In Autumn 2013, Abe decided to proceed with the first stage of the increase in the consumption tax from 5 to 8 percent in April 2014 (with a second stage envisaged raising it to 10 percent in October 2015). The bill to raise the tax had been passed under the previous DPJ government, but the final decision lay with the Prime Minister. He and Finance Minister Tarō Asō explained that the tax would be increased to provide a "sustainable" basis for future social spending and to avoid the need to finance future stimulus by issuing government bonds. While this was expected to affect economic growth in the quarter following the rise, Abe also announced a 5-trillion yen stimulus package that aimed to mitigate any effects on economic revival.[90] After the increase in April, Japan fell into recession during the second and third quarters of 2014, leading to Abe delaying the second stage of the tax rise until April 2017 and calling asnap election (see§ 2014 general election).[91] In response to the recession, Aso announced that the government would ask the Diet to pass a supplementary budget to fund a further stimulus package worth 2–3 trillion yen.[92]
There had been some division within the Abe cabinet between "fiscal hawks", such as Finance Minister Aso, who favored fiscal consolidation through spending cuts and tax increases, and deflationists, such as Abe himself, who argued in favor of a "growth first" policy that prioritizes economic expansion and recovery over budget considerations using the slogan "no fiscal health without economic revitalization".[93][94][95] Abe's decision to delay the consumption tax increase in November 2014 and his push for a large fiscal deficit in the 2015 budget without social security cuts was interpreted as a victory for this faction within the LDP. The government did, however, commit to a primary surplus by 2020, and pledged to review its strategy in 2018 if the primary deficit had not fallen to 1 percent of GDP by that time.[93]
"Third Arrow": Growth strategy and structural reform
On 15 March 2013, Abe announced that Japan was entering negotiations to join theTrans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This was interpreted by analysts as a means through which the government could enact reforms to liberalize certain sectors of the Japanese economy, most notably agriculture, and was criticized by farm lobbies and some sections of the LDP.[96][97] Economist Yoshizaki Tatsuhiko described the TPP as having the potential to act as the "linchpin of Abe's economic revitalization strategy" by making Japan more competitive through free trade.[98] In February 2015, the Abe government struck a deal to limit the power of theJA-Zenchu body to supervise and audit Japan's agricultural co-operatives, in a move designed to facilitate TPP negotiations, improve the competitiveness of Japan's farming sector and curtail the influence of the agriculture lobby.[99]
Abe revealed the first measures related to the "third arrow" policies in June 2013, which included plans to establishderegulated economic zones and allow the sale of drugs online, but did not include substantial measures related to the labor market or business reform.[100] These measures were less well-received than the first two arrows had been since Abe took office, with the stock market falling slightly and critics arguing that they lacked detail;The Economist, for example, judged the announcement a "misfire".[101] Analysts did note, however, that Abe was waiting until after the JulyUpper House elections to reveal further details, to avoid an adverse reaction by voters to potentially unpopular reforms.[102] At the annual meeting of theWorld Economic Forum (WEF) inDavos in 2014, Abe announced that he was ready to act as a "drill bit" to break through the rock of vested interests and "red tape" to achieve structural reforms of the economy. He cited reforms in agriculture, energy and health sectors as evidence of this, and pledged to push forward with the TPP, a Japan–EU trade deal and tax, corporate governance and planning reforms.[103]
Abe announced a package of structural reforms in June 2014, thatThe Economist described as "less a single arrow than a 1,000-strong bundle" and compared favorably to the 2013 announcement. These new measures included corporate governance reform, the easing of restrictions on hiring foreign staff in special economic zones, liberalizing the health sector, and measures to help foreign and local entrepreneurs.[104] The plans also included a cut in corporation tax to below 30 percent, an expansion of childcare to encourage women to join the workforce, and the loosening of restrictions on overtime.[105] In December 2015, the government announced corporation tax would be reduced to 29.97 percent in 2016, bringing the cut forward one year ahead of schedule.[106]
Akira Amari, who served as Abe's economy minister from 2012 to 2016, oversaw the "third arrow" growth strategy and negotiations to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
In September 2013, Abe called for a "society in which all women can shine", setting a target that 30 percent of leadership positions should be held by women by 2020. Abe cited the "womenomics" ideas ofKathy Matsui that greater participation by women in the workforce, which is relatively low in Japan, especially in leadership roles, could improve Japan's GDP and potentially fertility rates, despite declining population figures. The Abe cabinet introduced measures to expand childcare and legislation to force public and private organizations to publish data on the number of women they employ and what positions they hold.[107][108][109]
In November 2013, the Abe cabinet passed a bill to liberalize Japan's electricity market by abolishing price controls, breaking up regional monopolies, and separating power transmission from generation by creating a national grid company. This move was partly in response to the2011 Fukushima disaster, and the bill faced little opposition in the Diet.[110] By March 2015, more than 500 companies had applied to theEconomy Ministry to enter the electricity retail market and the electricity industry was expected to be fully liberalized by 2016, with gas utilities expected to follow suit by 2017.[111] Abe had also said he favored the re-building of Japan's nuclear reactors following the Fukushima disaster (though much of the authority to restart nuclear plants lies with local governments) and planned to strengthen relations with the United States.[112]
In 2013, the Eurekahedge Japan Hedge Fund Index posted a record 28-percent return, which was credited to the unprecedented actions of the Abe government.[113] In July 2015, theIMF reported that, while the structural reforms had "modestly" improved growth prospects, "further high-impact structural reforms are needed to lift growth" and prevent over-reliance on yen depreciation.[114]
When Abe returned to office, although neither party had controlled theHouse of Councillors (the upper house of the Diet) since the 2007 election, the opposition DPJ was the largest party. The governing coalition enjoyed a two-thirds majority in the lower house, allowing it to override the upper house's veto, but this requires a delay of 90 days. This situation, known as the "Twisted Diet", had contributed to political gridlock and the "revolving door" of prime ministers since 2007.[115] Abe's campaign for the 2013 election focused on themes of economic revival, asking voters to give him a stable mandate in both houses to pursue reforms, and took a more moderate tone on defense and constitutional matters.[116][117]
In the2013 upper house election, the LDP emerged as the largest party with 115 seats (a gain of 31) and the Komeito with 20 (a gain of 1), giving Abe's coalition control of both houses of the Diet, but not the two-thirds majority in the upper house that would allow for constitutional revision.[118] With no national elections due until 2016, this result was described as giving Abe the opportunity of "three golden years" of parliamentary stability in which to implement his policies.[119]
Abe's return to the prime ministership saw a renewed attempt to downplay Japan's wartime atrocities in school textbooks, an issue that had contributed to his earlier downfall.[120] In 2013, Abe supported the creation of theTop Global University Project program. This is a ten-year program to increase international student attendance in Japanese universities and hire more foreign faculty. There is also funding for selected universities to create English-only undergraduate programs.[121][122] In 2014, Abe allocated millions of dollars of the fiscal budget to help programs that help single individuals in Japan find potential mates. These programs entitled "Marriage support programs" were started in hopes ofraising Japan's declining birthrate, which was half of what it was six decades prior.[123]
Shortly after taking office Abe signaled a "drastic reshaping" of foreign policy and promised to pursue diplomacy with a global, rather than a regional or bilateral outlook based on "the fundamental values of freedom, democracy, basic human rights, and the rule of law".[77] His choice ofFumio Kishida asforeign minister was interpreted as a sign that he would pursue a more moderate line compared to his hawkish stance in the run-up to the general election.[76] His first visit overseas after becoming prime minister once again was to various countries in Southeast Asia.[124] Abe increased its allies in its international campaign to counter a North Korean nuclear threat. Abe often visited countries such as Singapore, Japan's largest Asian investor and vice-versa.[125]
Within weeks of returning to power, the Second Abe cabinet faced theIn Amenas hostage crisis of 2013 in which 10 Japanese citizens were killed. Abe condemned the killings as "absolutely unforgivable" and confirmed that Japan and Britain had co-operated over the incident.[126] Abe believed that this incident demonstrated the need for the creation of aJapanese National Security Council (see below), and convened a panel to consider its creation soon after the crisis.[127]
Abe was unusually active in the field of foreign affairs for a Japanese prime minister, making visits to 49 countries between December 2012 and September 2014, a number that was described as "unprecedented" (by contrast, his immediate two predecessorsNaoto Kan and Yoshihiko Noda visited a combined total of 18 countries between June 2010 and December 2012).[128] This was interpreted as a means to offset poor relations with the PRC and the Koreas by increasing Japan's profile on the world stage and improving bilateral ties with other countries in the region. Southeast Asian nations, Australia, and India were significant and frequent destinations for Abe, who visited all 10ASEAN countries in his first year in office. The diplomatic tours also functioned as another element of Abenomics by promoting Japan to the international business community and opening up avenues for trade, energy, and defense procurement deals (for example, business executives often travel with Abe on these visits).[129][130]
In September 2013, Abe intervened to aidTokyo's bid to host the2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, giving a speech in English at theIOC session in Buenos Aires, in which he extolled the role of sport in Japan and sought to reassure the committee that any ongoing issues with theFukushima plant were under control.[131][132] After the bid was successful, Abe sought to portray the games as symbolic of his Abenomics economic revitalization programme, saying, "I want to make the Olympics a trigger for sweeping away 15 years of deflation and economic decline."[133] In 2014 he said that he hoped a "robot olympics" would be held at the same time, to promote the robotics industry.[134]
Abe's foreign policy moved Japan away from its traditional focus on the "big three" bilateral relationships with the United States, PRC, and South Korea, and sought to increase Japan's international profile by expanding ties withNATO, theEuropean Union, and other organizations beyond the Asia-Pacific region.[135][136] In 2014, Abe and British prime ministerDavid Cameron agreed to establish a "2 + 2 framework" of annual consultations between the British and Japanese foreign and defense ministries, with Abe calling for greater co-operation on issues "from peace of the seas to the security of the skies, space andcyberspace". This followed a similar agreement with French ministers in Tokyo earlier in the year.[135][137] In fact, this followed theHerman Kahn lecture of 25 September 2013 in which he outlined his foreign policy for the next several years; in fact he was the first non-American to receive this award. In it he championed "the Indo-Pacific century" based on "freedom, democracy, human rights and the rules-based order with the TPP as its backbone". He planned at this time to reshape the interpretation of the constitution away from the narrowness that would see theJSDF handcuffed and unable to help allies in time of need. The new National Security Council of Japan was born in this speech, during which Abe observed that its neighbor had increased its own military budget by at least 10% per annum for more than 20 years. Abe stated that because Japan was one of the most mature democracies he thought it only natural that Japan help ensure the welfare and security of the world, and found it right that his "beloved country [be] a proactive contributor to peace".[138][139]
In January 2014, Abe became the first Japanese leader to attend India'sRepublic Day Parade in Delhi aschief guest, during a three-day visit where he and Prime MinisterManmohan Singh agreed to increase co-operation over economic, defense and security issues and signed trade agreements related to energy, tourism and telecoms.[143] A close relationship was anticipated between Abe and Narendra Modi after the latter's election asPrime Minister of India in May 2014, when it was noted that they had established ties from at least seven years previously when Modi was stillChief Minister of Gujarat and that Modi was one of three people Abe "followed" on Twitter. The two men exchanged congratulatory messages after the election.[144] Modi made his first major foreign visit to Japan in autumn of 2014, where during the visit Abe invited Modi to become the first Indian leader to stay at the Imperial State Guest House inKyoto.[145] The two leaders discussed agreements on nuclear co-operation,rare-earth elements, and joint maritime exercises.[146]
On 30 May 2014, Abe told officials from the ASEAN countries, the United States, and Australia, that Japan wanted to play a major role in maintaining regional security, a departure from the passiveness it has displayed since World War II. He offered Japan's support to other countries in resolving territorial disputes.[147]
Relations between Japan and its immediate neighbors, the PRC and South Korea, remained poor after Abe's return to office. While he declared that the "doors are always open on my side", no bilateral meetings between Abe and the PRC leadership took place for the first 23 months of his second term.[75][148] Neither did Abe hold any meetings with PresidentPark Geun-hye of South Korea during his 2012 to 2014 term of office.[149] Both countries criticized Abe'svisit to the Yasukuni Shrine in December 2013, with the PRC'S Foreign Minister describing the action as moving Japan in an "extremely dangerous" direction.[150] In addition the PRC continued to criticize Abe's defense reform policies, warning that Japan should not abandon its post-war policy of pacifism.[151] Abe's speech at the WEF in 2014 was interpreted as a criticism of PRC foreign and defense policy when he said that "the dividends of growth in Asia must not be wasted on military expansion" and called for greater preservation of thefreedom of the seas under therule of law, although he did not specifically refer to any one country during his remarks.[152][153]
In November 2014, Abe met PRC presidentXi Jinping at theAPEC meeting in Beijing for the first time since either had taken office, after a photocall that was described as "awkward" by the press. Abe later told reporters that during the meeting he suggested establishing a hotline between Tokyo and Beijing to help resolve any maritime clashes and that the "first step" had been taken to improve relations.[148][154]
Abe tried to centralize security policy in the Prime Minister's office by creating theNational Security Council to better coordinate national security policy, and by ordering the first National Security Strategy in Japan's history.[155] Based upon theAmerican body of the same name, the law to create the NSC was passed in November 2013 and began operating the following month when Abe appointedShotaro Yachi as Japan's first National Security Advisor.[156]
In December 2013, Abe announced a five-year plan of military expansion. He described this as "proactive pacificism", with the goal of making Japan a more "normal" country, able to defend itself. This was in reaction to a PRC buildup and a decreased American influence in the region.[157]
In the same month, the Diet passed the Abe cabinet'sState Secrecy Law, which took effect in December 2014.[158] The law expanded the scope for the government to designate what information constitutes a state secret and increased penalties for bureaucrats and journalists who leak such information to up to 10 years in prison and a 10-million-yen fine. The passage of the law proved controversial, with thousands protesting the bill in Tokyo and the cabinet's approval rating falling below 50 percent for the first time in some polls. Detractors argued that the law was ambiguous and therefore gave the government too much freedom to decide which information to classify, that it could curtail freedom of the press, and that the cabinet had rushed the legislation without including any corresponding freedom of information guarantees.[159][160] Abe argued that the law was necessary and applied only in cases of national security, diplomacy, public safety and counter-terrorism, saying, "If the law prevents films from being made, or weakens freedom of the press, I'll resign."[161] However he did concede that, in retrospect, the government should have explained the details of the bill more carefully to the public.[162]
In July 2014, the Abe cabinet decided to re-interpretJapan's constitution to allow for the right of "Collective Self-Defense".[163] This would allow theSelf Defense Forces to come to the aid of, and defend, an ally under attack, whereas the previous interpretation of the constitution was strictly pacifist and allowed for the force to be used only in absolute self-defence.[164] The decision was supported by the United States, which has argued for greater scope for action by Japan as a regional ally, and led to a revision of the US-Japan defense cooperation guidelines in 2015.[165][166] In response thePRC Foreign Ministry said the decision "raised doubts" about Japan's commitment to peace, and argued that the Japanese public is opposed to the concept of collective self-defense.[167] Abe argued that the move would not lead to Japan becoming involved in "foreign wars" such as theGulf orIraq War, but instead would secure peace through deterrence.[168] This led to the introduction of the 2015 security legislation to give legal effect to the cabinet's decision (see below).
The cabinet inaugurated in December 2012 was the longest-serving and most stable in post-war Japanese history, lasting 617 days without a change in personnel until Abe conducted a reshuffle in September 2014, with the stated aim of promoting more women into ministerial posts. The reshuffled cabinet tied the record of five women ministers set by the first Koizumi cabinet. Most key figures, such as Deputy Prime Minister Aso and Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga, were kept in their posts although Abe moved Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki out of the cabinet to become Secretary-General of the LDP.[169] However, on 20 October two of the women promoted in the reshuffle, Justice MinisterMidori Matsushima and Trade MinisterYūko Obuchi, were forced to resign in separate election finance scandals. Abe told the press, "As prime minister, I bear full responsibility for having appointed them, and I apologize deeply to the people of Japan."[170]
Abe giving a speech in front of the Gundam Cafe inAkihabara, 2014
In November 2014, while Abe was attending the APEC forum meeting in the PRC and theG20 Summit in Australia, rumors began appearing in the press that he was planning to call a snap election in the event that he decided to delay the second stage of the consumption tax increase.[171] It was speculated that Abe planned to do this to "reset" Diet business after it had become gridlocked due to the fallout from ministerial resignations in October, or because the political situation would be less favorable to re-election in 2015 and 2016.[172]
On 17 November, GDP figures were released that showed Japan had fallen into recession as per the two-quarters of negative growth following the first stage of the consumption tax rise in April.[91] Abe held a press conference on 21 November and announced that he was delaying the rise in the consumption tax by 18 months, from October 2015 to April 2017, and calling a snap general election for 14 December. Abe described the election as the "Abenomics Dissolution" and asked the voters to pass judgment on his economic policies.[173] Abe's popularity fell slightly with the announcement and he declared that he would resign if his coalition did not win a simple majority, though analysts agreed this was highly unlikely due to the weak state of the opposition.[174] The opposition parties attempted to field a united front in opposition to Abe's policies, but found themselves divided on them.[175]
In the2014 general election, the LDP won 291 seats, a loss of 3, but theKomeito gained 4 to win 35. Therefore, the governing coalition maintained its two-thirds majority in a slightly reduced lower house of 475.[176]
On 24 December 2014, Abe was re-elected to the position of Prime Minister by the House of Representatives. The only change he made when introducing histhird cabinet was replacing defense ministerAkinori Eto, who was also involved in a political funding controversy, withGen Nakatani.[177] In his February policy speech, as the Cabinet weathered aMoritomo Gakuen school scandal, Abe called upon the new Diet to enact "most drastic reforms since the end of World War II" in the sectors of the economy, agriculture, healthcare and others.[178][179]
On a tour of the Middle East in January 2015, Abe announced that Japan would provide 200 million dollars in non-military assistance to countries fighting against theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant as part of a 2.5-billion-dollar aid package.[180] Shortly after this, ISIL released a video in which a masked figure (identified as Mohammed Emwazi or "Jihadi John") threatened to kill two Japanese hostages,Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, in retaliation for the move unless Abe's government paid 200 million dollars of ransom money. Abe cut short his trip to deal with the crisis, declared that such acts ofterrorism were "unforgivable" and promised to save the hostages while refusing to pay the ransom.[181] The Abe cabinet worked with the Jordanian government to attempt to secure the release of both hostages, after further videos were released by ISIL linking their fate to that of the pilotMuath al-Kasasbeh, with deputy foreign ministerYasuhide Nakayama conducting negotiations inAmman.[182] Both hostages were killed with ISIL releasing news of Yukawa's death on 24 January and Goto's on 31 January. Abe condemned the killings as a "heinous act", declared that Japan would "not give in to terrorism" and pledged to work with the international community to bring the killers to justice.[183] There was some criticism of Abe for his move to pledge aid against ISIL while they were holding Japanese citizens hostage, but polls showed support for his administration increasing in the aftermath of the crisis.[184] He later used the example of the hostage crisis to argue the case for the collective self-defense legislation that his government introduced in the summer of 2015 (see below).[185]
In April 2015, Abe addressed ajoint session of the United States Congress, the first Japanese prime minister to do so. In his speech he referred to the Japan–US Alliance as the "Alliance of Hope", promised that Japan would play a more active security and defense role in the alliance and argued that the TPP would bring both economic and security benefits to the Asia-Pacific region.[186][187] The address served as part of a state visit to the United States, the eighth of the Obama Presidency, which President Obama referred to as a "celebration of the ties of friendship" between America and Japan. During the visit, Abe attended a state dinner at the White House.[188]
Like his predecessorsTomiichi Murayama and Junichiro Koizumi, Abe issued a statement commemorating the 70th anniversary of theend of World War II on 14 August 2015. This statement had been widely anticipated, with some commentators expecting Abe to amend or even refuse to repeat the previous leaders' apologies for Japan's role in the war.[189] In the statement, Abe committed to upholding the previous apologies and expressed "profound grief and eternal, sincere condolences" for the "immeasurable damage and suffering" Japan had caused for "innocent people" during the conflict. He also argued that Japan should not be "predestined to apologize" forever, noting that more than eighty percent of Japanese people alive today were born after the conflict and played no part in it.[190][191] The governments of both China and South Korea responded with criticism of the statement, but analysts noted that it was muted and restrained in tone, in comparison to the harsher rhetoric than had been employed previously.[192] A representative of theUS National Security Council welcomed the statement and referred to Japan as having been a "model for nations everywhere" in its record on "peace, democracy, and the rule of law" since the war's end.[193] ProfessorGerald Curtis ofColumbia University argued that the statement "probably satisfies no constituency" either in Japan or abroad, but that by repeating the words "aggression", "colonialism", "apology" and "remorse" used in theMurayama Statement of 1995, it was likely to be enough to improve relations with China and Korea.[194]
In December 2015, Abe and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi signed deals in which India agreed to buyShinkansen technology from Japan (financed in part by a loan from the Japanese government), and for Japan to be raised to full partner status in theMalabar naval exercises. Also agreed at the talks was a proposal for Japan to sell non-military nuclear technology to India, to be formally signed once technical details were finalized.[195] Demonstrating their close relationship, Abe described Modi's policies as "likeShinkansen—high speed, safe and reliable while carrying many people along". In return, Modi complimented Abe as a "phenomenal leader", noted how India–Japan relations had a "wonderful human touch" and invited him to attend theGanga aarti ceremony atDashashwamedh Ghat in hisVaranasi constituency.[196][197] Analysts described the nuclear deal as part of Japan and India's efforts to respond to the growing power of the PRC in the Asia-Pacific region.[198]
In Seoul in November 2015, Abe attended the firstChina–Japan–South Korea trilateral summit held for three years with Korean president Park Geun-hye and PRC premierLi Keqiang. The summits had been suspended in 2012 due to tensions over historical and territorial issues. The leaders agreed to restore the summits as annual events, negotiate a trilateral free trade agreement, and work to checkNorth Korea's nuclear weapons programme. They also announced that trilateral co-operation had been "completely restored".[199][200][201]
Japan's relations with South Korea improved somewhat during Abe's third term, in the aftermath of Abe's war anniversary statement.[202] Abe and South Korea's President Park Geun-hye held their first bilateral meeting in November 2015, where they agreed to resolve the "comfort women" dispute, which Park described as the biggest obstacle to closer ties.[149] In late December 2015, foreign ministers Fumio Kishida andYun Byung-se announced in Seoul that a deal had been reached to resolve the comfort women dispute, in which Japan agreed to pay 1 billion yen (US$8.3 million) into a fund to support the 46 surviving victims, and issued a statement that contained Abe's "most sincere apologies and remorse".[203][204] Abe later telephoned Park. In return, the South Korean government agreed to consider the matter "finally and irreversibly resolved" and work to remove a statue in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Both sides agreed to refrain from criticizing each other over the issue in the future. President Park stated that the agreement would be a "new starting point" for relations between the two countries, although both leaders received some domestic criticism: Abe for issuing the apology, and Park for accepting the deal.[205][206]
On 27 May 2016, Abe accompanied Barack Obama when he became the first sitting US president to visitHiroshima, 71 years after theUS atomic bombing of the city towards the end of World War II. The two paid tribute to the victims of the bombing at theHiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, during the visit both leaders pledged to promotenuclear disarmament.[207][208][209] On 27 December 2016, Abe paid a reciprocal visit toUSSArizona Memorial, Honolulu.[210] The Abe government and the Japanese public mistakenly thought Abe's visit of Honolulu was unprecedented. Abe's visit drew public attention for the first time to the three quiet visits to Honolulu by Japanese prime ministers in 1951, 1956, and 1957.[211]
Abe and US presidentDonald Trump in 2017 with hats reading "Donald & Shinzo, Make Alliance Even Greater"
Shortly after Donald Trump had won theUS presidential election, Abe cut short his presence at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit being held inLima, Peru, in order to have an informal, impromptu meeting with the then president-elect at theTrump Tower.[212] After Trump's inauguration, they had a formal meeting atMar-a-Lago inPalm Beach, Florida, at which they discussed security in light of a North Korean threat,[213] with Abe stating that Japan would be more committed toJapan–United States relations. They also golfed alongside South African professional golferErnie Els.[214][215]
In his April speech to the US Congress, Abe announced that his government would "enact all necessary bills by this coming summer" to expand the Self-Defense Forces' capacity for operations and to give effect to the cabinet's July 2014 decision to re-interpret the constitution in favor of collective self-defense.[186] The Abe cabinet then introduced 11 bills making up the"Peace and Security Preservation Legislation" into the Diet in May 2015, which pushed for a limited expansion of military powers to fight in a foreign conflict. The principal aims of the bills were to allow Japan's Self-Defense Forces to come to the aid of allied nations under attack (even if Japan itself was not), to expand their scope to support international peacekeeping operations, and to allow for Japan to take on a greater share of security responsibilities as part of theUS-Japan Alliance.[216][217][218]
To allow for enough time to pass the bills in the face of lengthy opposition scrutiny, the Abe cabinet extended the Diet session by 95 days from June into September, making it the longest in the post-war era.[219] The bills passed the House of Representatives on 16 July with the support of the majority LDP-Komeito coalition. Diet members from the opposition Democratic,Innovation,Communist, andSocial Democratic parties walked out of the vote in protest at what they said was the government's move to force the bills through without sufficient debate and ignore "responsible opposition parties".[220][221] Abe countered by arguing that the bills had been debated for "as many as 113 hours" before the vote.[222] While common practice in many otherparliamentary democracies, a government using its majority to "railroad" controversial bills through the Diet in the face of political and public opposition is a subject of criticism in Japan.[223]
As a result of these moves, Abe faced a public backlash, and opinion polls showed that his approval ratings fell into negative figures for the first time since he returned to power in 2012, with 50 percent disapproving and 38 percent approving of the cabinet according to one Nikkei survey taken at the beginning of August.[224] Many protested outside the Diet buildings, denouncing what was referred to as "war bills" by opponents. Organizers of the protests estimated that up to 100,000 protesters marched against the bills' passage of the lower house in July.[225] During Diet committee hearings on the bills, constitutional scholars (some of whom had been invited by the ruling parties) and a former Supreme Court justice argued that the legislation was unconstitutional.[226][227] Abe was publicly criticized by atomic bomb survivorSumiteru Taniguchi in his speech at theNagasaki memorial ceremony on 9 August, when he stated that the defense reforms would take Japan "back to the wartime period".[228] Members of the Abe cabinet said that they would make a greater effort to explain the contents of and the reasons for the security legislation to the public, with the LDP releasing an animated cartoon commercial, and Abe appearing live on television and internet chat streams to make the case for the legislation and take questions from members of the public.[229]
Abe with US secretary of defenseJim Mattis in 2017
The security bills were finally approved by the House of Councillors, 148 votes to 90, and became law on 19 September. This followed opposition attempts usingdelaying tactics as well as physical altercations, in which some Diet members attempted to stop the relevant chairman from calling the vote to move the bill out of committee and to a general vote.[230][231] After the vote, Abe issued a statement saying that the new laws "will fortify our pledge to never again wage war", and that the legislation, rather than being "war bills", was instead "aimed at deterring war and contributing to peace and security". He also pledged to continue to explain the legislation to try to gain "greater understanding" from the public on the issue.[232] Following the bills' passage, Abe was expected to once again return his focus to economic issues.[217]
On 18 October 2015 Abe presided over the triennial fleet review of theJapan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Self-Defense Forces. In his speech to personnel on board the destroyerKurama, he announced that "by highly hoisting the flag of 'proactive pacifism,' I'm determined to contribute more than ever to world peace and prosperity". Later that day he went aboard theUSS Ronald Reagan, becoming the first Japanese prime minister to set foot on an American warship.[233]
In December 2015, the Abe government announced the creation of a new intelligence unit, theInternational Counterterrorism Intelligence Collection Unit [ja], to aid counter-terrorism operations, to be based in the Foreign Ministry but led by the Prime Minister's Office. This was reported as being part of efforts to step up security measures in preparation for the2016 G7 Summit inShima, Mie, and2020 Olympics in Tokyo.[234] In the same month the cabinet approved Japan's largest-ever defense budget, at 5.1 trillion yen (US$45 billion), for the fiscal year beginning in April 2016. The package included funding intended for the purchase of three"Global Hawk" drones, sixF-35 fighter jets, and aBoeing KC-46A midair refueling aircraft.[235]
In September 2015, Abe was re-elected as president of the LDP in an uncontested election after LDP Diet memberSeiko Noda failed to garner enough support to stand as a candidate.[236] Following this Abe carried out a cabinet reshuffle, once again keeping the key ministers ofFinance, Economy, Foreign Affairs, and the Chief Cabinet Secretary in post. He also created a new ministerial position for the coordination of policies related to the economy, population decline, and social security reform, which was filled byKatsunobu Katō.[237]
At a press conference after his official re-election as LDP president, Abe announced that the next stage of his administration would focus on what he called "Abenomics 2.0", the aim of which was to tackle issues oflow fertility and an aging population and create a society "in which each and every one of Japan's 100 million citizens can take on active roles".[232] This new policy consisted of targets which Abe referred to as "three new arrows"; to boost Japan's GDP to 600 trillion yen by 2021, to raise the national fertility rate from an average of 1.4 to 1.8 children per woman and stabilize the population at 100 million, and to create a situation where people would not have to leave employment to care for elderly relatives by the mid-2020s. Abe explained that the government would take measures to increase wages, boost consumption, and expand childcare, social security and care services for the elderly to meet these goals.[238][239]
This new iteration of Abenomics was met with some criticism by commentators, who argued that it was not yet clear if the first three arrows had succeeded in lifting Japan out of deflation (inflation was some way below the 2 percent target), that the new arrows were merely presented as targets without the necessary policies to meet them, and that the targets themselves were unrealistic.[240][241][242] However, opinion polls during the final months of 2015 showed the Abe cabinet's approval ratings once again climbing into positive figures after the change in emphasis back to economic issues.[243][244]
At the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks in early October 2015, Abe hailed the agreement for creating an "unprecedented economic zone" and opening up possibilities for an even wider Asia-Pacific free trade deal and Japanese trade with Europe. He also promised to mitigate any negative effects on the Japanese agricultural sector.[245] GDP figures released in November 2015 initially appeared to show that Japan had entered a second recession since the implementation of Abenomics.[246] However, these figures were subsequently revised to show that the economy had grown by 1 percent in the third quarter, thus avoiding recession.[247]
In December 2015, the two parties making up Abe's governing coalition agreed to introduce a reduced rate of consumption tax for food when the anticipated tax increase from 8 to 10 percent takes place in April 2017. This deal was reached after Abe was seen to come down strongly in favor of the position held by his junior coalition partner, the Komeito, that the tax rate should be reduced, which prompted some disagreement from members of his party who favored a policy of greater fiscal consolidation through taxes.[248][249][250] Abe dismissed the chairman of the LDP's tax panelTakeshi Noda (who opposed the reduction), and appointedYoichi Miyazawa, who was more favorable to the policy, as his replacement.[251] Abe declared the tax deal to be "the best possible result" of the negotiations.[252]
At the 2016 election to the House of Councillors, the first that allowed Japanese citizens 18 and over to vote, Abe led the LDP–Komeito pact to victory, with the coalition being the largest in the House of Councillors since it was set at 242 seats. The election's results opened the debate on constitutional reform, particularly in amending Article 9 of Japan's pacifist constitution, with pro-revisionist parties gaining the two-thirds majority being necessary for reform, alongside a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, which would ultimately lead to a nationwide referendum.[253]Abe remained relatively quiet on the issue for the remainder of the year, but in May 2017, announced that the constitutional reform would be in effect by 2020.[254]
The2017 general election was held on 22 October. Prime Minister Abe called the snap election on 25 September, while theNorth Korea crisis was prominent in the news media.[255] Political opponents of Abe say the snap election was designed to evade questioning in parliament over alleged scandals.[256] Abe was expected to retain a majority of seats in the Diet.[257] Abe's ruling coalition took almost a majority of the vote and two-thirds of the seats. The last-minute campaigning and voting took place asTyphoon Lan, the biggest typhoon of 2017, was wreaking havoc on Japan.
On 20 September 2018, Abe was re-elected as leader of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party.[258][259] On 19 November 2019, Abe became Japan's longest-serving prime minister, surpassing the 2,883-day record ofKatsura Tarō.[260] On 24 August 2020, Abe became the longest-serving prime minister in terms of consecutive days in office, surpassing Eisaku Satō's 2,798-day record.[261]
In March 2018, it was revealed that the finance ministry (with finance minister Tarō Asō at its head) had falsified documents presented to the parliament in relation to theMoritomo Gakuen scandal, in order to remove 14 passages implicating Abe.[262] It was suggested that the scandal could cost Abe his seat as Liberal Democratic party's leader.[262] Further accusations arose the same year that Abe had given preferential treatment to his friend Kotarō Kake to open a veterinary department at his school, Kake Gakuen. Abe denied the charges, but support for his administration fell below 30% in the polls, the lowest since his taking power in 2012. Those who called for him to step down included former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi.[263] The scandal was referred to by some as "Abegate".[264] Former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi speculated that Abe would likely resign due to the scandal.[265]
The scandals, while not damaging his political standing permanently, did little good for his image. In July 2018, Abe's public standing was further hit after he held a drinking party with LDP lawmakers during the peak of thefloods in western Japan.[266] In 2020, Abe came under further criticism for extending the term of top Tokyo prosecutorHiromu Kurokawa, who later resigned amid a gambling scandal. Abe's approval rating fell from 40% to 27% during the month of May 2020, largely due to his handling of the Kurokawa situation.[267]
Abe developed close ties with US president Donald Trump, with whom he is pictured playing golf in 2019.
Abe supported the2018 North Korea–United States summit. Shortly after the summit was announced, Abe told reporters he appreciated "North Korea's change" and attributed the diplomatic change in tone to the coordinated sanctions campaign by the United States, Japan, and South Korea.[268] Abe, however, cautioned President Trump not to compromise on North Korea's missile program and leave Japan exposed toshort-range missiles or relieve pressure on North Korea too soon before complete denuclearization.[269][270] Abe also expressed a desire to hold a bilateral meeting with North Korea on the issue ofabductions of Japanese citizens, pressing President Trump to raise the matter at the summit.[271] Reports in 2019 revealed that Abe authorized covering up information about two missing people from Japan living in North Korea.[272][273]
In 2018, Abe paid a 2-day formal visit to the PRC, in the hopes of improving foreign relations, where he had several meetings with President Xi Jinping. At this time, Abe promised that in 2019 he would ease restrictions on the eligibility for PRC citizens to obtain Japanese visas, especially among teenagers. Abe also stated that he hoped Xi Jinping would visit Japan to cultivate better relations between the two countries.[274] Abe cautioned Xi Jinping overprotests in Hong Kong at theG20 Summit. Abe told Xi it is important for "a free and open Hong Kong to prosper under the 'one country, two systems' policy".[275]
Regarding the territorial dispute with Russia,[276] Abe adopted the "two plus alpha" approach, altering the previous governments' position that Habomai, Shikotan, Etorofu and Kunashiri islands be returned to Japan's sovereign.[277][278] In a 2021 interview, Abe spoke about his negotiation with the Russian presidentVladimir Putin in 2018, also confirming he had requested Fumio Kishida to continue with this approach, to avoid worsening Japan's relations with Russia.[279]
Writing of what he characterizes as the most serious failure of the Abe administration, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies of Temple University in Japan Robert Dujarric, wrote: "The election of Donald Trump raised existential questions about the reliability of Washington as a guarantor of Tokyo's security. The events of January 6th… reflected the fact that a substantial number of Republican voters believe that Trump had won the election and appeared to endorse his supporters' use of lethal violence to keep him in the White House, which was indeed very worrisome for the Japanese. Yet neither Abe's Japan nor for that matter any country that relies on the US as the ultimate guarantor of its security—South Korea, Taiwan, or all of NATO—took any significant steps to buttress their military to prepare for the day when the Americans might not be able to come to their rescue. That is also true for their diplomacy, economic policies, and other components of national security. For this, however, it is hard to blame Abe alone. Japanese voters would have had no interest in such a course of action, which would have entailed major costs."[280]
Japan's relations with South Korea further deteriorated starting from 2018,[281][282] when, while negotiating a "comfort women" deal with then South Korean presidentMoon Jae-in, Abe demanded that South Korea remove statues of comfort women that had been installed in South Korea, the United States, Australia, and Germany.[283] In late 2018, theSupreme Court of Korea and other high courts ordered several Japanese companies, includingMitsubishi Heavy Industries,Nachi-Fujikoshi, andNippon Steel, to make compensations to the families of Koreans who were unfairly treated and illegally forced to supply labor for World War II war efforts. The Japanese government protested these decisions, Abe argued that any issues concerning Japan's rule of Korea were previously resolved in theTreaty on Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea which normalized relations between Japan and South Korea, adding that further requests of reparations meant that South Korea had violated the treaty. In August 2019, Abe's cabinet approved the removal of South Korea from Japan's trade "whitelist"; the subsequenttrade dispute between South Korea and Japan is still ongoing and has caused a significant deterioration inJapan–South Korea relations.[281][282]
In July 2018, Japan became the second country after Mexico to ratify theComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). CPTPP evolved from the Trans-Pacific Partnership which never came into force after then US president Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in early 2017. Abe's administration was credited with overcoming protectionist pressures within Japan and rallying the 10 other TPP member countries to support CPTPP, which largely kept the previous agreement intact and left the door open to an eventual US return.[284][285][286]
In 2019, Japan resumed commercial whaling, for the first time in 31 years, a day after withdrawing from theInternational Whaling Commission (IWC).[287] The district Abe hailed from and represented includes a major whaling center and he long pushed to resume commercial whaling.[288][289]
Abe bowing after announcing his resignation during a press conference in Tokyo, August 2020
Abe's colitis relapsed in June 2020 and resulted in his health deteriorating through the summer. Following several hospital visits, Abe announced on 28 August 2020 that he intended to retire as prime minister, citing his inability to carry out the duties of the office while seeking treatment for his condition.[290] During the press conference announcing his retirement, Abe indicated that he would remain in office untila successor was chosen by the LDP, but declined to endorse any specific successor.[291][292] Abe expressed regret at being unable to fully accomplish his policy goals due to his early retirement.[293]Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga was elected as his successor by the LDP on 14 September 2020 and took office as prime minister on 16 September.[294][295] In retirement, Abe was not as active as before. He continued to give interviews sporadically, such as the career retrospective on 19 July 2021, he gave toH.R. McMaster of theHoover Institute.[296]
The site of Abe'sassassination on 8 July 2022, just hours after the shooting
On 8 July 2022, at around 11:30 JST,[297][298] Abe was shot and killed while he was delivering a campaign speech at theYamato-Saidaiji Station,Nara.[299][300][1] He was supporting fellow LDP party memberKei Satō for theHouse of Councillors election.[301] The assassin approached Abe from behind and fired two shots using animprovised firearm. The first shot missed and prompted Abe to turn around, at which point a second shot was fired, hitting Abe in the right front of the neck and the left upper arm. He was fatally struck in an artery near the heart.[302][303][304][305]
A 41-year-old man namedTetsuya Yamagami, a formerJMSDF member, was immediately arrested and later confessed to local police.[310][311] Yamagami said he held a grudge against theUnification Church[312][313][314] and shot Abe because "the religious group and Abe were connected".[305][315][316] Yamagami said his mother had been brainwashed by the religious group, giving the church all of his family's money[317][318] and leaving them so destitute that he and his siblings often did not have enough to eat. They became so despondent, he added, that his brother had committed suicide and he himself had attempted it.[319]
Yamagami had been trying to killHak Ja Han of the Unification Church since around 2002, but gave up because he could not get close to her, changing his target to Abe.[320] Yamagami said he did not have a grudge against Abe's political beliefs, but had targeted him because he believed the former prime minister spread the religion in Japan.[317][318] Abe and his family were known to have long-standing ties to the Unification Church, dating back to his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi; Abe himself had held speeches in support of the religious movement.[321][322] According to research byNikkan Gendai, half of the twenty members of the Fourth Abe Cabinet had connections to the Unification Church.[323] The connection between the two groups was found peculiar by some as the South Korean-based Unification Church raised billions of dollars worth of funds from its Japanese followers ("since the 1970s" most of the church's money has come from Japan)[324] playing on feelings of "war guilt" towards Korea, while Abe was famous for his proudly unapologetic embrace of Japan's imperial past and denial of any oppression of Koreans.[325]
In response to the shooting and his subsequent death, numerous present and former world leaders expressed their sympathies and support for Abe.[326][327] His body was returned to Tokyo the day after his assassination and his state funeral took place on 27 September 2022.[328][329]
Some have described Abe as a right-wingJapanese nationalist.[330] Some have claimed that Abe often engaged inhistorical negationism via his membership inNippon Kaigi, especially in regard toJapanese war crimes during World War II.[331][332] According to some analysts, this caused Japan's relations with South Korea and China to deteriorate under his premiership.[333] In the PRC, Abe's legacy remains mixed. While he was often criticized as an extreme nationalist, others also recognized his efforts for reconciliation between the two countries.[334] Since 1997, as the bureau chief of the "Institute of Junior Assembly Members Who Think About the Outlook of Japan and History Education", Abe led theSociety for History Textbook Reform. Abe was affiliated with the ultra-conservative, revisionist organization Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference).[335][336]
According to Alexis Dudden, a professor of history at theUniversity of Connecticut who specializes in modern Japan and Korea, in the 1990s when Abe first became a parliamentarian he is believed to have co-authored a document denying theNanjing Massacre; the article used to be available in Japan's Diet archives but has since disappeared. Abe also made comments that denied the occurrence of the massacre. Dudden has saidNanjing Massacre denial is akin toHolocaust denial.[204]
In 1 March 2007, Abe denied to reporters that Japan forced women into sexual slavery during World War II claiming that there was "no evidence".[34][337] He elaborated that he meant “forcible in the narrow sense of the word”. On 26 March 2007, he apologized saying, "I express my sympathy toward the comfort women and apologize for the situation they found themselves in'.[337] On his official homepage,[338] he questioned the extent to which coercion was applied toward the comfort women, dismissing South Korean positions on the issue as foreign interference in Japanese domestic affairs; Abe's position towards the comfort women caused deteriorations of relations between Japan and South Korea.[339][340] In a Diet session on 6 October 2006, Abe revised his statement regarding comfort women and said that he accepted the report issued in 1993 by the sitting cabinet secretary,Yōhei Kōno, wherein the Japanese government officially acknowledged the issue. Later in the session, Abe stated his belief that Class-Awar criminals are not criminals under Japan's domestic law.[341]
In a meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee in February 2006, Abe said, "There is a problem as to how to define aggressive wars; we cannot say it is decided academically",[342] and "It is not the business of the government to decide how to define the last world war. I think we have to wait for the estimation of historians".[342]
On a television program in July 2006, he denied that Manchukuo was apuppet state of Japan. Manchukuo was notorious for itsexploitative rule and use of slave labor when it was under the economic management of Nobusuke Kishi, Abe's grandfather.[343] Abe published a book calledToward a Beautiful Nation (美しい国へ,Utsukushii kuni e) in July 2006, which became a bestseller in Japan. The South Korean and PRC governments, as well as noted academics and commentators, voiced concern about Abe's historical views.[344][345][346]
In March 2007, in response to aUnited States Congress resolution introduced byMike Honda, Abe denied any government coercion in the recruitment of comfort women during World War II.[347] This was in line with a statement made almost 10 years earlier, in which Abe voiced his opposition to the inclusion of the subject of military prostitution in several school textbooks while denying any coercion in the "narrow" sense of the word, environmental factors notwithstanding.[348] This statement provoked negative reactions in Asian andwestern countries; aNew York Times editorial on 6 March 2007 commented for instance:
What part of 'Japanese Army sex slaves' does Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, have so much trouble understanding and apologizing for?… These were not commercial brothels. Force, explicit and implicit, was used in recruiting these women. What went on in them was serial rape, not prostitution. The Japanese Army's involvement is documented in the government's own defense files. A senior Tokyo official more or less apologized for this horrific crime in 1993… Yesterday, [Abe] grudgingly acknowledged the 1993 quasi-apology, but only as part of a pre-emptive declaration that his government would reject the call, now pending in the United States Congress, for an official apology. America isn't the only country interested in seeing Japan belatedly accept full responsibility. [South] Korea and China are also infuriated by years of Japanese equivocations over the issue.[349]
A 2007Washington Post editorial, "Shinzo Abe's Double Talk", also criticized him: "he's passionate about Japanese victims of North Korea—and blind to Japan's own war crimes".[350] InThe New York Times in 2014, an editorial called Abe a "nationalist" who was a profound threat to American–Japanese relations,[351] and an opinion piece labeled Abe's position on the subject of comfort women a "war on truth".[352] The same editorial presented him as a revisionist, a view largely accepted by the international and part of the Japanese press.[353][354][355][356] Writing in theLondon Review of Books, political scientistEdward Luttwak called Abe a "pragmatic Japanese Tory driving through reforms at home, while weaving an alliance aimed at containing China".[357]
Abe meeting with South Korean presidentMoon Jae-in in 2018
TheAsahi Shimbun accused Abe andShōichi Nakagawa of censoring a 2001NHK program concerning "The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal".[358] The "tribunal" was a private committee which was established to adjudicate the complaints ofcomfort women; about 5,000 people, including 64 victims from Japan and abroad, attended. The members of the committee, who claimed to be specialists ininternational law, claimed that EmperorHirohito and the Japanese government were responsible for the use of comfort women. However, the TV program did not mention the full name of the tribunal, it omitted keywords such as "Japanese troops" and "sexual slavery", and it also cut the sight of the tribunal, the host grouping, the statements of the organizer, and the judgment itself. Instead, it presented criticism of the tribunal by a right-wing academic who stated that "there was no abduction of sex slaves and they were prostitutes".[359]
On the day following the broadcasting of the report byAsahi Shimbun, Akira Nagai, the chief producer and the primary person who was responsible for the program, held a press conference in which he stated that Abe stated that the content of the report by theAsahi Shimbun. "had to be broadcast from a neutral point of view" and "what I did is not giving into political pressure". Abe said, "It was political terrorism byAsahi Shimbun and it was tremendously clear that they had the intention to inhume me and Mr. Nakagawa politically, and it is also clear that it was a complete fabrication." He also characterized the tribunal as a "mock trial" and raised objection to the presence of North Koreanprosecutors, singling them out as agents of the North Korean government.[360] Abe's actions in the NHK incident were criticized by journalists as violating both the Broadcasting Act and the constitution.[361]
On 24 October 2006, a report which stated that Abe's new administration had called on the NHK to "pay attention" to the North Korean abductees issue emerged.[362] Critics, some even within Abe's own LDP party, charged that the government was violating freedom of expression by meddling in the affairs of the public broadcaster.[362] In December 2006, it was revealed that former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's government, in which Abe was Chief Cabinet Secretary, had influenced town hall-style meetings, during which paid performers would ask government officials favorable questions.[363]
On 22 November 2012, it was reported thatTBS's early morning TV showAsazuba accidentally displayed Abe's photo alongside a news report about an NHK announcer's arrest for a sex offense. Abe's face filled viewers' screens along with the name of NHK announcer Takeshige Morimoto, who anchors NHK'sOhayo Nippon program on Saturday and Sunday. Morimoto was arrested for allegedly groping a woman on the train. Abe posted on his publicFacebook page, "This morning on the TBS showAsazuba, when a newscaster reported on a story regarding the apprehension of a molester, a photo of me was shown. Images of this blunder can now be seen clearly across the Internet, Have the slander campaigns already begun!? If this were merely an accident, it would be proper for the TV station to give me a personal apology, but as yet I haven't heard a single word." The newscaster acknowledged that the incorrect image had been displayed, but merely stated that the photo was "unrelated" and did not refer to the politician by name. Neither Abe nor his office received any form of apology.[364]
Abe's constant interference and intimidation of media outlets was cited as one of many reasons Japan fell to 72nd place on thePress Freedom Index in 2016, in contrast to its previous 11th-place ranking from six years prior.[365]
Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine on several occasions, which enshrines the spirits of Japan's war dead, including several Class-A war criminals convicted in theInternational Military Tribunal for the Far East. While serving as Chief Cabinet Secretary in the government of Junichiro Koizumi, he visited in April 2006, prompting South Korea to describe the trip as "regrettable".[366] He visited again on 15 August 2012, the anniversary of the end of World War II.[367] After winning the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party, he visited on 17 October 2012, in an official capacity as party president.[368]
Abe initially refrained from visiting the shrine as a sitting prime minister. He did not visit at all during his first term from September 2006 to September 2007, unlike his predecessor Koizumi, who had visited yearly while in office. Abe's not visiting the shrine prompted a Japanese nationalist named Yoshihiro Tanjo to cut off his little finger in protest and mail it to the LDP.[369] While campaigning for the presidency of the LDP in 2012, Abe said that he regretted not visiting the shrine while he was prime minister. He again refrained from visiting the shrine during the first year of his second stint as prime minister in consideration of improving relations with the PRC and Korea, whose leaders refused to meet with Abe during this time. He said on 9 December 2013 that "it is natural that we should express our feelings of respect to the war dead who sacrificed their lives for the nation... but it is my thinking that we should avoid making [Yasukuni visits] political and diplomatic issues". In lieu of visiting, Abe sent ritual offerings to the shrine for festivals in April and October 2013, as well as the anniversary of the end of World War II in August 2013.[370]
His first visit to the shrine as prime minister took place on 26 December 2013, the first anniversary of his second term in office. It was the first visit to the shrine by a sitting prime minister since Junichiro Koizumi visited in August 2006. Abe said that he "prayed to pay respect for the war dead who sacrificed their precious lives and hoped that they rest in peace". The PRC government published a protest that day, calling government visits to the shrine "an effort to glorify the Japanese militaristic history of external invasion and colonial rule and to challenge the outcome of World War II".[371]Qin Gang of thePRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Abe is "unwelcome by Chinese people... Chinese leaders won't meet him any more".[372] TheMainichi Shimbun argued in an editorial that the visit could also "cast a dark shadow" on relations with the United States.[373] The US embassy in Tokyo released a statement saying that "the United States is disappointed that Japan's leadership has taken an action that will exacerbate tensions with Japan's neighbors".[374]The Wall Street Journal reported that US officials urged Abe not to visit the shrine and pay homage to war criminals anymore.[375] On 15 August 2014, the 69th anniversary of the surrender of Japan in World War II, Abe chose to not visit the shrine, in what was perceived as a diplomatic gesture to the PRC, South Korea, andTaiwan. Despite Abe's absence, the PRC and South Korea both voiced their disapproval at Japan's leadership as a large number of politicians, including three cabinet members, did attend the shrine to mark the anniversary.[376]
The Blue Impulse Kawasaki T-4 numbered 731 at Naha Airport in 2018
In May 2013, Abe posed for photographs givingthumbs up gestures while sitting in the cockpit of aKawasaki T-4 military training aircraft of theJapan Air Self-Defense Force'sBlue Impulseaerobatics team. The aircraft was numbered "731", which was the number of the infamousImperial Japanese ArmyUnit 731 that conducted lethal chemical and biological experiments on live prisoners of war during World War II. South Korean politicianChung Mong-joon described Abe's actions as "an act of direct provocation to Korea, China and other victim nations". In response, aJapanese Defense Ministry official said that the numbering on the jet was coincidental and that the numbers were the pilot's individual ID number.[377][378][379]
On 28 April 2013, a new public event, the Restoration of Sovereignty Day (Japanese:主権回復の日,romanized: Shuken kaifuku no hi), was held in Tokyo to mark the 61st anniversary of the end of theUS occupation of Japan. It had been proposed by Abe in 2012. Since theUS occupation of Okinawa ended in 1972 and nearly three-quarters of US troops in Japan continue to be stationed in Okinawa, the event, which was attended by EmperorAkihito, was denounced by many Okinawans, who saw it as celebrating a betrayal. There were demonstrations in bothOkinawa and Tokyo.[380]
In 2015, the Abe government refused to admitrefugees affected by conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. Abe said Japan must "solve its own problems before accepting immigrants." Abe backed a short-term work visa deal for migrant workers to "work for a limited period, earn more and return home."[381]
Abe marriedAkie Matsuzaki, a socialite and former radio disc jockey, in 1987. She is the daughter of the president ofMorinaga, a confectionery manufacturer. She is popularly known as the "domestic opposition party" due to her outspoken views, which often contradicted her husband's.[382] Following her husband's first stint as prime minister, she opened an organicizakaya in theKanda district of Tokyo, but remained inactive in management due to the urging of her mother-in-law.[382] The couple were unable to have children, having undergone unsuccessful fertility treatments early in their marriage.[383]
Abe's elder brother, Hironobu Abe, became president and CEO of Mitsubishi Shōji Packaging Corporation, while his younger brother,Nobuo Kishi, became Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs.[citation needed] Abe abstained from drinking alcohol.[384] In addition to his native Japanese, Abe spoke English.[385][386][387]
Abe's lifelong goal of revising theConstitution of Japan and itsArticle 9 clause was unrealized at the time of his death.
Abe was often referred to as the "shadowshogun" due to his profound influence on Japanese politics during his life.[388] After his assassination, JapanologistMichael Green described Abe as "the most consequential modern Japanese leader" and argued that Japan's future appears to be that of Abe's "vision".[389] Following Abe's assassination, the LDP–Komeito coalition won a majority of the available seats in the upper house in the 10 July election.[390] This gave the government a majority in the upper house.[391] Many, such as Sheila A. Smith of theCouncil on Foreign Relations and East Asia expertJeff Kingston, speculated that a revised constitution, especially a revision of its Article 9 clause which outlaws war and the maintenance of military forces, may become Abe's main legacy.[392][393] Abe is also credited with engineering the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and salvaging the deal as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), after the US withdrew from the TPP in 2017.[284][285][286]
Memorial of Abe in Nara, Japan
AWashington Post analysis described Abe as the "preeminent statesman of theIndo-Pacific" whose realist approach helped build a cooperative security network in East Asia.[388] ColumnistJosh Rogin wrote that Abe's lasting legacy was a world better prepared to confront an increasingly assertive China.[394] Similarly, US AdmiralJames Stavridis wrote that Abe's greatest contribution was a strengthened Japanese military.[395] His death solicited tributes and condolences from many states and leaders, a testament to his commitment to international relations.[396] ConsultantBill Emmott noted that thanks to Abe's diplomacy, he was more popular abroad than domestically, bearing similarities toMargaret Thatcher.[397] Economist Matthew P. Goodman of theCenter for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) wrote that Abe's legacy was that of a "Champion of the Global Economic Order", whose administration launched the "Partnership for Quality Infrastructure" infrastructure project in Asia, proposed an internationally endorsed organizing principle for globaldata governance, kickstarted the TPP, and later salvaged it with the CPTPP.[286] Indian commentator Harshil Mehta called Abe a "Unifier of Oceans" in his obituary due to formation of the Quad and wrote that he "stayed committed to the common cause" of Japan and India.[398]Conversely, Abe's nationalism andhistorical denialism strained long-term relations with the neighboring PRC and South Korea.[204] Abe's complex legacy was displayed in both nations following his assassination, where some praised Abe's efforts to improve relations and others denounced his views on Japanese history with its neighbors.[399][400] According to historian of religions Ernils Larsson, Abe's political rhetoric stoked "religious nationalism", and under his leadership the LDP forged closer ties with the "Shinto establishment".[401] In addition, journalistJake Adelstein argued that Abe left a legacy vexed by authoritarianism, with his actions throughout his tenure such as the intimidation of media that were critical of him leading to Japan's fall on the Press Freedom Index to as low as 72nd, stokinganti-Korean sentiments, as well as the creation of a "Cabinet Personnel Bureau" to vet bureaucratic positions of anyone that may be openly critical of the government, among others.[402]
In Japan, Abe remains controversial and is described as the "most polarizing" figure in contemporary Japanese politics.[403][404] Domestic divisiveness created by his historical negationist efforts is long-lasting.[204] Abe also had a profound and lasting effect on the Japanese economy through Abenomics, leaving behind a mixed economic record.[405][406]
^abAbe, Shinzo (28 January 2013).Policy Speech (Speech). Diet of Japan, 183rd Session.Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved26 December 2015.
^Schlesinger, Jacob M. (31 October 2014)."The Kuroda Bazooka Round Two".The Wall Street Journal.Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved27 December 2015.
^Abe, Shinzo (22 January 2014).A New Vision from a New Japan (Speech). Davos, Switzerland: World Economic Forum.Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved27 December 2015.
^Tomoko Yamazaki; Komaki Ito (27 January 2014)."Lotus Peak Plans Abenomics Fund of Hedge Funds to Capture Demand".Bloomberg News.Archived from the original on 5 February 2014. Retrieved27 January 2014.The Eurekahedge Japan Hedge Fund Index returned a record 28 percent in 2013 as Abe boosted spending and the Bank of Japan embarked on an unprecedented monetary easing, an approach dubbed Abenomics.
^Cucek, Prof. Michael (17 December 2015).Japan's Political Outlook for 2016 (Speech). Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved29 December 2015.YouTube title: Michael Thomas Cucek: Japan's Political Outlook for 2016, at the time: 1:02:12
^abBremmer, Ian (8 July 2022)."Shinzo Abe's Formidable Legacy in Japan and the World".Time.Archived from the original on 8 July 2022.Abe's forceful foreign policy inspired both national self-confidence in Japan and considerable controversy. He was a strong and unapologetic ally of the United States. He went to extraordinary lengths to overcome protectionist pressures within Japan to support the Obama Administration's Trans-Pacific Partnership on trade—and took leadership of the plan when American political leaders of both parties renounced it.
^abcGoodman, Matthew P. (8 July 2022)."Shinzo Abe's Legacy as Champion of the Global Economic Order".Center for Strategic and International Studies. Archived fromthe original on 8 July 2022.For decades, Japan was essentially a rule taker in the global economy, often assuming a defensive posture in international trade and rarely taking risks to champion new rules and norms. Abe changed all that, as his bold efforts on TPP, quality infrastructure, data governance underscore. At a time when the global economic order is under stress and the United States has pulled back from its traditional role as shaper of global economic rules, Abe's leadership was pivotal.
^"【独自】安倍元首相を撃った山上徹也が供述した、宗教団体「統一教会」の名前（現代ビジネス編集部）".現代ビジネス (in Japanese). 9 July 2022.Archived from the original on 9 July 2022. Retrieved9 July 2022.山上容疑者は「自分の母親が統一教会の信者で、安倍晋三が統一教会と親しいと知って狙った」と供述している。 [Yamagami stated that he "targeted Shinzo Abe after learning that his mother was a member of the Unification Church, and that Abe Shinzo had ties with the Unification Church".]
^"安倍元首相銃撃の山上容疑者 優等生バスケ少年を変えた"統一教会で家庭崩壊"…事件前には近隣トラブルで絶叫【原点写真入手】".Yahoo! News Japan. 10 July 2022.Archived from the original on 10 July 2022. Retrieved10 July 2022.しかしその日は、『自分の家族が統一教会に関わっていて、霊感商法トラブルでバラバラになってしまった...』と語りはじめたのです。山上さんは続けて、『統一教会は、安倍と関わりが深い。だから、警察も捜査ができないんだ』 [On that day, he said, "My family was involved with the Unification Church..." Yamagami continued, "The Unification Church is deeply involved with Abe, and that's why the police can't investigate".]
^Worth, Robert F. (October 2023)."The Bizarre Story Behind Shinzo Abe's Assassination".The Atlantic:44–53.Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved6 October 2023.The Japanese were outraged not just by the appearance of influence-peddling but by a galling hypocrisy. Abe was a fervent nationalist, eager to rebuild Japan's global standing and proudly unapologetic for its imperial past. Now he and his party had been caught in a secretive electoral alliance with a cult that—it soon emerged—had been accused of preying on Japanese war guilt to squeeze billions of dollars from credulous followers.
^Wingfield-Hayes, Rupert (15 December 2012)."Japan loses faith in traditional politics".BBC News. Archived fromthe original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved9 July 2022.Mr Abe is far more right wing than most of his predecessors. In particular he has very right-wing views on the history of Japan's aggression during World War II.
^Carney, Matthew (2 December 2015)."Ultra-nationalistic group trying to restore the might of the Japanese Empire".ABC News. Archived fromthe original on 3 December 2015. Retrieved8 July 2022.Its roll call includes Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, 80 per cent of the cabinet and about half of the country's parliamentarians. The biggest champion to the cause and the group's special advisor is Mr Abe.
^Luttwak, Edward (4 April 2019)."Friendly Relations".The London Review of Books. Vol. 41, no. 7.Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved21 November 2019.
^Smith, Sheila A. (8 July 2022)."Japan's Shocking Loss". Council on Foreign Relations.Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved12 July 2022.
^abc"安倍氏に従一位、大勲位菊花章頸飾を授与".Sankei News (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun Co., Ltd. 11 July 2022.Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved12 July 2022.
The Advisory Panel on the History of the 20th Century and on Japan's Role and the World Order in the 21st Century.Toward the Abe Statement on the 70th Anniversary of the End of World War II: Lessons from the 20th Century and a Vision for the 21st Century for Japan (Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2017)[1]
Harris, Tobias.The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan (Hurst, 2020)
Hughes, C. W. "Japan's Security Policy in the context of the US-Japan alliance: the emergence of an 'Abe Doctrine'". In: James D.J. Brown and Jeff Kingston (eds.)Japan's Foreign Relations in Asia (Palgrave, 2018) pp 49–60.
Kitaoka, Shinichi. "A 'Proactive Contribution to Peace' and the Right of Collective Self-Defense: The Development of Security Policy in the Abe Administration"Asia-Pacific Review (2014) 21(2), pp. 1–18.
Kolmas, Michal.National Identity and Japanese Revisionism: Abe Shinzo's vision of a beautiful Japan and its limits (2020)
Liff, A. P. "Japan's Defense Policy: Abe the Evolutionary."The Washington Quarterly, (2015) 38(2), pp. 79–99.
Maslow, Sebastian. "A Blueprint for a Strong Japan? Abe Shinzō and Japan's Evolving Security System."Asian Survey 55.4 (2015): 739–765.online
Oren, Eitan, and Matthew Brummer. "Threat perception, government centralization, and political instrumentality in Abe Shinzo's Japan."Australian Journal of International Affairs 74.6 (2020): 721–745.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
