Shinzo Abe shot and killed

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– It is very shocking on many levels: among other things because it is about Abe, and that it has happened in a public place where people have actually been quite supportive of Abe and the party. It is also very startling that he was shot, as small arms are banned in Japan, the researcher says.

– Dissatisfied

According to Japanese media, a man in his 40s has been arrested after the shooting, after he allegedly shot the former prime minister with a homemade handgun. Police say he was dissatisfied with the former prime minister and wanted to kill him.

67-year-old Abe is the longest-serving prime minister in Japan after the war – first in 2006/07, then in 2012 to 2020, when he had to resign due to health problems.

Abe comes from a family with several high-profile national politicians, and his brother Nobuo Kishi is the current Minister of Defense. The family is strongly affiliated with the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been dominant in Japanese politics in the post-war period.

“Japan is playing an important role in the world now.”
Wrenn Yennie Lindgren, researcher and political scientist, about Shinzo Abe’s life’s work

– He has a strong connection to the whole system – his whole environment is linked to politics. He also has a very important position in politics, both domestically and especially abroad, says Yennie Lindgren and elaborates:

– He has worked to get Japan back in the international arena. Although he resigned in 2020, he is still active, and is still the leader of the party’s largest and perhaps most powerful faction. When he was shot, he was speaking for a candidate in the upper house [i parlamentet] Sunday – an important choice.

“The monkey era”

– Does he have many political enemies?

– As with all politicians, there are people who are very much in favor of his policy, and people who are against. But he was elected several times by the Japanese people, and when he resigned, it created shock waves; one talks about the Abe era in Japanese politics, says the researcher.

– He was also good at gathering the right people around him. Even though he resigned as prime minister, there are still people in the current government who worked with him. Abe’s long-term policy is still alive, and we will see results from it over the next 20 years – within, among other things, the economy and working life.

Matters the 67-year-old is remembered for at the domestic level are the efforts to get Japan’s economy back on track after the recession in the 1990s, and the work for more equality. He also believed that the Japanese constitution needed to be reworked, the researcher says.

Personal relationship

Yennie Lindgren believes that the legacy of Abe will first and foremost be his efforts to bring Japan back to the international arena. Today, it is a matter of course that the country is represented at a number of summits.

– All the great leaders who met him will express their support. Abe traveled to country after country regardless of health status, and we see the result of that when his successor Fumio Kishida was present during the NATO summit a week ago. Japan plays an important role in the world now, she says and continues:

– He has a personal relationship with the international leaders, not least American, due to Japan’s alliance with the United States. But he also received Erna Solberg in Tokyo [i 2018].

As prime minister, Abe also had a series of meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

– One of his heart issues was a peace agreement with Russia, the researcher says.

Russia and Japan have never succeeded in agreeing on a peace treaty after World War II, when the former declared war on the latter just before the capitulation in 1945. The crucial point is the archipelago of the Kuriles, which Russia has annexed; Japan still claims parts of it.

– Abe sat down with Putin many times, but never reached an agreement, Yennie Lindgren explains.

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