Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest serving prime minister, has died after being shot during a campaign speech. Abe, 67, was perhaps the most polarizing, complex politician in recent Japanese history. He left the PM job in 2020 but remained highly influential.
TOKYO — Shinzo Abe was a political blueblood groomed for power. Japan’s longest serving prime minister, he was also perhaps the most polarizing, complex politician in recent Japanese history., angered both liberals at home and World War II victims in Asia with his hawkish push to revamp the military and his revisionist view that Japan was given an unfair verdict by history for its brutal past.
Abe believed that Japan’s postwar track record of economic success, peace and global cooperation was something “other countries should pay more attention to, and that Japanese should be proud of,” Leheny said. That constitution renounces the use of force in international conflicts, and limits Japan’s military to self defense, although the country has a well-equipped modern army, navy and air force that work closely with the United States, Japan’s top ally.Poor public support for the changes doomed Abe’s push, but the goal still enjoys backing from his ultra-conservative supporters.
Supporters point to his efforts to raise Japan’s profile on the international stage, and his proposal for a new order of like-minded democracies as a counter to China’s rise, something Washington and others soon endorsed. Abe was praised in Washington for his push for a stronger U.S.-Japan relationship, which he saw as a means of bolstering Japan’s defense capability. Japan hosts 50,000 U.S. troops as a bulwark in the region amid tensions with China and North Korea.
Abe said he was proud of working for a stronger Japan-U.S. security alliance and shepherding the first visit by a serving U.S. president to the atom-bombed city of Hiroshima. He also helped Tokyo gain the right to host the 2020 Olympics by pledging that a disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant was “under control” when it was not.Abe became Japan’s youngest prime minister in 2006, at age 52, but his overly nationalistic first stint abruptly ended a year later, also because of his health.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Shinzo Abe shooting videos show moment former Japan PM was gunned downThe former Japanese prime minister appears to have been shot twice while giving a campaign speech in the city of Nara.
Read more »
Japan ex-leader Shinzo Abe apparently shot, in heart failureDEVELOPING | Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe collapsed after apparently being shot during a campaign speech in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday.
Read more »
Japan ex-leader Shinzo Abe apparently shot, in heart failureBREAKING: NHK public television says Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe collapsed and was bleeding after apparently being shot during a campaign speech in western Japan.
Read more »
Japan ex-leader Shinzo Abe apparently shot, in heart failureNHK public television says Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech in western Japan.
Read more »
Japan ex-leader Shinzo Abe apparently shot, in heart failureJapan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday. NHK says Abe was rushed to a hospital. Police arrested a male suspect at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder, NHK said.
Read more »