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| The Next One: Shinzo Abe |
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| Tuesday, 03 October 2006 | |
 In the elite world of business and politics in Japan, there are few who are surprised by the election of Shinzo Abe as Prime Minister. On September 26, 2006 Abe was elected with 339 of 475 votes in the Diet’s lower house and a firm majority in the upper house making him the 90th PM in Japan’s history since the famous Ito Hirobumi first took the position on December 22nd, 1885.For sometime, political insiders familiar with Japan’s national politics have been whispering that the Liberal Democratic Party, the current ruling national party, had wanted a change at the seat of power. And so with the parting of former PM Jun’ichiro Koizumi, the gauntlet has been passed down and its now Abe’s turn to run the show. And yet, Japans neighbors, particularly China and Korea have expressed apprehension with Abe and the ideas he has promised to bring to the table. Ideas that some say could heighten tensions and destabilize the balance of power in the world. Shinzo Abe was born on September 21, 1954 in Nagato, Japan. Abe studied political science and Seikei University in Tokyo and graduated in 1977. Upon graduation Abe moved to the United States and studied Political science at the University of Southern California for just over a year. In 1979 Abe began working for Kobe Steel and then in 1982 at the age of 28 began working for the Government of Japan. Abe had worked in multiple capacities including Private Secretary of the chairperson of the LDP General Council and Private Secretary to the LDP Secretary-General. Abe was not the first in his family to work for the Government. His father Kan Abe, and his grandfather, Shintaro Abe, were politicians by profession. His mother Yoko Kishi, was in fact the daughter of former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, Japan’s 56th Prime Minister. After his father died in 1991, Abe decided to run for election and in 1993 was elected to the first district of Yamaguchi Prefecture winning the most votes of any election in the prefectures history. In 1999, he became Director of the Social Affairs Division, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Yoshiro Mori and Jun’Ichiro Koizumi cabinets from 2000 to 2003. But it wasn’t until Abe was assigned as Chief Negotiator for the Government on behalf of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea that Abe’s popularity really became evident. In 2002, Abe accompanied then Prime Minister Koizumi on a trip to North Korea and met its leader Kim Jong Il. He received national notoriety for demanding that kidnapped Japanese allowed to visit Japan by special permission remain in Japan, even though that was in defiance of the previous political agreements with North Korea. But Abe’s career has not been without controversy. Abe led the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform whose work was famous for denying that Japanese troops used ‘comfort women’ (woman forced into sexual slavery with soldiers) during the war and to remove these comments from historical references in Japanese school textbooks. In July 2006, Abe published a book called Utsukushii Kuni E (Toward a beautiful Nation) in which the Korean and Chinese Governments expressed concern about Abe’s historical views in reference to the world war. The popular newspaper Asahi Shimbun accused Abe of censoring a 2001 NHK program concerning The Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal removing keywords in the script such as “Japanese Troops” and “Sexual Slavery”. Abe fought back saying it was the Asahi Shimbun who was conducting “Political terrorism”. Perhaps most worrisome to Japan’s neighbors is that Abe has on several occasions visited Yasukuni Shrine, a shrine that is reported to include convicted war criminals in its shrine of honored war dead. Abe for his part claimed that his visits were of a personal nature and not related to his line of work. Through all this however, it has been the issue of defense that has helped Shinzo Abe gain the top seat in the Government. North Korea has always been a strong point for Abe in the eyes of the masses as Abe has always taken a popular hard-line stance with respect to Japan’s relations with the isolated communist regime. When the North conducted missile tests over the Sea of Japan, Abe working then as Chief Cabinet Secretary worked to implement sanctions against North Korea at the United National Security Council. Abe also currently seeks to revise the interpretation of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan, which would permit Japan to have and maintain a standing military army. Of this he said, “We are reaching the limit in narrowing down differences between Japan’s Security and the interpretation of our constitution”. The thought of Japan having a standing army has worried many but is surprisingly welcomed by the United States. The Bush Government in fact has been vocal about Japan’s participation in such theaters as the Iraq conflict and fully supports the proposition. On September 29th, 2006 Abe used his inaugural policy speech to announce his intentions of taking part in joint defense activities citing changing international situations and the progress in weapons technology. For his part Abe also pledged to strength ties with China and South Korea saying “It is important for us to engage in dialogue with an eye on the future”. It is difficult to tell where Abe’s political leanings are. Abe seems to protect right wing ideals while on the other hand makes a concerted effort to strengthen ties between nations such as China, South Korea and the United States. Whatever the future holds for Shinzo Abe’s government, it is clear that the road ahead will be a difficult one that will force a man who seems to want to bring together both the left and the right of Japan’s political spectrum into making a few key decisions that will make him unpopular with one side or the other. The road ahead is a difficult one facing the Abe Government. Japan is facing a social security crisis with its aging population. To add to that, Japan’s economy is just now seeing a reemergence of growth from its catastrophic fall in the early 1990’s. But somehow it seems clear, at least here at the start of it all, that Abe’s Government will receive its pass or fail grading depending on how it deals with the North Korea issue. An issue that could consequently affect the world itself. |
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