It was exactly a month ago today that Shinzo Abe was assassinated in Nara by 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. As the passions of that event begin to settle, this is an opportune occasion to reconsider both the benefits and the costs of an administration which lasted longer than any other in Japanese history.
When former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi formed a bond in the mid-1960s with Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon over their shared anti-communist views, little did he know that he was sowing the seeds that would eventually take the life of his beloved grandson, Shinzo Abe.
The Covid pandemic has gradually unleashed political and social forces in Japan that have lifted its underlying xenophobia to the surface, and thus transformed its culture from one of attraction into one of repulsion for many of its previous admirers.
Major social media companies are increasingly strangling independent news media with subtle shadow banning practices which threaten free speech and the flow of information vital to maintain democratic systems of government.
Visitors to Japan’s main international hub are still greeted by a sign saying “Down With Narita Airport,” a giant middle finger waved by diehards from a different era.
SEALDs, short for Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy, was a student activist organization in Japan that provided an important spark to the large-scale protests against then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 2015 “Legislation for Peace and Security” (i.e. the Abe War Law), deemed by the vast majority of Japan’s legal scholars in the field to be unconstitutional.
The 500 Dot Com casino bribery scandal was yet another instance of major corruption that first emerged in the Shinzo Abe era.
Sports fans around the planet are beginning to sit around their televisions to watch the world’s greatest athletes compete head-to-head in Japan’s capital. However, as the Olympic Games launch, the linkages between this international sports event and nationalism must be discussed, especially in the context of promoting a vibrant culture of democracy.
This video in our Explained! series presents an overview of Nippon Kaigi, a Japanese rightwing organization with strong links to the government.
The Moritomo Gakuen school affair was the first of the major scandals that shook the government of Shinzo Abe beginning in February 2017. This a working timeline which the Shingetsu News Agency intends to fill out and update in the weeks and months ahead.
