Former Japanese Prime Minister Shot
July 7, 2022 8:11 PM Subscribe
Police arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder and retrieved a gun from where former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was shot in the city of Nara in western Japan. Abe has been sent to a hospital and appears to have no vital signs, according to a local fire department.posted by glonous keming at 8:56 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
on twitter it's blurry pics of the attacker with what looks to me like a pistol-grip, "sawn off" double-barreled shotgun. reports from the scene say two shots were fired at Shinzo Abe's back from about 10 feet away. depending on the loads used it could be almost no chance of surviving that (buckshot or slugs) or it could be just a lot of nasty shallow wounds (birdshot, the Dick Cheney "pepper").
posted by glonous keming at 9:09 PM on July 7, 2022
posted by glonous keming at 9:09 PM on July 7, 2022
Am not an expert, but that gun looks home-made.
posted by pompomtom at 9:15 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by pompomtom at 9:15 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I know it's just a single link, but it is a big deal and it's nice to have a place to discuss it even if it gets taken down.
With a gun?? I thought it had to be a hoax.
(<== Hopefully that doesn't prompt everyone to start talking about guns in the US, which is also a very important issue, but it would be nice if this stayed focused on our former prime minister getting shot)
posted by karasu at 9:16 PM on July 7, 2022 [21 favorites]
With a gun?? I thought it had to be a hoax.
(<== Hopefully that doesn't prompt everyone to start talking about guns in the US, which is also a very important issue, but it would be nice if this stayed focused on our former prime minister getting shot)
posted by karasu at 9:16 PM on July 7, 2022 [21 favorites]
I'm not really sure posting contextless breaking news is a good idea.
On major global news such as this I couldn’t disagree more. I’m sure if it were a former US president a post would similarly be made immediately, even if ‘thin’.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 9:19 PM on July 7, 2022 [60 favorites]
On major global news such as this I couldn’t disagree more. I’m sure if it were a former US president a post would similarly be made immediately, even if ‘thin’.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 9:19 PM on July 7, 2022 [60 favorites]
Verbally adding my voice in agreement with Ahmad Khani. Even with the 'thicker' Boris post still had people coming in not getting the significance, but it was a line of question that got responses that educated me as well.
posted by cendawanita at 9:25 PM on July 7, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 9:25 PM on July 7, 2022 [8 favorites]
People are pretty subdued at the daycare where I work in Hiroshima. But the kids are all napping so quiet voices are par for the course. We all heard about it, but what is there to do?
If our students were older it might be a teaching moment but with 0 to 2-year olds it’s not age appropriate. That’s a decision for parents to make.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 9:40 PM on July 7, 2022 [8 favorites]
If our students were older it might be a teaching moment but with 0 to 2-year olds it’s not age appropriate. That’s a decision for parents to make.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 9:40 PM on July 7, 2022 [8 favorites]
Wonder what flavor of whacko did this. Abe was pretty Reagan/Thatcher -ppoi I gather so no doubt the LDP economic policies enacted over his admins f---ed over a lot of people.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 10:03 PM on July 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 10:03 PM on July 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
Hopefully more people can add more info when it comes, but this seems like something important to mention.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:11 PM on July 7, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:11 PM on July 7, 2022
Am not an expert, but that gun looks home-made.
Generally speaking one does not make their DIY zipgun double-barreled (yes, I know the Derringer is effectively a double-barreled zipgun with a healthy budget; shut up), and especially not with shotgun rounds if you’re planning to keep your hands after.
posted by Ryvar at 10:37 PM on July 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
Generally speaking one does not make their DIY zipgun double-barreled (yes, I know the Derringer is effectively a double-barreled zipgun with a healthy budget; shut up), and especially not with shotgun rounds if you’re planning to keep your hands after.
posted by Ryvar at 10:37 PM on July 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
Australian ABC is following this- here's a live blog:
Shinzo Abe live updates: Former PM shot while making speech in western city of Nara
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-08/former-japanese-prime-minister-shinzo-abe-shot-live-updates-blog/101221152
Here's a stand alone article:
Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe shot during speech, reportedly in cardiac arrest, police say man arrested
Here's some take aways:
Youngest (since WWII) and longest serving Prime Minister of Japan who stepped down in 2020 citing ill health.
Controversial. Several scandals during his administration and a big election loss.
Political violence rare in Japan, gun violence even more so.
From my quick read of the situation, this would be like an assassination attempt on Obama or similar.
posted by freethefeet at 10:46 PM on July 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
Shinzo Abe live updates: Former PM shot while making speech in western city of Nara
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-08/former-japanese-prime-minister-shinzo-abe-shot-live-updates-blog/101221152
Here's a stand alone article:
Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe shot during speech, reportedly in cardiac arrest, police say man arrested
Here's some take aways:
Youngest (since WWII) and longest serving Prime Minister of Japan who stepped down in 2020 citing ill health.
Controversial. Several scandals during his administration and a big election loss.
Political violence rare in Japan, gun violence even more so.
From my quick read of the situation, this would be like an assassination attempt on Obama or similar.
posted by freethefeet at 10:46 PM on July 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
Watching some feeds from the major networks (e.g. NHK, TBS, NTV/日テレ).
Top-line summary for his condition is still being reported as 心肺停止 (lit. "cardiopulmonary arrest") and "unconscious" but English-language reporting (e.g. AP, Guardian live blog) also cites "no vital signs" and explains that 心肺停止 could mean that the person is no longer alive but not yet formally pronounced dead.
Suspect is 41yo male, ex-海上自衛隊 (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force). Footage shows him being taken into custody on scene. (Won't link here but there is also footage from multiple angles of the moment the two shots were fired.)
Gov't holding emergency meeting; campaigning has been suspended [not sure of the precise translation here].
Officials and governments from other countries have issued statements.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 10:49 PM on July 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
Top-line summary for his condition is still being reported as 心肺停止 (lit. "cardiopulmonary arrest") and "unconscious" but English-language reporting (e.g. AP, Guardian live blog) also cites "no vital signs" and explains that 心肺停止 could mean that the person is no longer alive but not yet formally pronounced dead.
Suspect is 41yo male, ex-海上自衛隊 (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force). Footage shows him being taken into custody on scene. (Won't link here but there is also footage from multiple angles of the moment the two shots were fired.)
Gov't holding emergency meeting; campaigning has been suspended [not sure of the precise translation here].
Officials and governments from other countries have issued statements.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 10:49 PM on July 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
It doesn't look good. From a human perspective I hope he's OK and feel for his friends and family.
posted by freethefeet at 10:51 PM on July 7, 2022
posted by freethefeet at 10:51 PM on July 7, 2022
From my quick read of the situation, this would be like an assassination attempt on Obama or similar.
Obama is not a good comparison. Abe is extremely conservative, and in fact the grandson of notorious right winger politician Nobusuke Kishi. One of the Bushes or Ronald Reagan would be a better comparison.
posted by zardoz at 10:54 PM on July 7, 2022 [23 favorites]
Obama is not a good comparison. Abe is extremely conservative, and in fact the grandson of notorious right winger politician Nobusuke Kishi. One of the Bushes or Ronald Reagan would be a better comparison.
posted by zardoz at 10:54 PM on July 7, 2022 [23 favorites]
yeah arguably he's more the Boris Johnson of Japan if anything
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:57 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:57 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Fucking fuck. Enough "interesting times" already.
You don't have to be a fan of Abe or the LDP to see this as a bad thing to happen.
Could be another pre-/post- "where were you when" events that change the landscape for the worse and distract us from working any of the other crises we need to address.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:01 PM on July 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
You don't have to be a fan of Abe or the LDP to see this as a bad thing to happen.
Could be another pre-/post- "where were you when" events that change the landscape for the worse and distract us from working any of the other crises we need to address.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:01 PM on July 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
if you’re planning to keep your hands after.
I doubt someone who decided to make a crude gun to shoot at the former leader of their country from close range had many long-term aftermath plans.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:02 PM on July 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
I doubt someone who decided to make a crude gun to shoot at the former leader of their country from close range had many long-term aftermath plans.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:02 PM on July 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
Why would it be a DIY gun as opposite of a saw off shotgun? Are those difficult to get in Japan, expecialy in light of knowing that the shooter is ex military.
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 11:06 PM on July 7, 2022
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 11:06 PM on July 7, 2022
> yeah arguably he's more the Boris Johnson of Japan if anything
Just by coincidence, one day earlier I was watching coverage of the end of one of the shortest UK premierships. Today's coverage reminded me that Abe was the longest-serving PM in Japan. (All this shows is how warped my sense of time has become...don't know how much more news I can take atm)
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:07 PM on July 7, 2022
Just by coincidence, one day earlier I was watching coverage of the end of one of the shortest UK premierships. Today's coverage reminded me that Abe was the longest-serving PM in Japan. (All this shows is how warped my sense of time has become...don't know how much more news I can take atm)
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:07 PM on July 7, 2022
Guns are extremely tightly regulated in Japan. Getting a hunting rifle requires background checks, lessons, secure storage, etc. If anyone so much as ever touches a gun licensed to someone else, the license holder loses their license and becomes ineligible to ever get it back.
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:08 PM on July 7, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:08 PM on July 7, 2022 [11 favorites]
Why would it be a DIY gun as opposite of a saw off shotgun? Are those difficult to get in Japan, expecialy in light of knowing that the shooter is ex military.
thegirlwiththehat
It is possible to obtain shotguns and hunting riffles in Japan with the right permits, though it involves a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic hoops to jump through. However, from the images of the weapon that I've seen, and the large amount of smoke produced by the shots, it seems much more likely that it was a crude homemade device than a regular gun.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:10 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
thegirlwiththehat
It is possible to obtain shotguns and hunting riffles in Japan with the right permits, though it involves a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic hoops to jump through. However, from the images of the weapon that I've seen, and the large amount of smoke produced by the shots, it seems much more likely that it was a crude homemade device than a regular gun.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:10 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Forgot to include NHK World as an English-language source to follow
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:16 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:16 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
(sorry, yes. Obama not a good comparison politically but was sort of responding to the "why is this news when only one person was shot" noise up thread.)
posted by freethefeet at 11:28 PM on July 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by freethefeet at 11:28 PM on July 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
Current PM Fumio Kishida has given a press conference. Translation/summary from Guardian:
He says Shinzo Abe is in a critical condition. [...] He describes the shooting as a “heinous act”. [...] Prime minister Kishida said that the motivations of the suspect were not clear, but described the upcoming elections as “the very foundation of democracy” and said the attack “cannot be tolerated”. Kishida described the shooting as “barbaric and malicious”.
Japanese-language news (NHK article with pics/maps, TBS, et al) now citing info from police that suspect has stated 「安倍元総理大臣に対して不満があり、殺そうと思って狙った」(rough translation: "felt dissatisfaction towards Abe, intended to kill") and detailed investigation ongoing
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:29 PM on July 7, 2022
He says Shinzo Abe is in a critical condition. [...] He describes the shooting as a “heinous act”. [...] Prime minister Kishida said that the motivations of the suspect were not clear, but described the upcoming elections as “the very foundation of democracy” and said the attack “cannot be tolerated”. Kishida described the shooting as “barbaric and malicious”.
Japanese-language news (NHK article with pics/maps, TBS, et al) now citing info from police that suspect has stated 「安倍元総理大臣に対して不満があり、殺そうと思って狙った」(rough translation: "felt dissatisfaction towards Abe, intended to kill") and detailed investigation ongoing
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:29 PM on July 7, 2022
A shooting like this in Japan is so strange and so frightening.
This is an insane age. Some people may think or feel that it is always like that, but it really isn't always like that. In my lifetime, I feel this compares best to the years -67 and -68, where there were so many different things going on in different parts of the world, some wonderful and some violent and some both at the same time. And the world never became the same again.
I wonder what will happen from now.
posted by mumimor at 11:32 PM on July 7, 2022 [20 favorites]
This is an insane age. Some people may think or feel that it is always like that, but it really isn't always like that. In my lifetime, I feel this compares best to the years -67 and -68, where there were so many different things going on in different parts of the world, some wonderful and some violent and some both at the same time. And the world never became the same again.
I wonder what will happen from now.
posted by mumimor at 11:32 PM on July 7, 2022 [20 favorites]
My local language news just posted a news burst that he's officially declared dead. I'm told by my japanese friend that 'cardiopulmonary arrest' is often the precursor to such official news.
posted by cendawanita at 11:37 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cendawanita at 11:37 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
oh yeah, for what it's worth, if you want to follow Japanese news sources, DeepL is probably the best machine translation service overall right now
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:39 PM on July 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:39 PM on July 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
This seems like something significant and beyond mere news filter. It has been a long time since we’ve seen an assassination of a major political figure.
posted by interogative mood at 11:58 PM on July 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 11:58 PM on July 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
> It has been a long time since we’ve seen an assassination of a major political figure.
I guess people might argue about "major" but Haiti's President was assassinated in 2021
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 12:07 AM on July 8, 2022 [26 favorites]
I guess people might argue about "major" but Haiti's President was assassinated in 2021
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 12:07 AM on July 8, 2022 [26 favorites]
In Japan it is perfectly possible to get a rifle or shotgun for hunting. Quite a lot of people in the countryside have them. It's not exactly easy to get a gun license--there is a lot of red tape--but it's entirely doable. Who knows if this guy got one legally or on the black market, which also exists.
posted by zardoz at 12:27 AM on July 8, 2022
posted by zardoz at 12:27 AM on July 8, 2022
Online photos show that it was a home made weapon made from iron pipes.
posted by interogative mood at 12:44 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by interogative mood at 12:44 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
I would be really curious to hear from people more familiar with Japanese politics as to what Shinzo Abe's political legacy is. I know he's a member of Japan's big tent conservative party, but I don't think that really maps to the US Republican Party from what I can tell. Everything English speaking that I'm finding focuses on his foreign relations (and mostly with the United States). I know he was close-ish with Trump but that was just being friendly to the then-US president. People above are making comparisons to Boris Johnson and Ronald Reagan, how close is the comparison?
posted by JDHarper at 1:15 AM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by JDHarper at 1:15 AM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
Some tweets that I've found and RT that might help:
@comradesanchez: Shinzo Abe is a right-wing nationalist and an apologist for Japan's myriad crimes including the sexual enslavement of Korean, Filipino, Chinese, and other women subjects of the Japanese Empire during the Second World War (i.e. "comfort women"). stop feeling bad.
@sarahjeong: commentator who has studied east asian geopolitics for decades: regardless of one’s feelings about abe, one cannot deny this is a shocking and
well-meaning liberal who’s never heard of abe: oh no!!! 🕯
guy with furry avatar and nothing to lose: fuck that guy he sucked ass lmao
It's honestly closer to how Brits celebrated Thatcher's passing, even as the implications are dire, per this tweet: I feel bad for the Japanese people, which include my relatives and comrades, and the reactionary impact this will all too likely have on Japanese politics, which I would bet is what the shooter was looking for (@tobitac)
posted by cendawanita at 1:27 AM on July 8, 2022 [23 favorites]
@comradesanchez: Shinzo Abe is a right-wing nationalist and an apologist for Japan's myriad crimes including the sexual enslavement of Korean, Filipino, Chinese, and other women subjects of the Japanese Empire during the Second World War (i.e. "comfort women"). stop feeling bad.
@sarahjeong: commentator who has studied east asian geopolitics for decades: regardless of one’s feelings about abe, one cannot deny this is a shocking and
well-meaning liberal who’s never heard of abe: oh no!!! 🕯
guy with furry avatar and nothing to lose: fuck that guy he sucked ass lmao
It's honestly closer to how Brits celebrated Thatcher's passing, even as the implications are dire, per this tweet: I feel bad for the Japanese people, which include my relatives and comrades, and the reactionary impact this will all too likely have on Japanese politics, which I would bet is what the shooter was looking for (@tobitac)
posted by cendawanita at 1:27 AM on July 8, 2022 [23 favorites]
Abe is (can’t find any official declaration of death yet) a member of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, but more than that he is a leading member of Nihonkaigi, a politico-religious organization with the aim of reverting the unnatural changes forced upon Japan after the Second World War.
To this end, he has spearheaded education reforms removing descriptions of Japanese war crimes from textbooks, pushed for a revised constitution that would center the Japanese legal edifice on the “family” as the atom of society, instead of the “individual” etc. etc.
posted by AxelT at 1:31 AM on July 8, 2022 [24 favorites]
To this end, he has spearheaded education reforms removing descriptions of Japanese war crimes from textbooks, pushed for a revised constitution that would center the Japanese legal edifice on the “family” as the atom of society, instead of the “individual” etc. etc.
posted by AxelT at 1:31 AM on July 8, 2022 [24 favorites]
They've announced his death now.
posted by emmling at 1:47 AM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by emmling at 1:47 AM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
I’m glad this post is here, as these threads tend to attract mefites with understanding and knowledge that can make these threads a rare source of trustworthy information.
I deeply despise Abe (using present tense for now), and think he has made Japan a much worse place for the average person in his lifetime. He is, as mentioned, a member of Nihon Kaigi, which, for people in the states is kind of like the Federalist Society, if a restoration of the emperor and Shinto as the state religion were on the agenda.
That said, if he is or was at all conscious for any part of this, he’s got to be in absolutely immense pain, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
As far as guns, they are available, but require a hell of a lot. Psych profiles, police interviews of you, your family, and neighbors. It’s serious as fuck, which is why there hasn’t even been a gun used in a crime in Tokyo this year, let alone an actual shooting. Talking with a hunter friend, he was clearly relieved that it appears to be a homemade gun, otherwise, the amount of reflexive scrutiny he’d be facing would be ridiculous.
I’m of the “oh shit, nothing that comes from this will be any kind of good” school of nervous anticipation. There is an election scheduled for Sunday, and this will probably give the LDP a massive landslide.
And Mrs. Ghidorah just texted me. Abe is dead.
posted by Ghidorah at 1:48 AM on July 8, 2022 [49 favorites]
I deeply despise Abe (using present tense for now), and think he has made Japan a much worse place for the average person in his lifetime. He is, as mentioned, a member of Nihon Kaigi, which, for people in the states is kind of like the Federalist Society, if a restoration of the emperor and Shinto as the state religion were on the agenda.
That said, if he is or was at all conscious for any part of this, he’s got to be in absolutely immense pain, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
As far as guns, they are available, but require a hell of a lot. Psych profiles, police interviews of you, your family, and neighbors. It’s serious as fuck, which is why there hasn’t even been a gun used in a crime in Tokyo this year, let alone an actual shooting. Talking with a hunter friend, he was clearly relieved that it appears to be a homemade gun, otherwise, the amount of reflexive scrutiny he’d be facing would be ridiculous.
I’m of the “oh shit, nothing that comes from this will be any kind of good” school of nervous anticipation. There is an election scheduled for Sunday, and this will probably give the LDP a massive landslide.
And Mrs. Ghidorah just texted me. Abe is dead.
posted by Ghidorah at 1:48 AM on July 8, 2022 [49 favorites]
I’m of the “oh shit, nothing that comes from this will be any kind of good” school of nervous anticipation. There is an election scheduled for Sunday, and this will probably give the LDP a massive landslide.
This is exactly how I felt (and feel) upon seeing the news.
This is gonna suck for everyone but the fascists.
posted by AxelT at 1:53 AM on July 8, 2022 [15 favorites]
This is exactly how I felt (and feel) upon seeing the news.
This is gonna suck for everyone but the fascists.
posted by AxelT at 1:53 AM on July 8, 2022 [15 favorites]
>stop feeling bad.
This just feels really shortsighted. I'm very much NOT a fan of Abe but it doesn't take much imagination to see that something like this can really change things, and with the burdens falling on those who shouldn't have to bear the costs--like 9/11 led to changes that really impacted people's lives, no matter how tenuous their connection to the direct perpetrators or victims.
Or if the Jan. 6 attackers had gotten 40 ft closer to the VP (or AOC, or Pelosi...)...the headlines/results could have been very different, and you don't have to love their respective political parties to see how destabilizing it would have been to lose a public figure to violence like that, and imagine what the responses would have been...more ways in which violence takes over lives.
The longest-serving PM getting shot dead in modern times in a country with pretty much zero gun violence (and really low crime overall) is going to affect people's psyches, sense of safety, attitudes to politics/democracy...
On preview:
> I’m of the “oh shit, nothing that comes from this will be any kind of good” school of nervous anticipation.
Co-signed, except even with more dread/doom
> Abe is dead.
F
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 2:05 AM on July 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
This just feels really shortsighted. I'm very much NOT a fan of Abe but it doesn't take much imagination to see that something like this can really change things, and with the burdens falling on those who shouldn't have to bear the costs--like 9/11 led to changes that really impacted people's lives, no matter how tenuous their connection to the direct perpetrators or victims.
Or if the Jan. 6 attackers had gotten 40 ft closer to the VP (or AOC, or Pelosi...)...the headlines/results could have been very different, and you don't have to love their respective political parties to see how destabilizing it would have been to lose a public figure to violence like that, and imagine what the responses would have been...more ways in which violence takes over lives.
The longest-serving PM getting shot dead in modern times in a country with pretty much zero gun violence (and really low crime overall) is going to affect people's psyches, sense of safety, attitudes to politics/democracy...
On preview:
> I’m of the “oh shit, nothing that comes from this will be any kind of good” school of nervous anticipation.
Co-signed, except even with more dread/doom
> Abe is dead.
F
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 2:05 AM on July 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
Or if the Jan. 6 attackers had gotten 40 ft closer to the VP (or AOC, or Pelosi...)...the headlines/results could have been very different, and you don't have to love their respective political parties to see how destabilizing it would have been to lose a public figure to violence like that
Really strained metaphor there; Abe was a lot closer to Donald Trump (He rode into his first premiership on the back of the slogan "take back Japan" and thought students should learn history that glorifies Japan's imperial past instead of feeling guilt over it, sound familiar, at all?). Horrifying that he was assassinated, but I'm not going to pretend to be sad or that he was actually any kind of positive figure.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 2:16 AM on July 8, 2022 [10 favorites]
Really strained metaphor there; Abe was a lot closer to Donald Trump (He rode into his first premiership on the back of the slogan "take back Japan" and thought students should learn history that glorifies Japan's imperial past instead of feeling guilt over it, sound familiar, at all?). Horrifying that he was assassinated, but I'm not going to pretend to be sad or that he was actually any kind of positive figure.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 2:16 AM on July 8, 2022 [10 favorites]
yeah I am not a fan of the guy but "public assassination at a campaign speech two days before an election" feels pretty bleak for Ramifications
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:34 AM on July 8, 2022 [27 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:34 AM on July 8, 2022 [27 favorites]
> Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe shot during speech, reportedly in cardiac arrest, police say man arrested
@dicklp: "He is said to be 'in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest', which is what Japanese reporters say after someone has died, but before it has been officially confirmed."
Japan ex-PM Abe dies after being shot while making a speech
for some current political context...
Japan's Kishida hopes to put stamp on premiership in upper house polls - "Kishida has pushed back against the neoliberal 'Abenomics' of the past decade, instead touting a 'new capitalism' that emphasises greater distribution of wealth to boost growth, although details have been thin."
-3 former Japanese PMs look to secure key party positions following summer election
-Explainer: Inflation to nuclear power: What's at stake in Japan's election
-Factbox: The numbers to watch in Japan's upper house elections
-Factbox: Main parties contesting Japan's upper house election
posted by kliuless at 2:35 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
@dicklp: "He is said to be 'in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest', which is what Japanese reporters say after someone has died, but before it has been officially confirmed."
Japan ex-PM Abe dies after being shot while making a speech
for some current political context...
Japan's Kishida hopes to put stamp on premiership in upper house polls - "Kishida has pushed back against the neoliberal 'Abenomics' of the past decade, instead touting a 'new capitalism' that emphasises greater distribution of wealth to boost growth, although details have been thin."
-3 former Japanese PMs look to secure key party positions following summer election
-Explainer: Inflation to nuclear power: What's at stake in Japan's election
-Factbox: The numbers to watch in Japan's upper house elections
-Factbox: Main parties contesting Japan's upper house election
posted by kliuless at 2:35 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
For those wondering why this incident is considered so shocking, this Guardian piece on Japanese gun laws my help. Particularly telling, even for someone in notoriously gun-unfriendly Australia, is that a 1958 Japanese law says: “No one shall possess a firearm or firearms or a sword or swords.”
Abe's politics aside, it is very reasonable to find a political assassination in Japan a matter of deep concern.
posted by prismatic7 at 2:45 AM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
Abe's politics aside, it is very reasonable to find a political assassination in Japan a matter of deep concern.
posted by prismatic7 at 2:45 AM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
> Really strained metaphor there; Abe was a lot closer to Donald Trump
? It would still be shocking and wide-reaching and destabilizing if it happened to [substitute whatever politician]
I feel like all these attempts to find the best equivalent politician are missing the point
I'm trying to explain why it's so shocking, why it's more ominous, why it can't just be waved away by "oh it's fine he sucked"
As I'm watching this and trying to process it, my first thought (and probably many others'?) is not "Do I like this or not because his politics were X or Y" but "HOLY SHIT AN ASSASSINATION AND GUNS VIOLENCE BROAD DAYLIGHT IN PUBLIC IN JAPAN" "What will this do to people's minds and the future and laws etc" "when the whole world really has other issues to be working on like climate change"
Traumatic events break minds and radicalize people. Things will get more out of control and oppressive.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 2:56 AM on July 8, 2022 [40 favorites]
? It would still be shocking and wide-reaching and destabilizing if it happened to [substitute whatever politician]
I feel like all these attempts to find the best equivalent politician are missing the point
I'm trying to explain why it's so shocking, why it's more ominous, why it can't just be waved away by "oh it's fine he sucked"
As I'm watching this and trying to process it, my first thought (and probably many others'?) is not "Do I like this or not because his politics were X or Y" but "HOLY SHIT AN ASSASSINATION AND GUNS VIOLENCE BROAD DAYLIGHT IN PUBLIC IN JAPAN" "What will this do to people's minds and the future and laws etc" "when the whole world really has other issues to be working on like climate change"
Traumatic events break minds and radicalize people. Things will get more out of control and oppressive.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 2:56 AM on July 8, 2022 [40 favorites]
It’s weird. I wrote my earlier comment after finishing physical therapy. I went to that appointment hours after the initial shooting. I got the text from my wife in the parking lot, writing that comment. Then, I went to the store. Bought groceries for dinner. Came home. We’re having a beer on the balcony.
All day, we’ve been watching the news, but there’s a powerlessness there. Watching the news, learning about the shooter, the death, and all of the things to come from this, all that comes after, and there’s nothing I can do or say that will affect any of it. We’re all caught in the churn, just waiting to find out how bad it’s going to get. Even if, and weirdly more frightening, this is just how things are now. This is something that happens.
I don’t think I’ve ever so keenly understood animals that freeze in place during a forest fire.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:05 AM on July 8, 2022 [39 favorites]
All day, we’ve been watching the news, but there’s a powerlessness there. Watching the news, learning about the shooter, the death, and all of the things to come from this, all that comes after, and there’s nothing I can do or say that will affect any of it. We’re all caught in the churn, just waiting to find out how bad it’s going to get. Even if, and weirdly more frightening, this is just how things are now. This is something that happens.
I don’t think I’ve ever so keenly understood animals that freeze in place during a forest fire.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:05 AM on July 8, 2022 [39 favorites]
I heard this news this morning, then heard confirmation of Abe's death, and all that's been ringing in my head all day is that "this is our Gavrilo Princip moment" and ... that's not good.
posted by chavenet at 3:11 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 3:11 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
While it’s deeply troubling and certainly going to have complex consequences, I feel like the global situation is different enough now that a series of escalations like what happened in Europe in 1914 is unlikely. Just for example, the reluctance of many military players to engage directly with Russia and Ukraine, is reassuring to me that Abe’s assassination won’t be the first in a mountain of colossal international clusterfucks leading to WWIII. This isn’t to say that something else couldn’t cause it, but I think the ramifications of this murder will be felt mostly in Japan. The fear of gun violence there is so rarely given this kind of direct fuel. It’s like, something that happens to your cousin who was visiting the states, or a symbol used to identify a character as truly unhinged. To be confronted with something like this means a lot of people grappling with the immediacy of this kind of violence for the first time, all at once. And because Abe was hawkish, that’s going to make things even more nuanced.
posted by Mizu at 3:53 AM on July 8, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by Mizu at 3:53 AM on July 8, 2022 [8 favorites]
When I saw the headlines this morning, I immediately started wondering what delirious online conspiracy theories motivated the shooter.
Maybe not. Maybe it's just an old-fashioned, "this guy's policies suck" political assassination.
But, come on. It's 2022. Will anyone be surprised if the shooter was an enthusiastic participant in some Reddit community which says that Abe was leading a plot to turn the Japanese people into a mindless slave army by putting the DNA of sentient extraterrestrial turtles in their Matsuya bowls?
posted by escape from the potato planet at 4:21 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Maybe not. Maybe it's just an old-fashioned, "this guy's policies suck" political assassination.
But, come on. It's 2022. Will anyone be surprised if the shooter was an enthusiastic participant in some Reddit community which says that Abe was leading a plot to turn the Japanese people into a mindless slave army by putting the DNA of sentient extraterrestrial turtles in their Matsuya bowls?
posted by escape from the potato planet at 4:21 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Some more info being reported about the suspect (via NHK et al) [translations approximate]:
- stated to police that he "felt dissatisfaction/resentment towards Abe; aimed to kill" 「安倍元総理大臣に対して不満があり、殺そうと思って狙った」
- but that it was "not a grievance about his political beliefs" 「元総理の政治信条への恨みではない」[??]
- had "previously made multiple [guns] and explosives"「拳銃や爆発物をこれまでに複数製造していた」
- According to someone in the Ministry of Defense, was in the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force during the years 2002-2005 [I haven't seen any info about background after 2005]
- Police search of his apartment found "multiple potential explosives" 爆発物の可能性のあるものが複数見つかり
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 4:25 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
- stated to police that he "felt dissatisfaction/resentment towards Abe; aimed to kill" 「安倍元総理大臣に対して不満があり、殺そうと思って狙った」
- but that it was "not a grievance about his political beliefs" 「元総理の政治信条への恨みではない」[??]
- had "previously made multiple [guns] and explosives"「拳銃や爆発物をこれまでに複数製造していた」
- According to someone in the Ministry of Defense, was in the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force during the years 2002-2005 [I haven't seen any info about background after 2005]
- Police search of his apartment found "multiple potential explosives" 爆発物の可能性のあるものが複数見つかり
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 4:25 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
"Stop feeling bad" is honestly the most reductive and shortsighted response to any political assassination.
You could say "stop feeling bad" if a politician died in an accident, maybe, or if they died of an illness. No hagiographies, no mausoleums, maybe even a healthy dose of schadenfreude.
But an assassination? The consequences go far far beyond the life of the individual politician. This is going to change the landscape of politics in Japan, with an election coming up, and it might precipitate hasty retributions (perceived or otherwise) and reforms (justified or otherwise). It will likely change the country's perception of their gun laws, of their military force, of Abe's OWN POLITICS.
And yes, something similar would have happened if Pence had been assassinated. Or even worse, if Trump had been assassinated at some point in his presidency (or since his presidency). It doesn't have to be the exact kind of politician, the exact kind of mentality, the exact kind of impact. People wouldn't have had to "feel bad" for recognize that it would have massively affected internal (and international!) politics.
The fallout from this will be unpredictable but very probably quite significant and people are right to be concerned.
posted by lydhre at 4:31 AM on July 8, 2022 [30 favorites]
You could say "stop feeling bad" if a politician died in an accident, maybe, or if they died of an illness. No hagiographies, no mausoleums, maybe even a healthy dose of schadenfreude.
But an assassination? The consequences go far far beyond the life of the individual politician. This is going to change the landscape of politics in Japan, with an election coming up, and it might precipitate hasty retributions (perceived or otherwise) and reforms (justified or otherwise). It will likely change the country's perception of their gun laws, of their military force, of Abe's OWN POLITICS.
And yes, something similar would have happened if Pence had been assassinated. Or even worse, if Trump had been assassinated at some point in his presidency (or since his presidency). It doesn't have to be the exact kind of politician, the exact kind of mentality, the exact kind of impact. People wouldn't have had to "feel bad" for recognize that it would have massively affected internal (and international!) politics.
The fallout from this will be unpredictable but very probably quite significant and people are right to be concerned.
posted by lydhre at 4:31 AM on July 8, 2022 [30 favorites]
That's the distinction that those aware of East Asian politics are already holding though. I don't use the Thatcher comparison lightly. My sense of that tweet is aimed at the less aware who probably had a mostly positive view of anything japanese including its politicians and came out with reflexive sympathies for the guy. When we're more aware of someone's legacy (like Thatcher) it's somehow possible to also identify the myriad views including less charitable ones?
posted by cendawanita at 4:41 AM on July 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 4:41 AM on July 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
Wow, this is stunning. So unheard of to hear of gun violence out of Japan, and such a public and high profile exception.
posted by obfuscation at 5:31 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by obfuscation at 5:31 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
This is unexpected and historic but is there really a clear path that leads from it to broader political instability in Japan or elsewhere? Especially if we are to take the shooter at their word when they say they were not motivated by political grievances. Kishida has already said campaigning for the upper house election will resume tomorrow. I don't really see the analogy to a hypothetical assassination of Trump or Pence. American politics is much more polarised. Abe's party has rarely been out of power. Of course there will be reverberations as with the untimely death of any extremely high-profile person but for people to draw comparisons with the beginning of WWI seems disproportionate to me. It certainly doesn't appear that the assassin is an agent of a foreign power or anything.
posted by Panthalassa at 5:32 AM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Panthalassa at 5:32 AM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
I can't figure out why anyone would kill a politician who would never have been in office again.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:41 AM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:41 AM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
Thread of details from the Nara police presser.
posted by cendawanita at 5:48 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cendawanita at 5:48 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
FYI The Guardian is liveblogging (in English) the current police press conference
They say the suspect, after he was apprehended, said he believed that Abe was connected to an organisation against which he had a grudge, but the police say they wish to refrain from making any more detailed comments on this issue.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 5:49 AM on July 8, 2022
They say the suspect, after he was apprehended, said he believed that Abe was connected to an organisation against which he had a grudge, but the police say they wish to refrain from making any more detailed comments on this issue.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 5:49 AM on July 8, 2022
Well, I'm not sure assassinations are generally based on hardcore logic anyway, but my understanding is Abe still wielded a substantial amount of power and influence regardless of his being done with his tenure as PM.
posted by obfuscation at 5:50 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by obfuscation at 5:50 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Maybe it's just an old-fashioned, "this guy's policies suck" political assassination.
Or he blamed Abe for the failure of his business/marriage or something. Like the guy who assassinated British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in the 1810s.
posted by acb at 5:57 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
Or he blamed Abe for the failure of his business/marriage or something. Like the guy who assassinated British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in the 1810s.
posted by acb at 5:57 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
I can't figure out why anyone would kill a politician who would never have been in office again.
Abe was in fact in office. Parliament works differently than the American system. The party (the LDP) has an election for leadership, the person who wins the party election of the party with the most seats (or the leadership of the ruling coalition) is generally the Prime Minister.
Abe was Prime Minister (twice), but he was a sitting member of the government, and still the leader of the strongest LDP faction. No longer PM, he was still a *very* powerful political figure. To give you another example: former PM Mori, who was one of the more ridiculously bad leaders Japan has seen recently, is still someone whose advice and support is considered worth having, even being put in a leadership role in the Olympics in Tokyo. Or, he’ll, even Taro Aso, who was worse than Mori, but is currently the deputy chief of the LDP, and in the cabinet of the current PM, Kishida.
Just because they stop being PM doesn’t mean they stop having power.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:07 AM on July 8, 2022 [41 favorites]
Abe was in fact in office. Parliament works differently than the American system. The party (the LDP) has an election for leadership, the person who wins the party election of the party with the most seats (or the leadership of the ruling coalition) is generally the Prime Minister.
Abe was Prime Minister (twice), but he was a sitting member of the government, and still the leader of the strongest LDP faction. No longer PM, he was still a *very* powerful political figure. To give you another example: former PM Mori, who was one of the more ridiculously bad leaders Japan has seen recently, is still someone whose advice and support is considered worth having, even being put in a leadership role in the Olympics in Tokyo. Or, he’ll, even Taro Aso, who was worse than Mori, but is currently the deputy chief of the LDP, and in the cabinet of the current PM, Kishida.
Just because they stop being PM doesn’t mean they stop having power.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:07 AM on July 8, 2022 [41 favorites]
Gidorah: He is, as mentioned, a member of Nihon Kaigi, which, for people in the states is kind of like the Federalist Society, if a restoration of the emperor and Shinto as the state religion were on the agenda.
Is Abe one of the guys who visited the Yasukuni Shrine (to WWII war dead) every year? Those people definitely suck.
But regardless of the individual's politics, the assassination of any politician is bad just for the roiling it will have on their nation, region, and world -- when none of us has extra bandwidth to deal with it.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:08 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Is Abe one of the guys who visited the Yasukuni Shrine (to WWII war dead) every year? Those people definitely suck.
But regardless of the individual's politics, the assassination of any politician is bad just for the roiling it will have on their nation, region, and world -- when none of us has extra bandwidth to deal with it.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:08 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Unfortunate NYT tweet at the time of the event:
"Breaking News: Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former prime minister, collapsed after a gunshot was heard as he delivered a speech, the country’s public broadcaster said."
(I'm not sure if this is actually the NYT using the journalistic passive or if they're just quoting NHK.)
posted by madcaptenor at 6:22 AM on July 8, 2022
"Breaking News: Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former prime minister, collapsed after a gunshot was heard as he delivered a speech, the country’s public broadcaster said."
(I'm not sure if this is actually the NYT using the journalistic passive or if they're just quoting NHK.)
posted by madcaptenor at 6:22 AM on July 8, 2022
Re: "not politically motivated"
The Asahi Shimbun published an interview in which the gunman who shot and killed Shinzo Abe stated that he initially targeted religious leaders, not Abe, and that his relatives say his family was destroyed by the religion.
Unfortunately, the full article is paywalled.
The Japanese media is maddeningly vague when it comes to mentioning religious groups/cults in Japan so for now anything about the religion angle is going to be just speculation. It took multiple arrests plus the arrest of the nominal leader for them to publicly name the Yamato Q group in the mass media earlier in the year.
posted by LostInUbe at 6:27 AM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Asahi Shimbun published an interview in which the gunman who shot and killed Shinzo Abe stated that he initially targeted religious leaders, not Abe, and that his relatives say his family was destroyed by the religion.
Unfortunately, the full article is paywalled.
The Japanese media is maddeningly vague when it comes to mentioning religious groups/cults in Japan so for now anything about the religion angle is going to be just speculation. It took multiple arrests plus the arrest of the nominal leader for them to publicly name the Yamato Q group in the mass media earlier in the year.
posted by LostInUbe at 6:27 AM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
abe was a terribad shithead who denied japanese war crimes, celebrated those criminals yearly at the yasukuni shrine, and sought a nationalistic, imperialist foreign policy, so i don't feel at all for him, his friends, and family. or, as this tweet pithily puts it.
i do feel bad for the burakumin, the zainichi koreans, and the japanese left who are likely to face some repercussions, whether or not it's determined if members of those groups had anything to do with it.
maybe it was just a lone wolf problem, to borrow an american excuse.
posted by i used to be someone else at 6:37 AM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
i do feel bad for the burakumin, the zainichi koreans, and the japanese left who are likely to face some repercussions, whether or not it's determined if members of those groups had anything to do with it.
maybe it was just a lone wolf problem, to borrow an american excuse.
posted by i used to be someone else at 6:37 AM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
I really don't know that I would need to like a politician to bemoan their assassination. Assassinations are bad, period. I would have been sad and worried if Pence had been murdered, which very nearly happened.
An open society needs to be safe and free, for Loke and for Thor (this is a Danish saying that I realize makes little sense in the age of the Thor franchise)
posted by mumimor at 6:44 AM on July 8, 2022 [12 favorites]
An open society needs to be safe and free, for Loke and for Thor (this is a Danish saying that I realize makes little sense in the age of the Thor franchise)
posted by mumimor at 6:44 AM on July 8, 2022 [12 favorites]
Assassinations are bad, period.
I'd make a personal exception to that principle for assassinations that prevent or even stop wars, but this is pretty clearly not that.
posted by flabdablet at 6:46 AM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'd make a personal exception to that principle for assassinations that prevent or even stop wars, but this is pretty clearly not that.
posted by flabdablet at 6:46 AM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
I mean, it’s straight-up the trolley problem when war’s at stake and there’s a reasonable belief that removing a specific individual or two will change the course of events.
This case is more like someone killing Dubya after he left office …like, why bother? Even if you’re set on effecting change through violence (which is usually a terrible idea) that particular application accomplishes nothing for anyone except the assassin and their ego. If you’re determined to throw your life away in a fit of rampant assholery, there are so many better ways to spend it.
I’m still reeling from the more recent reports that seem to confirm this specific asshole actually homebrewed a double-barreled shotgun. My inner humanitarian and inner engineer are having a moment of:
“Are you more horrified by his plan succeeding or by his plan succeeding?”
“Yes.”
posted by Ryvar at 8:48 AM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
This case is more like someone killing Dubya after he left office …like, why bother? Even if you’re set on effecting change through violence (which is usually a terrible idea) that particular application accomplishes nothing for anyone except the assassin and their ego. If you’re determined to throw your life away in a fit of rampant assholery, there are so many better ways to spend it.
I’m still reeling from the more recent reports that seem to confirm this specific asshole actually homebrewed a double-barreled shotgun. My inner humanitarian and inner engineer are having a moment of:
“Are you more horrified by his plan succeeding or by his plan succeeding?”
“Yes.”
posted by Ryvar at 8:48 AM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
This case is more like someone killing Dubya after he left office …like, why bother?
Abe was still an active politician, just not the PM.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:56 AM on July 8, 2022 [9 favorites]
Abe was still an active politician, just not the PM.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:56 AM on July 8, 2022 [9 favorites]
UNCONFIRMED: It seems probable that the religious group in question is the Unification Church, also known as the Moonies, because Shinzo Abe and his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi both had roles supporting the church in Japan. If true, he wouldn't be the only right-wing politician to have ties to the Moonies. (Shinzo speaking at the event here.)
posted by Apocryphon at 9:04 AM on July 8, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by Apocryphon at 9:04 AM on July 8, 2022 [9 favorites]
This case is more like someone killing Dubya after he left office …like, why bother?
My understanding was that Abe was still very much a power broker and connection between different entities and interests that extended beyond the formal structure of government.
posted by Jon_Evil at 9:17 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
My understanding was that Abe was still very much a power broker and connection between different entities and interests that extended beyond the formal structure of government.
posted by Jon_Evil at 9:17 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Assassinations are bad, period
I want to agree with this statement, but honestly I have an Arya-sized list of politicians of whom I think the world would be truly better without. But in any case, the political aims here seem murky at best. The assassin seems less a martyr for a noble cause and more like a tragically unstable individual with pretty good shop skills.
posted by xigxag at 9:36 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
I want to agree with this statement, but honestly I have an Arya-sized list of politicians of whom I think the world would be truly better without. But in any case, the political aims here seem murky at best. The assassin seems less a martyr for a noble cause and more like a tragically unstable individual with pretty good shop skills.
posted by xigxag at 9:36 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm no fan of far right nationalists, but the assassination of a major political figure is sort of accentuating the "Mad Max times are nigh" vibe I've been living with of late and I do not care for it.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:44 AM on July 8, 2022 [21 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:44 AM on July 8, 2022 [21 favorites]
If the personal vendetta against the Unification Church angle bears out, then chalk this up as another assassination where "powerful leader with controversial ties to extremists is undone by disgruntled individual for personal reasons." Sort of like Huey Long, potential future president, populist authoritarian, and connected to fellow political outsider demagogues like Father Coughlin, was assassinated by someone who just wanted to avenge the political career of his father-in-law.
posted by Apocryphon at 9:45 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Apocryphon at 9:45 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
I recall watching a video of a couple who were renovating a traditional Japanese house when they discovered an old sword. They wanted to know more about it so they contacted a local historical society who instructed them to call the police immediately. The police came within minutes to confiscate the sword and it was only returned after a long vetting process. They needed some kind of permit to own it.
This is incredibly sad. That Japan is such a peaceful society makes it more bewildering, if it could be. I know that the Japanese are very proud and this will wound their dignity. I would argue otherwise, it is as shocking as it is rare - which is something to be proud of. May they have peace.
posted by adept256 at 9:59 AM on July 8, 2022
This is incredibly sad. That Japan is such a peaceful society makes it more bewildering, if it could be. I know that the Japanese are very proud and this will wound their dignity. I would argue otherwise, it is as shocking as it is rare - which is something to be proud of. May they have peace.
posted by adept256 at 9:59 AM on July 8, 2022
I want to agree with this statement, but honestly I have an Arya-sized list of politicians of whom I think the world would be truly better without.
The problem is, everyone has a list like that. One might say the entire goal of civilization is to get people to keep those lists in a drawer and find a better way than violence to choose their leaders. The act of assassination is the attempted murder of not just an elected leader, but the very idea of electing leaders.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 10:04 AM on July 8, 2022 [38 favorites]
The problem is, everyone has a list like that. One might say the entire goal of civilization is to get people to keep those lists in a drawer and find a better way than violence to choose their leaders. The act of assassination is the attempted murder of not just an elected leader, but the very idea of electing leaders.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 10:04 AM on July 8, 2022 [38 favorites]
I want to agree with this statement, but honestly I have an Arya-sized list of politicians of whom I think the world would be truly better without.
But the world would only be truly better without them if it weren’t obvious they’d been assassinated. Most of the time all that would do is galvanize those that support them and validate their need to oppress the opposition.
My Arya-sized list has all of them hopefully dying on the shitter of natural causes.
posted by lydhre at 10:12 AM on July 8, 2022 [7 favorites]
But the world would only be truly better without them if it weren’t obvious they’d been assassinated. Most of the time all that would do is galvanize those that support them and validate their need to oppress the opposition.
My Arya-sized list has all of them hopefully dying on the shitter of natural causes.
posted by lydhre at 10:12 AM on July 8, 2022 [7 favorites]
This is not hitler, this is not bin laden. I won't even argue this, except to say I condemn it entirely and find it in extreme poor taste to argue here at this time.
posted by adept256 at 10:18 AM on July 8, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by adept256 at 10:18 AM on July 8, 2022 [7 favorites]
as someone whose grand and great grandparents were alive during and there at the Rape of Nanjing, I'm pretty fucking glad he's dead. sorry if that's impolite
posted by paimapi at 10:37 AM on July 8, 2022 [26 favorites]
posted by paimapi at 10:37 AM on July 8, 2022 [26 favorites]
let me know if I need to be respectful to the man who led the charge to erase Japanese war crimes that caused intergenerational trauma in my family from their public education system, I would hate to offend someone with my feelings
posted by paimapi at 10:40 AM on July 8, 2022 [36 favorites]
posted by paimapi at 10:40 AM on July 8, 2022 [36 favorites]
The reason why Japanese kitchen knives exist as a phenomenon is because of the post-WW2 ban on swords, and the numerous swordmakers adapting their skills to a legal product.
Presumably in a rice-based culture, ploughshares aren't in much demand.
posted by acb at 10:42 AM on July 8, 2022
Presumably in a rice-based culture, ploughshares aren't in much demand.
posted by acb at 10:42 AM on July 8, 2022
Eh, I don't think this is such a big blow to the Japanese ultra-nationalist movement to have any measurable feeling for me at least. Yes, Abe was influential but he doesn't read to me like a "strongman" type leader who's death will lead to a power vacuum and instability. It's probably likely that another asshole is there waiting in the wings to do the same things he was going to do.
I do see how it's more bad in the sense that having any prominent politician assassinated in a peaceful and stable society. I can understand a person's concern and want to treat this seriously in that sense.
posted by FJT at 10:54 AM on July 8, 2022
I do see how it's more bad in the sense that having any prominent politician assassinated in a peaceful and stable society. I can understand a person's concern and want to treat this seriously in that sense.
posted by FJT at 10:54 AM on July 8, 2022
So apparently a Greek news channel is using pictures of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and saying that they are of the shooter. This may have come from a far-right French politician.
posted by LostInUbe at 10:59 AM on July 8, 2022
posted by LostInUbe at 10:59 AM on July 8, 2022
I think we can all agree that the shitstorm of misinformation, outright lies, and the polarized political climate is all adding up to Why This is Bad
and, we can have no tears for the death of this man and what he stood for
surely those thoughts can exist simultaneously
posted by elkevelvet at 11:02 AM on July 8, 2022 [25 favorites]
and, we can have no tears for the death of this man and what he stood for
surely those thoughts can exist simultaneously
posted by elkevelvet at 11:02 AM on July 8, 2022 [25 favorites]
It's probably likely that another asshole is there waiting in the wings to do the same things he was going to do.
I've played enough Assassin's Creed to know that every monster who is dispatched, no matter the infamy of their deeds, is merely a product of a vast system, which has already produced someone to step into the gap they vacate.
posted by acb at 11:18 AM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
I've played enough Assassin's Creed to know that every monster who is dispatched, no matter the infamy of their deeds, is merely a product of a vast system, which has already produced someone to step into the gap they vacate.
posted by acb at 11:18 AM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
Yeah, that’s also a message behind Metal Gear Solid 3.
There’s a dream sequence in Snake Eater that maybe sums up what Kojima has been trying to accomplish. It’s a boss battle, technically, although the boss you’re fighting, named “The Sorrow,” is already dead. You follow The Sorrow’s spirit down a long river. The ghosts of soldiers appear, walking towards you. How many soldier-ghosts you see will vary — because you are seeing the ghosts of all the soldiers you have killed in the game. If you don’t kill anyone? No soldier-ghosts, and the boss fight is easy. When I played Snake Eater, there were a lot of ghosts. I often think about that long walk down the river. (Kojima supposedly based that level on the mythic River of Three Crossings from Japanese Buddhism, which just isn’t something you ever hear about Call of Duty.)posted by Apocryphon at 11:28 AM on July 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
Phantom Pain feels like a logical extension of that moment. Snake Eater argued that you shouldn’t kill soldiers because it made a boss fight difficult. Phantom Pain argues that every dead enemy soldier is an ally you’ll never have. You can even make a narrative out of it, if you want to: having experienced an epiphany in his purgatory walk, Snake realizes that every death — even the death of an enemy — will ultimately make his life harder.
Everything else aside, the assassination of a popular, elderly, right-wing demagogue (well past the peak of his influence) sure doesn’t seem like it will lead to anything good.
posted by schmod at 12:16 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by schmod at 12:16 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have an Arya-sized list of politicians of whom I think the world would be truly better without
So the main difference between you and someone like Thomas Mair is that he could be bothered to get off his arse and do something about it?
If you believe in the rule of law, there's no such thing as an acceptable victim of crime. If you don't, you don't. It's good to be clear about it, though.
posted by Grangousier at 12:56 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
So the main difference between you and someone like Thomas Mair is that he could be bothered to get off his arse and do something about it?
If you believe in the rule of law, there's no such thing as an acceptable victim of crime. If you don't, you don't. It's good to be clear about it, though.
posted by Grangousier at 12:56 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Other religious groups that Shinzo Abe had ties to-
Nippon Kaigi, a far right, ultranationalist group that wishes to restore antebellum Japan. (Less scholarly, more sensationalist The Daily Beast article here)
Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist-based new religious movement that is also politically influential via its political vehicle Komeito, the “Clean Government Party.”
posted by Apocryphon at 12:57 PM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
Nippon Kaigi, a far right, ultranationalist group that wishes to restore antebellum Japan. (Less scholarly, more sensationalist The Daily Beast article here)
Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist-based new religious movement that is also politically influential via its political vehicle Komeito, the “Clean Government Party.”
posted by Apocryphon at 12:57 PM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
This is not hitler, this is not bin laden.
no, but his grandfather kishi served under tojo and conscripted tens of thousands of koreans and chinese as slave labor.
abe himself denies the cruelty of the kidnapping and rape of comfort women and minimizes the sacking of nanjing and the rape of its people. he farted around in a fighter jet with the number 731, which would be like a descendant of goebbels riding around in a yacht named "todesengel" or "mengele."
spare not a tear for that disgusting man, but rather the fact that japan may turn even more hard right and that police forces in japan are already warning zainichi koreans in case there's a near-centennial reprise of the 1923 kantō massacres.
posted by i used to be someone else at 1:05 PM on July 8, 2022 [36 favorites]
no, but his grandfather kishi served under tojo and conscripted tens of thousands of koreans and chinese as slave labor.
abe himself denies the cruelty of the kidnapping and rape of comfort women and minimizes the sacking of nanjing and the rape of its people. he farted around in a fighter jet with the number 731, which would be like a descendant of goebbels riding around in a yacht named "todesengel" or "mengele."
spare not a tear for that disgusting man, but rather the fact that japan may turn even more hard right and that police forces in japan are already warning zainichi koreans in case there's a near-centennial reprise of the 1923 kantō massacres.
posted by i used to be someone else at 1:05 PM on July 8, 2022 [36 favorites]
I too have an Arya list, but its a "get them completely out of positions of power" list. I don't need them to die, just to be rendered harmless.
Abe was bad, for sure, but murdering people is not the best way to try to improve society...
and my heart breaks for the Japanese, I cannot imagine how shocking and upsetting an act like this is, in a country with so little violence, much less guns :(
posted by supermedusa at 1:34 PM on July 8, 2022
Abe was bad, for sure, but murdering people is not the best way to try to improve society...
and my heart breaks for the Japanese, I cannot imagine how shocking and upsetting an act like this is, in a country with so little violence, much less guns :(
posted by supermedusa at 1:34 PM on July 8, 2022
are already warning zainichi koreans in case there's a near-centennial reprise of the 1923 kantō massacres.
in case anyone else wanted to find out more about this: Koreans in Japan and Kanto Massacre (Wikipedia articles)
posted by elkevelvet at 1:50 PM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
in case anyone else wanted to find out more about this: Koreans in Japan and Kanto Massacre (Wikipedia articles)
posted by elkevelvet at 1:50 PM on July 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
Twitter thread on Abe’s political legacy by Japanese historian Sayaka Chatani.
posted by AxelT at 2:40 PM on July 8, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by AxelT at 2:40 PM on July 8, 2022 [7 favorites]
Sokka Gakai and their political party, New Komeito are fascinating/terrifying depending on who’s talking about them. They’ve formed the ruling coalition with the LDP for decades, and are a straight up cult that, as part of that ruling coalition, has been able to steer Japanese politics for decades.
I’m sure there are others with better examples, but in the early days of corona, the original plan was to identify people in need (largely restaurant/service industry workers who’d lost their jobs) and give them a ¥300,000 payment (about $2800 at the time). New Komeito blocked that, holding up payments to anyone at all, until a compromise was found, and instead, everyone in the country received ¥100,000. The supposed reasoning was that the majority of Sokka Gakkai members wouldn’t have qualified for the ¥300k, but if everyone got ¥100k, Sokka Gakkai would get the tithe money out of it.
The head of New Komeito, along with Taro Aso (former PM, current #2 in the party, was just in the news comparing Ukraine to a weak child, and that all weak children are at fault for being bullied) were owners of factories that were given contracts to make the utterly ineffective tiny cloth masks that Abe said he would send two of to every household (regardless of the number of people living there). Most of them ended up in a warehouse, and no, there’s never been any investigation into that, and now there certainly never will be.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:36 PM on July 8, 2022 [16 favorites]
I’m sure there are others with better examples, but in the early days of corona, the original plan was to identify people in need (largely restaurant/service industry workers who’d lost their jobs) and give them a ¥300,000 payment (about $2800 at the time). New Komeito blocked that, holding up payments to anyone at all, until a compromise was found, and instead, everyone in the country received ¥100,000. The supposed reasoning was that the majority of Sokka Gakkai members wouldn’t have qualified for the ¥300k, but if everyone got ¥100k, Sokka Gakkai would get the tithe money out of it.
The head of New Komeito, along with Taro Aso (former PM, current #2 in the party, was just in the news comparing Ukraine to a weak child, and that all weak children are at fault for being bullied) were owners of factories that were given contracts to make the utterly ineffective tiny cloth masks that Abe said he would send two of to every household (regardless of the number of people living there). Most of them ended up in a warehouse, and no, there’s never been any investigation into that, and now there certainly never will be.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:36 PM on July 8, 2022 [16 favorites]
Regarding the crafted improvised firearm, William Gibson's short story 'Johnny Mnemonic' (1981) had a memorable paragraph fetishizing machining a shotgun in an environment without firearms, down to turning the brass on a lathe for the casing (container part of a cartridge that holds the chemical propellant).
That the police found precursors to energetic chemical compounds, the propellant might even have been hand crafted especially since it produced more smoke than modern firearms. It might just have been black powder.
In such a low firearm environment, I'm not surprised that an improvised firearm would me ignored under scrutiny.
posted by porpoise at 4:23 PM on July 8, 2022
That the police found precursors to energetic chemical compounds, the propellant might even have been hand crafted especially since it produced more smoke than modern firearms. It might just have been black powder.
In such a low firearm environment, I'm not surprised that an improvised firearm would me ignored under scrutiny.
posted by porpoise at 4:23 PM on July 8, 2022
utterly ineffective tiny cloth masks
Those masks really sucked shit.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 4:31 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Those masks really sucked shit.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 4:31 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Definitely leaning towards the Unification Church.
It may not be the Unification Church directly but its offshoot, the Sanctuary Church led by Sean Moon (the bullet crown guy). It hasn't really made news but Moon came in to Japan in June and is currently touring the country.
posted by LostInUbe at 5:04 PM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
It may not be the Unification Church directly but its offshoot, the Sanctuary Church led by Sean Moon (the bullet crown guy). It hasn't really made news but Moon came in to Japan in June and is currently touring the country.
posted by LostInUbe at 5:04 PM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
oh man thinking about those アベノマスク and how they just made you look like 給食当番
makes obvious sense in retrospect that they were a grift
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:09 PM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
makes obvious sense in retrospect that they were a grift
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:09 PM on July 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
Taiwanese reporter, Brian Hioe: Anyway, seeing a lot of the reactions to the Abe shooting just really reiterates the point that, for many in the West, Asian politics is just a abstraction for them to project concerns closer at hand onto
posted by cendawanita at 5:06 AM on July 9, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 5:06 AM on July 9, 2022 [12 favorites]
Those who find this public assassination shocking and unusual should be aware of the televised assassination of Inejirō Asanuma in 1960.
posted by Rash at 10:15 AM on July 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Rash at 10:15 AM on July 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Taiwanese reporter, Brian Hioe: Anyway, seeing a lot of the reactions to the Abe shooting just really reiterates the point that, for many in the West, Asian politics is just a abstraction for them to project concerns closer at hand onto
Thank you for linking to the reporter. His feed, and the quotes on this article/tweet perfectly demonstrate what I have long observed about the right-wing populist crowd dominating Taiwanese (plus HK and much of Chinese American) politics. They are true believers of the "Shinzo Abe Made the World Better" school.
There are so many of them on Twitter/Facebook/Youtube. Every bit as repugnant as the little pink, possibly even less self-aware.
posted by fatehunter at 12:06 PM on July 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Thank you for linking to the reporter. His feed, and the quotes on this article/tweet perfectly demonstrate what I have long observed about the right-wing populist crowd dominating Taiwanese (plus HK and much of Chinese American) politics. They are true believers of the "Shinzo Abe Made the World Better" school.
There are so many of them on Twitter/Facebook/Youtube. Every bit as repugnant as the little pink, possibly even less self-aware.
posted by fatehunter at 12:06 PM on July 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Since the start of this I've read they haven't found any bullets in Shinzo Abe's body. I just looked up if anything refutes this or provides any information about the gun used, but there doesn't appear to be much. There also haven't been any details of other people injured either, so it probably wasn't loaded with some kind of "shot" that would spread out either, like a shotgun.
So was this not a projectile firing weapon and more like a weapon that directs an explosive force?
Just a side note: Googling "what was the gun that shot abe" kept getting me mixed up results that included the other politician that got shot and I'm embarrassed to admit it took me a minute to figure out why.
posted by FJT at 1:20 PM on July 9, 2022
So was this not a projectile firing weapon and more like a weapon that directs an explosive force?
Just a side note: Googling "what was the gun that shot abe" kept getting me mixed up results that included the other politician that got shot and I'm embarrassed to admit it took me a minute to figure out why.
posted by FJT at 1:20 PM on July 9, 2022
From NHK
"Japanese police say former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo died from loss of blood after a bullet damaged an artery under his collarbone.
Police carried out an autopsy on Abe's body through early Saturday.
They say the bullet went through Abe's upper left arm and damaged a blood vessel under his collarbone."
Also, here is another view about Taiwan and Abe.
And to follow up: the current story is that the shooter's mother was involved in a "religious group" that she donated enough money to that it bankrupted her. The son may or may not have left the group and joined a splinter faction. He saw Abe as someone who was allied with the group and thus went after him. The Nara police and thus the mainstream Japanese media have refused to name the group, going as far as dropping the religious part in later articles and just referring to "a group." A tabloid has used the name that has been swirling around the internet: The Unification Church (統一教会 in Japanese).
There has been a lot swirling around about Nippon Kaigi, which Abe was definitely connected to but no one in Japan really categorizes it as a religious group (even if it's ideology is religious in origin.) Abe (and Donald Trump) spoke at a Unification Church event a few years ago. Plus the far-right in Japan supported the Unification Church going back to the church's founding.
posted by LostInUbe at 5:23 PM on July 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
"Japanese police say former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo died from loss of blood after a bullet damaged an artery under his collarbone.
Police carried out an autopsy on Abe's body through early Saturday.
They say the bullet went through Abe's upper left arm and damaged a blood vessel under his collarbone."
Also, here is another view about Taiwan and Abe.
And to follow up: the current story is that the shooter's mother was involved in a "religious group" that she donated enough money to that it bankrupted her. The son may or may not have left the group and joined a splinter faction. He saw Abe as someone who was allied with the group and thus went after him. The Nara police and thus the mainstream Japanese media have refused to name the group, going as far as dropping the religious part in later articles and just referring to "a group." A tabloid has used the name that has been swirling around the internet: The Unification Church (統一教会 in Japanese).
There has been a lot swirling around about Nippon Kaigi, which Abe was definitely connected to but no one in Japan really categorizes it as a religious group (even if it's ideology is religious in origin.) Abe (and Donald Trump) spoke at a Unification Church event a few years ago. Plus the far-right in Japan supported the Unification Church going back to the church's founding.
posted by LostInUbe at 5:23 PM on July 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
Interesting essay that's pretty positive on Abe. Author says they initially opposed Abel, expecting him to be strongly nationalistic and culturally conservative, but was pleasantly surprised. Some claims about Abe:
* He issued an apology for the actions of the Japanese military wrt. comfort women, and created a reparations fund in agreement with South Korea
* He passed Japan's first anti-hate-speech law, and cracked down on anti-Korean hate groups
* He opened up Japan to immigration, to the point that 1/8 twenty-year-olds in Tokyo were born outside Japan
* He pushed companies to hire women, and provided affordable day care. Now Japan has a higher percentage of women working than the US! (Though the author says it's still mostly low-prestige jobs.)
* He had a policy of fiscal stimulus
In case it needs to be said, this doesn't mean Abe didn't really have ties to awful people, and it certainly doesn't excuse that. But I wouldn't want discussion of say, Lyndon B. Johnson, to be only about his (very real) racism and (very real) escalation in Vietnam, and not mention civil rights.
posted by vasi at 11:01 PM on July 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
* He issued an apology for the actions of the Japanese military wrt. comfort women, and created a reparations fund in agreement with South Korea
* He passed Japan's first anti-hate-speech law, and cracked down on anti-Korean hate groups
* He opened up Japan to immigration, to the point that 1/8 twenty-year-olds in Tokyo were born outside Japan
* He pushed companies to hire women, and provided affordable day care. Now Japan has a higher percentage of women working than the US! (Though the author says it's still mostly low-prestige jobs.)
* He had a policy of fiscal stimulus
In case it needs to be said, this doesn't mean Abe didn't really have ties to awful people, and it certainly doesn't excuse that. But I wouldn't want discussion of say, Lyndon B. Johnson, to be only about his (very real) racism and (very real) escalation in Vietnam, and not mention civil rights.
posted by vasi at 11:01 PM on July 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
> "He issued an apology for the actions of the Japanese military wrt. comfort women, and created a reparations fund in agreement with South Korea"
Yeah, not so much.
posted by GeckoDundee at 2:19 AM on July 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
Yeah, not so much.
posted by GeckoDundee at 2:19 AM on July 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
Meanwhile, exit polls from the election indicate a conservative landslide.
posted by acb at 5:56 AM on July 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by acb at 5:56 AM on July 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
in an article "Nara police chief seeks to clarify undeniable flaws in Abe’s security,"
posted by glonous keming at 8:06 AM on July 10, 2022
[The police chief] denied that he would step down, saying, “It is my responsibility to clarify the security problems.”and there's a detail in the article "Handmade guns, targets found in home, vehicle of suspected killer"
[...]
The [first] shot appeared to miss the former prime minister. The assailant then fired a second shot, which is believed to have killed Abe.
Police also said they found multiple gunshot marks on a campaign vehicle parked near the shooting site. A signboard on the roof of the vehicle had several holes through it.in the close-up of the weapon in this second article it looks like there may be wires going into the rear of the action. taking this into account along with the smoke seen in videos, it seems likely this was a muzzle-loading black-powder-type shotgun that might have used electric ignition somehow instead of percussion of a primer to inititate the shots, but idk enought about IEDs to know if this is actually viable
posted by glonous keming at 8:06 AM on July 10, 2022
noah smith (noahpinion) is as accurate with his takes on asia (among other things) as jesse singal is with his takes on trans people
posted by i used to be someone else at 10:59 AM on July 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by i used to be someone else at 10:59 AM on July 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
Meanwhile, exit polls from the election indicate a conservative landslide.
I for one speculated a martyr effect would happen that would move Japan rightward as a result. It's concerning given the narrative that Abe was pro-remilitarization.
posted by polymodus at 11:53 AM on July 10, 2022
I for one speculated a martyr effect would happen that would move Japan rightward as a result. It's concerning given the narrative that Abe was pro-remilitarization.
posted by polymodus at 11:53 AM on July 10, 2022
Hopefuly the post-pacifist Japan won't be as inclined to commit atrocities as its 1930s incarnation. If it values human rights and a broadly liberal international order, it may just be a good counterweight to an expansionist China which (by its record in Tibet and Xinjiang) does not value these things.
Abe might not have been the best guarantor of a Japan that assumed a military role deferring to human rights, though I don't know about his successors. Is Japan seized by a spiral of radicalism as in the US/UK, or are the current LDP fairly moderate?
posted by acb at 12:13 PM on July 10, 2022
Abe might not have been the best guarantor of a Japan that assumed a military role deferring to human rights, though I don't know about his successors. Is Japan seized by a spiral of radicalism as in the US/UK, or are the current LDP fairly moderate?
posted by acb at 12:13 PM on July 10, 2022
I heard that there's a youtube video of a Japanese parliament meeting from 2016(?) where a woman politician stood up and told people that they should be more concerned about domestic terrorism, and her speech was constantly interrupted by all her male colleagues. The video ends with Abe replying something very condescending to the woman speaker.
Failed to find that video but would really like to watch it.
posted by of strange foe at 2:47 PM on July 10, 2022
Failed to find that video but would really like to watch it.
posted by of strange foe at 2:47 PM on July 10, 2022
* He opened up Japan to immigration, to the point that 1/8 twenty-year-olds in Tokyo were born outside Japan
And nearly all of those twenty-year-olds were working in service industry jobs for crap pay. Immigration was only loosened because groups like Keidanren forced the government to do it because they couldn't find Japanese people willing to work shit jobs for low pay anymore. Now, they have foreigners to do it, on restrictive visas.
* He pushed companies to hire women, and provided affordable day care. Now Japan has a higher percentage of women working than the US! (Though the author says it's still mostly low-prestige jobs.)
Abe's "Third Arrow" wasn't just about women getting into the workplace, it was about increasing the number of female executives in Japan. Corporate Japan essentially ignored Abe completely on this, and Japan remains woefully behind pretty much any country in any of the G(number) groups. The higher percentage of women working is that most housewives work at least some part-time work because salaries haven't gone up in years because...
* He had a policy of fiscal stimulus
"Abenomics" was literally just a re-skin of Reaganomics, complete with deregulation, privatization, and trickle-down economics. It continued the growth of the wealth gap that Koizumi started. During the various lockdowns and manbo periods under corona, where anyone working in the food service/bar industry (and anything connected to it, like restaurant supply, beer makers, farms, logistics, seriously, the list goes on) faced pretty extreme hardship, sales of luxury goods skyrocketed. There are functionally two Japans today. One of them sees luxury condos, up-scale shopping and office developments slapped into formerly affordable areas, and non-stop wide show nonsense normalizing things like a single serving dessert for $60. The other Japan hasn't seen meaningful wage growth in twenty years (I make, today, what would have been a kingly sum in 2000, and have to have two side gigs to make ends meet in 2022), while prices on *everything* have steadily (then not so steadily) risen.
Is that all on Abe? More of it than not, I would say. Enough to the point that, Suga, incompetently trying to continue Abe's plans, was replaced by a guy from the same party whose priority is undoing most of Abe's plans. With the LDP landslide yesterday, I wonder how much of that is going to help or hinder Kishida. If the LDP manages to come away with a majority that frees them from needing New Komeito, that could be a good thing (not having a cult with a deciding say in how the government works is a net good, I would say), but if there are enough Abe disciples in the Diet, they might be able to keep Kishida from achieving anything.
Hell, Abe told companies to hire more women, and they said no. Kishida has told companies to use some of their record profits to pay employees better, and so far, they've said no.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:22 PM on July 10, 2022 [15 favorites]
And nearly all of those twenty-year-olds were working in service industry jobs for crap pay. Immigration was only loosened because groups like Keidanren forced the government to do it because they couldn't find Japanese people willing to work shit jobs for low pay anymore. Now, they have foreigners to do it, on restrictive visas.
* He pushed companies to hire women, and provided affordable day care. Now Japan has a higher percentage of women working than the US! (Though the author says it's still mostly low-prestige jobs.)
Abe's "Third Arrow" wasn't just about women getting into the workplace, it was about increasing the number of female executives in Japan. Corporate Japan essentially ignored Abe completely on this, and Japan remains woefully behind pretty much any country in any of the G(number) groups. The higher percentage of women working is that most housewives work at least some part-time work because salaries haven't gone up in years because...
* He had a policy of fiscal stimulus
"Abenomics" was literally just a re-skin of Reaganomics, complete with deregulation, privatization, and trickle-down economics. It continued the growth of the wealth gap that Koizumi started. During the various lockdowns and manbo periods under corona, where anyone working in the food service/bar industry (and anything connected to it, like restaurant supply, beer makers, farms, logistics, seriously, the list goes on) faced pretty extreme hardship, sales of luxury goods skyrocketed. There are functionally two Japans today. One of them sees luxury condos, up-scale shopping and office developments slapped into formerly affordable areas, and non-stop wide show nonsense normalizing things like a single serving dessert for $60. The other Japan hasn't seen meaningful wage growth in twenty years (I make, today, what would have been a kingly sum in 2000, and have to have two side gigs to make ends meet in 2022), while prices on *everything* have steadily (then not so steadily) risen.
Is that all on Abe? More of it than not, I would say. Enough to the point that, Suga, incompetently trying to continue Abe's plans, was replaced by a guy from the same party whose priority is undoing most of Abe's plans. With the LDP landslide yesterday, I wonder how much of that is going to help or hinder Kishida. If the LDP manages to come away with a majority that frees them from needing New Komeito, that could be a good thing (not having a cult with a deciding say in how the government works is a net good, I would say), but if there are enough Abe disciples in the Diet, they might be able to keep Kishida from achieving anything.
Hell, Abe told companies to hire more women, and they said no. Kishida has told companies to use some of their record profits to pay employees better, and so far, they've said no.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:22 PM on July 10, 2022 [15 favorites]
I heard that there's a youtube video of a Japanese parliament meeting from 2016(?) where a woman politician stood up and told people that they should be more concerned about domestic terrorism, and her speech was constantly interrupted by all her male colleagues. The video ends with Abe replying something very condescending to the woman speaker.
Here you go. The speaker is Kiyomi Tsujimoto (she lost in last year's lower house election but was elected back into the upper house yesterday)
posted by misozaki at 4:57 PM on July 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
Here you go. The speaker is Kiyomi Tsujimoto (she lost in last year's lower house election but was elected back into the upper house yesterday)
posted by misozaki at 4:57 PM on July 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
(not having a cult with a deciding say in how the government works is a net good, I would say)
Now we only have one (Unification Church) ... no two (Jinja Honcho, association of Shinto Shrines) cults with a deciding say in how the government works! Yay! (sobs)
posted by misozaki at 5:08 PM on July 10, 2022
Now we only have one (Unification Church) ... no two (Jinja Honcho, association of Shinto Shrines) cults with a deciding say in how the government works! Yay! (sobs)
posted by misozaki at 5:08 PM on July 10, 2022
If it's the largest Shrine Shinto organization in existence, isn't it a bit unfair to call it a cult?
posted by Apocryphon at 10:12 PM on July 10, 2022
posted by Apocryphon at 10:12 PM on July 10, 2022
If it's the largest Shrine Shinto organization in existence, isn't it a bit unfair to call it a cult?
Let's just say it's a pretty bigoted group.
posted by misozaki at 12:13 AM on July 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
Let's just say it's a pretty bigoted group.
posted by misozaki at 12:13 AM on July 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
Suspect fired at religious group’s facility day before Abe slain
it was the Unification church he was mad at. The Unification Church confirmed the mother of the man accused of assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a member
posted by glonous keming at 8:06 PM on July 11, 2022
it was the Unification church he was mad at. The Unification Church confirmed the mother of the man accused of assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a member
posted by glonous keming at 8:06 PM on July 11, 2022
Phew, just before this thread is closed: Shinzo Abe’s Assassin Succeeds in Twisted Plot to Expose Japan’s Deep Ties with ‘Cult’.
Instead of rallying behind Abe, the Japanese people have followed the killer’s wishes and turned their attention to long-standing but little discussed links between the ruling party and the Moonies.
Japanese Mefites, can you confirm? Are people really so mad about the revelations there's actual support AGAINST Abe's state funeral?
posted by cendawanita at 2:42 AM on August 5, 2022
Instead of rallying behind Abe, the Japanese people have followed the killer’s wishes and turned their attention to long-standing but little discussed links between the ruling party and the Moonies.
Japanese Mefites, can you confirm? Are people really so mad about the revelations there's actual support AGAINST Abe's state funeral?
posted by cendawanita at 2:42 AM on August 5, 2022
I think that the opposition to the state funeral is more just, like, does a former prime minister merit a state funeral or not.
It's been a heck of a thing seeing the Unification Church's presence in Japanese politics very suddenly very much in the spotlight, though. To put it lightly, I did not expect the assassin's goals to work out quite so perfectly according to plan.
posted by DoctorFedora at 9:43 PM on August 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's been a heck of a thing seeing the Unification Church's presence in Japanese politics very suddenly very much in the spotlight, though. To put it lightly, I did not expect the assassin's goals to work out quite so perfectly according to plan.
posted by DoctorFedora at 9:43 PM on August 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by DoctorFedora at 8:13 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]