Who Is Shinzo Abe? Longest Serving Japan PM And The Man Behind ‘Abenomics’

Almost two years after he relinquished workplace citing poor well being, 67-year-old Shinzo Abe, the previous prime minister of Japan, was shot at throughout a marketing campaign occasion in Nara metropolis Friday. Abe had been Japan’s longest-serving PM and is credited with bringing formidable financial reform throughout his phrases. He’s additionally recognized for forging some key diplomatic relationships, at the same time as he fought off a number of scandals at dwelling.

At 52, the third-generation politician was additionally the youngest Japan PM ever when he assumed workplace in 2006, and went on to be seen as a logo of change.

None of Abe’s phrases as PM was easy as he needed to fend off a number of scandals and discords. His first stint was quick, ending with resignation in 2007 which he attributed later to his medical situation recognized as ulcerative colitis.

READ ON ABP LIVE | Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe Shot At, Exhibiting No Very important Indicators After Assault. Suspect Arrested

He got here again strongly in 2012, and stayed on for 2 and half extra phrases, all of them turbulent ones, earlier than resigning in 2020 as soon as once more because of poor well being.

Abe, The Third Technology Politician

Shinzo Abe was born right into a outstanding political household in Tokyo in 1954. Initially from Yamaguchi Prefecture, the household all the time had a big financial affect in Japan.

Kan Abe, his grandfather, was a landowner from Yamaguchi who served within the Home of Representatives throughout World Struggle II.

The ruling centre-right Liberal Democratic Social gathering, which Abe belongs to, was based a yr after he was born and has since dominated Japan’s politics.

Earlier than Abe, it was his maternal grandfather Nobusuke Kishi who had the report of being the longest serving Japan PM — from 1957 to 1960. Abe’s father, Shintaro Abe, was additionally in politics, and served as chief cupboard secretary, the second-most highly effective place in Japan.

Abe’s first stint as PM was quick — from 2006 to 2007 — however after coming again in 2012 he  stayed on till August 2020 when he resigned. By that point, his tenure had exceeded his grandfather’s.

Abe had performed his education and school in Japan, earlier than transferring to the USA the place he studied public coverage on the College of Southern California’s Faculty of Coverage, Planning, and Improvement, which is now the USC Worth Faculty of Public Coverage. He labored for Kobe Metal for a number of years, earlier than becoming a member of full-time politics a number of years later.

He married Akie Abe, a radio jockey, in 1987. The couple haven’t any youngsters.  

Political Storms Shinzo Abe Weathered 

PM Abe weathered political storms from the phrase go. From unpopularity within the first time period to finance scandals within the consecutive phrases to allegations of cronyism, Abe’s tenure as PM was by no means easy. 

Nevertheless, although his approval rankings dropped, nothing appeared to have an effect on his energy, because the opposition in Japan was by no means robust sufficient to dislodge Abe’s Liberal Democratic Social gathering, which remained in energy even with out the bulk.

“Abe may be very rightwing by conventional measures…He’s a historic revisionist at coronary heart … He’s a nationalist [pursuing] his ‘new nationalism’,” Akio Takahara, professor of worldwide relations and regulation at Tokyo College, was quoted as saying in a 2013 report in The Guardian.  

In his fourth time period that began in 2017, Abe was to remain as PM till late 2021, however he stepped down in August 2020, stunning the world. 

On the worldwide entrance, Abe is credited with forging a number of necessary diplomatic ties.

The previous Japan PM had assumed the function of a peacemaker between the USA and Iran.

Abe had cultivated a kind of a private friendship with Trump, in what was seen as an effort to guard Japan’s key alliance from the latter’s “America First” slogan.

He was the primary overseas chief to satisfy then US President Donald Trump after the latter received the 2016 election. And Trump was accorded a grand welcome throughout his 2019 state go to to Japan. The previous US president was the primary overseas chief to satisfy Japan’s new emperor, Naruhito. He was seen at a sumo event, the primary of the brand new imperial period, and the winner was even introduced with a particular ‘Trump Cup’.

Abe had tried to fix ties with Russia, although the deal he tried to chop with Russia on disputed northern islands by no means materialised.

He had taken a tough line on North Korea, particularly on the difficulty of the alleged abductions of Japanese residents. With South Korea too, Japan had pursued a tough line throughout Abe’s tenure over unresolved wartime disputes.

Abe had tried to raised Japan’s relations with China too, however the outcomes weren’t encouraging. After leaving workplace, he had actually turn out to be a vocal critic of China’s assertiveness within the Indo-Pacific. He even urged the USA earlier this yr to budge from its coverage of strategic ambiguity towards Taiwan. 

Abe was referred to as the architect of the “free and open Indo-Pacific” idea.

Abe And India

With Abe on the helm, the lengthy historical past of pleasant bilateral relations between India and Japan noticed efforts in direction of an improve. The Quadrilateral Safety Dialogue between Japan, the US, Australia, and India was initiated in 2007. 

In August 2007, Abe got here to India on a three-day that noticed the inauguration of a brand new bilateral Asian alliance. 

In 2021, India conferred the Padma Vibhushan, one of many nation’s highest civilian awards, on the previous Japan PM for “distinctive and distinguished service” within the subject of public affairs.

The ‘Abenomics’

When Abe returned to energy in 2012, 5 years after his abrupt resignation in 2017 noticed the tip of his transient first stint, Japan was nonetheless reeling attempting to get well from the results of the 2011 tsunami, and a nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima. 

Abe’s return provided some hope as he appeared to have an financial reform plan, which later got here to be referred to as ‘Abenomics’.

The revival of Japan’s economic system wanted efforts on all fronts, supported with satisfactory authorities spending.

Whereas a few of Abe’s plans labored over time, many issues remained.

The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 struck a heavy blow to Japan’s economic system, and Abe’s approval rankings have been significantly down when he introduced his resolution to step down.