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10 Facts About Shinzo Abe, The Longest-Serving Japan PM Who Has Just Been Assassinated

2022-07-09 , 1:27 pm

You’ve probably heard about the ex-PM of Japan, Shinzo Abe, getting assassinated recently. But did you know about his very long career in politics fraught with many controversies, or about his unique brand of economics?

Here are 10 facts about Shinzo Abe and his decade-long career.

Came from a Family of Prime Ministers

Shinzo Abe was born on 21 September 1954, to a prominent political family with two Prime Ministers of Japan.

His grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was the Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960, while his great uncle, Eisuke Sato, held that position from 1964 to 1972.

Abe’s father, Shintaro Abe, also served in the House of Representatives from 1958 to 1991, holding positions like the Chief Cabinet Secretary, Minister for International Trade and Industry, as well as Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Following his family’s footsteps, Shinzo Abe graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Seikei University. He also studied public policy at the University of Southern California’s School of Policy, Planning and Development for three semesters.

Youngest Prime Minister of Post-War Japan

After being elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 under the first district of Yamaguchi Prefecture, he steadily climbed up the political ladder.

In 1999, he became Director of the Social Affairs Division. He was Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Yoshirō Mori and Junichirō Koizumi Cabinets from 2000 to 2003, and was appointed Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party afterwards.

Abe started gaining national popularity after defying North Korea and demanding that the Japanese who were abducted by North Korea, while visiting Japan in 2002, should remain in Japan.

In 2006, he was elected as President of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. A few months later, he was inaugurated as the Prime Minister of Japan. At 52 years old, Abe was the youngest Prime Minister of post-war Japan.

Nationalistic and Pro-US

Throughout his first term as Prime Minister, Abe quickly established himself as a nationalistic and conservative political figure, allied with the United States of America.

For instance, in March 2007, Abe and a bunch of conservative politicians proposed a bill that would encourage nationalism amongst the Japanese youth. He also showed a conservative stance in terms of Japanese succession, and abandoned a proposal to permit women to inherit the throne of Japan.

Additionally, he also supported the Japanese alliance with the US, and supported the Iraq war.

Controversial Opinion on Comfort Women

Comfort women were women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during the second World War. Women from Korea, China and other occupied countries were forced into military brothels, where they were raped by Japanese soldiers.

Japan, back in 1993, gave a statement that recognised their military’s role in enslaving these women. However, Abe seemed to have a different take on this topic, stating in 2007 that there was no evidence of physical coercion of the women by Japanese milutary.

Needless to say, this sparked global controversy, with countries like South Korea and China being angered that Japan would not accept responsibility for their crimes.

Resigned After One Year

Abe soon became pretty unpopular amongst Japanese citizens, especially after he rejected the possibility of having a female Japanese monarch which sparked controversy over the succession of the Japanese throne.

His ministers were also involved in scandals, which further diminished Abe’s support base. Abe thus announced his resignation from his position as prime minister, citing his unpopularity and poor health as reasons. He officially ended his first term on 26 September 2007.

Political Comeback with Landslide Victory

After recovering from ulcerative colitis, he returned to the political scene when his party was in political turmoil. Re-elected as the president of the Liberal Democratic Party in September 2012, he then led his party to victory in the December 2012 elections.

He was formally elected as prime minister again on 26 December 2012, thus beginning his second term in this position.

Abenomics: Unique Economic Policy

Declaring that economic revival from deflation was the “greatest” and “urgent” issue in Japan, he implemented his unique economic strategy, Abenomics.

Abenomics was a three-pronged policy:

monetary expansion to escape deflation and hit a 2% inflation target,
fiscal policy to stimulate the economy in the short-run, and
growth strategy focused on structural reforms and private sector investment for long-term growth.

Abenomics turned out to be pretty successful at increasing the rate of Japan’s GDP growth. It also stabilised the ratio of government debt relative to national income for the first time in decades, and was said to have injected hope into the Japanese economy.

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Controversial War Shrine Visit

The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is dedicated to those who died in the Boshin War, the Sino-Japanese wars, the First Indochina War, and World War II. Included in the shrine are names of many convicted war criminals, so it is regarded by China, North Korea, and South Korea as a symbol of Japan’s imperial military past.

Thus, it was no surprise that when Abe visited the shrine in December 2013, it was met with a barrage of criticism from these countries, who view the visit as Abe honoring war criminals.

However, Abe refuted this by saying that he wasn’t honoring war criminals. Instead, he was praying for the souls of those who died in war.

“It is not my intention at all to hurt the feelings of the Chinese and Korean people,” he said. “It is my wish to respect each other’s character, protect freedom and democracy, and build friendship with China and Korea with respect, as did all the previous Prime Ministers who visited the Yasukuni Shrine.”

But it was too late, as the foreign ministries of China and South Korea, as well as the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, had already expressed their anger and disappointment over Abe’s shrine visit.

PM for a Total of Ten Years

Ever since his re-election in 2012, Abe continued to win elections and remain as Prime Minister. He held his position all the way until his retirement in 2020.

This means that he was Prime Minister for a total of ten years, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history.

Assassinated Not Due to Political Beliefs

On 8 July, Abe was assassinated in front of a live audience by a former member of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force.

However, it turns out that Abe wasn’t assassinated due to his political beliefs, like many would assume. Rather, the man had killed Abe as he believed that Abe is linked to a “specific organisation”, and he had a grudge against the organisation.

The identity of the organisation was not revealed to the public.

That grudge is, however, unrelated to Abe’s political beliefs. Yamagami even added that he did not resent his political beliefs.

If you want to know more about the assassination, you can read the article about it here.