Pedestrians watch a news report about the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on July 8.
(Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died after being shot during a campaign speech in Nara on Friday. He was 67 years old.
Abe served two separate terms as Japan’s right-wing leader Liberal Democratic Party (LDP): first from 2006 to 2007, then again from 2012 to 2020. His second term was the longest consecutive term for a Japanese head of government.
He came from a family of Japanese prime ministers: Abe was born on September 21, 1954 in Tokyo, into a prominent political family. Both his grandfather and great-uncle served as prime ministers, and his father was a former general secretary of the LDP.
Abe was first elected to Japan’s House of Representatives in 1993, at the age of 38. He held various cabinet posts in the 2000s and in 2003 became secretary general of the LDP. Four years later, he was appointed party chairman and prime minister of Japan.
His first term was marred by controversy and deteriorating health, and he stepped down as party leader and prime minister in 2007. The end of Abe’s first term opened a revolving door in which five different men held the office of prime minister in the five years leading up to its conclusion. -elections in 2012. He resigned in 2020 citing health problems.
He remained an influential leader after leaving office: After leaving office, Abe remained head of the largest faction of the ruling LDP and remained influential within the party. He has continued to campaign for a stronger security policy and last year angered China by calling for a greater commitment from allies to defend democracy in Taiwan. In response, Beijing summoned Japan’s ambassador and accused Abe of openly challenging China’s sovereignty.
Abe redefined Japan’s diplomatic and military policy: Abe will be remembered for increasing defense spending and driving the most dramatic shift in Japanese military policy in 70 years. In 2015, his government approved a reinterpretation of Japan’s postwar pacifist constitution, allowing Japanese troops to participate in combat overseas, with conditions, for the first time since World War II.
Abe argued the change was necessary to respond to a more challenging security environment, a nod to a more assertive China and frequent missile tests by North Korea.
During his tenure, Abe sought to improve relations with Beijing and held a historic phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2018. At the same time, he sought to counter Chinese expansion in the region by uniting Pacific allies.
He tried to build a personal relationship with former US President Donald Trump. As Washington’s relationship with Pyongyang tilted toward diplomacy, with Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in holding historic summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Abe said he was “determined” to meet with Kim. Abe wanted to normalize relations with North Korea and ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, but his first priority was to bring some closure to the families of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.
During his tenure, Japan’s relations with South Korea soured. The two countries were embroiled in a major dispute in which trade and military intelligence agreements were scrapped, in part because of the legacy of World War II and Japan’s brutal colonization of the Korean peninsula.
“Abenomics”: Abe came to office during a time of economic crisis and soon set about restarting the Japanese economy after decades of stagnation. Shortly after being re-elected as Prime Minister in 2012, he launched a grand experiment popularly known as “Abenomics”.
It included three so-called arrows: massive monetary stimulus, increased public spending and structural reforms.
After a strong start, it faltered and in 2015, Abe dismissed “three new arrows” designed to increase gross domestic product. Any hope they could hit their mark was dashed when Covid-19 swept through the country in 2020, plunging Japan into recession.
One of Abe’s major national achievements was securing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But the success of the long-awaited Tokyo Games was ultimately undone by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the postponement of the competition until 2021
Abe declared a state of emergency months after the first cases were detected. His administration was also criticized for the low rate of testing and the initial lack of specialized medical equipment to treat the growing number of patients.
More successful was Abe’s handling of the abdication of Emperor Akihito, the first Japanese monarch to step down in two centuries. He was succeeded by his son, Emperor Naruhito, in October 2019, beginning the Reiwa Era.
Abe is survived by his wife Akie Abe, née Matsuzaki, whom he married in 1987. The couple had no children.
Read more about his legacy here and see his life in photos here.
