Shinzo Abe

• Born: September 21, 1954
• Birthplace: Nagato, Yamaguchi, Japan
• Died: July 8, 2022
• Place of death: Kashihara, Nara, Japan

Nationality: Japanese.

Education: Seikei University (1977, political science); further studies at the University of Southern California.

Position, Title, or Affiliation: Prime minister, head of the center-right Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Shinzo Abe became prime minister of Japan for the second time in 2012, with an economic stimulus plan that showed quick results and put his approval rating up near 70 percent. In neighboring countries, Abe often provoked anger and mistrust—seen as a nationalist trying to downplay Japanese responsibility for war crimes before and during World War II (1939–45). His support for restoring Japan's status as a major military power also proved divisive, both domestically and internationally. However, Abe, at times, worked to improve relations with key neighbors like South Korea and China, and also sought to strengthen Japan's alliance with the United States. By the time he resigned as prime minister in August 2020, Abe had become Japan's longest-serving prime minister up to that point.

In his first term as prime minister, which began in 2006, Abe lasted only a year. He resigned in 2007 after a series of gaffes on nationalist issues and a scandal over mismanaged government pensions, as well as personal health issues. Returning in 2012, Abe emphasized economic recovery first and advanced his patriotic agenda when he judged the moment was right. He adopted a hard line on sovereignty over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which are disputed between Japan and China. When China announced expansion of its air defense identification zone in November 2013, Abe responded with an increased military budget and a list of new military priorities, including an amphibious assault force.

At the end of 2013, Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a memorial for Japan's war dead, including fourteen people who were convicted as war criminals after World War II (1939–45). The visit aroused anger in South Korea, where Abe's vacillation on the issue of forced prostitution during the war remains a hot-button issue. Tensions between Japan and South Korea complicated US plans for security in the region. By the time he resigned as prime minister in August 2020, Abe had become Japan's longest-serving prime minister up to that point. He remained active in Japanese politics until his assassination in July 2022.

In-Depth Description

Shinzo Abe was born to a politically prominent family. His father, Shintaro Abe, held a seat in parliament for thirty years and served as foreign minister from 1982 to 1986. His maternal grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi,served as prime minister from 1957 to 1960, and was a cabinet minister during World War II (held as a war crimes suspect after the war, Kishi was ultimately released). Kishi was also a founding member in 1955 of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which his grandson would evenutally lead.

After college and a brief stint at Kobe Steel, Shinzo Abe went to work as an assistant to his father, who was then the foreign minister, and held various other jobs in the LDP. He won a seat in the lower house of the National Diet, Japan's legislature, in 1993. In 2003, he became secretary-general of the LDP. Abe rose to prominence as a national political figure with the 2006 book Towards a Beautiful Country: My Vision for Japan, which included the view that Japanese leaders during World War II who were prosecuted afterward as Class-A war criminals were not guilty of crimes under Japanese law.

First Term as Prime Minister, 2006–7

Seen as outspoken but personable, Abe enjoyed high approval ratings when he became prime minister in September 2006. Under his leadership, the Diet passed a measure that could have led to a national vote to amend Japan's pacifist constitution, removing limits on the Self-Defense Forces and allowing them to function as the militaries of other nations do. He also supported an education bill to require teaching patriotism in schools.

Abe ran into trouble when he cast doubt on the Kono Statement, an official apology in 1993 by Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono acknowledging that the Japanese military forced some two hundred thousand women in occupied countries to serve as enslaved sex workers, sometimes referred to as "comfort women," during World War II. Outrage from China and South Korea forced Abe to apologize in parliament for the controversy. A financial scandal over lost records and fifty million pension claims further undermined public confidence in his administration. After major losses for the LDP in upper-house elections, Abe resigned in September 2007, citing ill health.

Abe was later diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a condition causing unbearable pain and worsened by stress. Drugs to control the disease became available in 2009 and allowed Abe to return to politics.

Second Term, 2012–14

Returning as head of the LDP in September 2012, Abe led the party to a dramatic comeback in the December elections, winning 294 of 480 seats in the lower house (61 percent). With the Komeito party as a coalition partner, the LDP held a two-thirds majority—enough to override obstruction by the upper house. As a Buddhist party, Komeito would not support major changes in military policy, but Abe's priority was reviving the economy. The LDP gained control of the upper house in July 2013, although its 55-percent majority was short of the two-thirds required to put a constitutional amendment up for a popular referendum. Abe's hope of removing constitutional limits imposed on Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) was not politically feasible for the foreseeable future.

With media attention focused on the early success of "Abenomics," as Abe's economic policy was dubbed, nationalist issues were mostly set aside, although a few of Abe's cabinet appointments stirred misgivings in South Korea. Yoshitaka Shindo, minister of internal affairs, and Tomomi Inada, minister of administrative reform, both had a history of zealousness on Japan's claim to the Takeshima islands—known as Dokdo in South Korea, which also claimed them. Minister of Education Hakubun Shimomura was well-known for saying that history textbooks gave too much credence to Chinese and South Korean views of colonial oppression by Japan during the early twentieth century.

In diplomacy and in sea patrols, the Abe government continued to assert Japan's sovereignty over the Senkaku/Diaoyu island group, despite more frequent visits by Chinese fishing boats and military aircraft. In December 2013, the Abe government reinforced its determination to defend Japanese territorial claims, forming a National Security Council, headquartered in the prime minister's office. The military budget was increased 5 percent over five years, with plans to create an amphibious force capable of retaking a captured island.

Also in December 2013, Abe chose to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, a memorial to Japan's war dead. The shrine has been controversial since 1978, when it added to its rolls the names of fourteen leaders convicted by the Allies as Class-A war criminals. China summoned the Japanese ambassador in Beijing to register a formal protest and denounced Abe's visit as an attempt to "beautify" Japan's aggression and cruelty during World War II. The US embassy, too, issued a formal statement expressing disappointment in the visit's lack of regard for the sensitivities of Japan's neighbors. Abe insisted that the purpose of his pilgrimage was not to give offense but to pray for the souls of the dead and assure them of his commitment to the welfare of Japan. South Korea criticized the Yasukuni visit but reacted even more strongly to the announcement in February 2014 that the Abe government was reviewing the 1993 Kono Statement. South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned that Japan would suffer international isolation if it backed away from the formal acknowledgment that its military had forced women in occupied Korea to serve as enslaved sex workers.

Third Term, 2014–17

Despite early successes for Abe's economic program, the country fell into recession in 2014 and Abe's popularity fell. Hoping to shore up his position, he called for parliamentary elections in December of that year, and Abe and the LDP were reelected handily. In his third term, Abe revisited his controversial plan to expand Japan's military capabilities, sharply curtailed since the end of World War II. At that time, the Japanese constitution stated that Japan's military could only be used for self-defense, but in 2015, Abe and the LDP successfully promoted legislation to reinterpret that language to include "collective self-defense," meaning Japanese forces would be able to participate in foreign conflicts in defense of its allies, and in international peacekeeping missions. Passage of the legislation, which took effect in 2016, was met with public protest and statements from legal scholars that it was unconstitutional.

Also in his third term, Abe strengthened Japan's relations with India, concluding an agreement for increased trade and sharing of nuclear technology, and he improved relations with South Korea. An important part of his economic program included support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral free trade deal negotiated among the United States, Japan, China, and a host of other Pacific area nations. In December 2016, Abe made a further significant gesture toward the United States when he made the first joint visit to the Pearl Harbor memorial, joining outgoing president Barack Obama at the site to pay respects to the service members killed in the attack. However, US president Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal immediately upon his inauguration in January 2017, leaving some uncertainty in Japan's regional trade agenda, as well as its future relations with the United States, although both nations pledged to continue working together.

In May 2017, Abe announced that a deadline of 2020 had been set for a revised version (specifically addressing article 9) of Japan's pacifist constitution to take effect. However, this constitutional amendment did not come to fruition during Abe's tenure as prime minister.

Fourth Term, 2017–20

In September 2017, Abe called for a snap election, moving up the vote by a year; he cited the need for a stronger mandate in the face of national security threats posed by North Korea. He and the LDP claimed overwhelming victory following the election in October, keeping him in office.

In 2018, Abe was reelected as the leader of the ruling LDP. In November 2019, he became Japan's longest-serving prime minister up to that point, beating the previous record of 2,883 total days held by Katsura Tarō.

The year 2020 saw new challenges for Abe, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which first emerged in China in late 2019 and led to a public health emergency in Japan by March 2020. The pandemic also triggered one of Japan's worst economic downturns since the end of World War II, which Abe's government was unable to fully reverse, and led to a postponement of the planned 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In August 2020, citing a relapse of his ulcerative colitis, Abe resigned as prime minister for health reasons and was replaced by fellow LDP member Yoshihide Suga the following month. Abe's resignation came only four days after he beat the existing record for most consecutive days in office as prime minister of Japan, passing Eisaku Satō's previous record of 2,798 days.

Later Political Career and Assassination

After resigning as prime minister, Abe remained active behind the scenes in Japanese politics, serving as a power broker figure within the LDP. In 2022, as the LDP prepared for an election in the Japanese Diet's Upper House, Abe continued to support the party, and his desire to amend the Japanese constitution remained a key part of the LDP's campaign platform.

On July 8, 2022, Abe was shot while speaking at an LDP campaign event in Nara. The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, was immediately taken into custody. While doctors attempted to save Abe's life, he was pronounced dead a few hours after the shooting at Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara, Nara, at the age of sixty-seven. Abe's assassination drew worldwide condemnation.

Personal Life

Abe married Akie Matsuzaki in 1987, and the couple remained married until Abe's death in 2022.

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