The Assassination of Shinzo Abe

Shinzo Abe the longest serving Japanese PM and legend in Japanese politics was assassinated this week. The assassin did this because of Abe's alleged links to a bizarre cult based in South Korea, whose followers are called "Moonies" of which the assassin’s mother was a member. This covers the sad demise of Shinzo Abe, the assassin’s story, Japan's culture, and a look at what Abe has done in his long and fruitful career.

TOPICS COVERED
The Assassination of Shinzo Abe
The Motives Behind the Murder
"Moonies" Cult
Japan and Gun Violence
Abe as Mario
The Legacy of Shinzo Abe
Abenomics

Transcript

Shinzo Abe Assassination
Morbidly interesting to me as less than 2 weeks ago I finished a podcast series on Abe’s grandfather the pardoned war criminal, Nobusuke Kishi
- INSERT INTRO FROM “OUR MAN IN JAPAN” about ABe
Shinzo Abe was a legend in Japanese politics the longest reigning Japanese Prime Minister and main voice behind the Liberal Democratic Party LDP, Japan’s top political party that his grandfather helped set up.
Abe stepped down as Prime Minister in 2020 citing health concerns and has led the party from behind the scenes since then.
On July 8th Abe went to Nara prefecture to give a speech in support of an LDP candidate, at approximately 11:30 Japanese time he was shot from behind at close range by a man with a homemade firearm
While Abe began his speech the perpetrator approached within several meters, despite the presence of security, Abe was shot twice from behind with a homemade shotgun and collapsed. 
Abe was initially conscious and communicative after being shot. Shortly thereafter, he was transported to a local hospital by emergency helicopter with a wound to the right side of his neck and internal bleeding under his left chest. 
One of the bullets had struck his heart and he was reported to have no vital signs when he arrived at hospital, likely due to cardiopulmonary arrest prior to his arrival.[23][2][24] At 2:45 p.m., a press conference was held by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who stated that Abe was in critical condition and that "doctors [were] doing everything they [could]".[25]
Abe was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5:03 p.m., around five and a half hours after being shot.[5][26][27] He was sixty-seven years old. Hidetada Fukushima, a doctor at the hospital, said the cause of Abe's death was blood loss, despite four hours of blood transfusions that saw the administration of 100 units of blood.[28][29]
He was 67 years old.


The Suspect Tetsuya Yamagami a 41 year old Nara resident, was arrested following the assassination. He was described as being calm and having made no attempts to flee.[51][52][53] Yamagami had no prior criminal history.
A former Japanese Naval quartermaster, he was discharged in 2005. In 2020 he was working as a forklift operator, there he was described as “quiet”. He quit in may 2022 after claiming he was feeling “unwell” 
Yamagami told investigators that his motive had been personal rather than political.
Mirroring the attempted assassination on Abe’s grandfather decades earlier.
Yamagami’s mother had become bankrupt after making large donations to the Unification Church, of which she was a member.
The Unification church is a cult based in South-Korea, Their followers are called “Moonies” and they have a following in the USA that has entered news as of late for their MAGA and 2nd amendment right supporting rallies.
 the founder of the church, is a Korean Messiah claimant named Sun Myung Moon
he was born to a Christian family in North Korea, 
Christians in North Korea might sound strange but Korea has been called the Jerusalem of the East for their large number of converts.
 early in Moon’s life he was sentenced to a Labor Camp under the suspicion of being a spy (a common event for Christians in North Korea) and after being liberated during the Korean war he started his church which has been referred to as “Dangerous” by outsiders. 
Moon is reported to have many relationships with top political and religious figures, including US presidents, Richard Nixon, George H.W Bush and George W Bush, Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, North Korean president Kim Il-Sung, and Japanese Prime Ministers, Nobusuke Kishi and Shinzo Abe
Yamagami learned of the connections between Abe and the Unification Church in the months before the attack, faulting Abe with spreading the church's influence in Japan.

 


Shinzo Abe’s assassination has shocked the world
Tomohiko Taniguchi, a former advisor to Abe, likened his death to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in terms of likely social impact in Japan.


Violent and shocking political assassinations are not a new thing for Japan -INSERT ASSANUMA assassination
Inejiro Asanuma, a Japanese socialist was assassinated with a samurai sword on live television during a broadcast in the 1960s
After Asanuma’s shocking assassination Japan remained free of political assassinations for roughly 40 years until in 2002 when Koki Ishii, a Japanese politician was murdered under suspicious circumstances. 

Gun violence Japan
In Japan gun violence is extremely rare, with one of the world's lowest rates of gun crime due to its strict laws on gun ownership.
In 2018, Japan, a country of 125 million people, only reported nine deaths from firearms -- compared with 39,740 that year in the United States, according to data compiled by the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney.
It is possible to get a gun in Japan but to get one requires intensive work,
To qualify for a firearm license, potential buyers must attend an all-day class, pass a written test and a shooting-range test with an accuracy of at least 95%. They also must undergo a mental health evaluation and drug tests, as well as a rigorous background check -- including a review of their criminal record, personal debt, involvement in organized crime and relationships with family and friends.
After obtaining a gun, the owner must register their weapon with police and provide details of where their gun and ammunition is stored, in separate, locked compartments. The gun must be inspected by the police once a year, and gun owners must retake the class and sit an exam every three years to renew their license.

In Japan people with mental health disorders are stigmatized, leading to relatively low reported mental disorders. However the suicide rate in Japan is considered high the 7th highest out of developed nations. Suicide is considered a major social issue.
In 2018 almost 21,000 people committed suicide 

Controversy around Abe
Abe was not without his flaws, Controversy seemed to surround him. he was a staunch conservative whom political commentators had described as a right-wing Japanese nationalist. Abe was also called a historical denialist, denying the role of Japanese atrocities in World War 2, such as the recruitment of comfort women, (sex slaves) from Japan’s colonies, this has caused great tensions particularly from South Korea. The breakdown of relations eventually led to a trade war with South Korea, who has the 11th highest economy in the world.

Shinzo Abe will be remembered for working on remilitarization of Japan, something his grandfather made his life’s ambition. He massively boosted Japan’s defense spending during his tenure in office and In 2015 his government passed a reinterpretation of Japan’s postwar, pacifist constitution allowing Japanese troops to engage in overseas combat—with conditions. For the first time since world war 2. Marking a dramatic shift in the Japanese military for the past 70 years.


The Madman, The Genius, The Gangster
-Insert ABE MARIO RIO clip
One of Abe's major domestic achievements was securing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Abe delighted video game fans around the world when he famously dressed as Japanese icon Super Mario during the closing ceremony for the Rio Games in 2016, to introduce Tokyo as the next host city.
In an instantly meme-able segment, Abe, wearing an oversized red cap, was shown emerging from a green pipe, as the sounds of the Super Mario video game echoed around the Maracanã stadium.
But the success of the much anticipated Tokyo Games was ultimately undone by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the competition to be postponed to 2021.
An initial unwillingness to delay the Games was partly credited for Japan's slow response to the coronavirus pandemic, which hit the country early in 2020. Abe declared a state of emergency months after the first cases were detected. His administration was also criticized for the low rate of testing, and an early lack of specialist medical equipment to treat the rising number of patients.
More successful was Abe's handling of the abdication of Emperor Akihito, the first Japanese monarch to step down in two centuries. He was succeeded by his son, Emperor Naruhito, in October 2019, starting the Reiwa era.
"Like the flowers of the plum tree blooming proudly in spring after the cold winter, we wish the Japanese people to bloom like individual flowers with the (promise of the) future. With such a wish for Japan, we decided upon 'Reiwa'," Abe said on announcing the new era.

Abe’s greatest achievement is his instituting of his Abenomics.

ABENOMICS
American economist Simon Kuznets once said, there are 4 types of economies in the world
-developed economies
-undeveloped economies
-Argentina
-Japan


Japans economic bubble popped in the 90s, since then Japan has had sever stagnation in the economy, 
The 1990s in Japan has been called the Lost decade, but it didn’t end with the entrance into the 2000s
Most countries suffer from Inflation, however Japan suffers from DEFLATION 
Deflation is when the prices of goods and services decrease across the entire economy, increasing the purchasing power of consumers. It is the opposite of inflation and can be considered bad for a nation as it can signal a downturn in an economy, leading to a recession or depression.
– While low inflation will encourage consumers to make purchases, it can lead to less earnings for companies and decreased hiring and it also means people don’t get the benefit of paying off their debt quicker with the help of a little inflation. Ultimately, low inflation can lead prices into a downwards spiral, causing deflation and a deterioration of prices equally bad as an inflation crisis.


When Abe became prime minister the Japanese economy was at a negative --4.3% growth rate, Abe combated that by instituting - Abenomics
Because of the unique idiosyncrasies of Japanese culture, people like to save more than spend, for example in Japan asking for a raise is incredibly taboo, leading to rarely increasing salaries.
Japan is also a very traditional society and women Are expected for the most part to stay at home, damaging the available workforce 
Japan also has a massively aging birth rate, this is an issue for most developed countries;
who wants to bring a child into a world with Covid, Monkeypox, and World War 3 around the corner, 
However, what differs with Japan is that most other developed nations accept immigrants from developing countries to help placate this negative birth rate trend. 
Japan is one of the most homogenous societies on earth and they don’t like accepting non-Japanese Immigrants.

people don’t spend and because of deflation they don’t have an incentive to, one of the few benefits of inflation is that people are more likely to borrow and stimulate the economy, due to the money having less value in the years to come


Abe was inspired by a famous folk tale where a king tells his sons to break an arrow, his sons each take an arrow and do so easily then the king gives the sons a bundle of arrows. The sons fail to break them… The king uses this as a way of showing them that once he passes, his sons must unite rather than fight each other for control of the kingdom, that we are stronger together rather than alone
Abe applied this to his economic policy 
He took the fiscal policy, the monetary policy and structural reforms and made it work in unison 

He took the fiscal policy and spent trillions of Japanese yen on building infrastructure building Japanese roads, bridges and such creating many jobs and giving rise to employment. With more employment comes more spending 

In the 1980s Japan was a powerhouse economically reaching the top spot of 2nd highest economy in the world, many Assumed Japan would eventually surpass the United States.
However all good things must come to an end and the 80s economic boom eventually finished and economies worldwide entered recession

Due to their massively booming economy In the 90s Japanese banks gave loans recklessly leading to high interest rates
No one wants to take a loan with high interest rates
Monetarily -
Abe reduced the interests rates, not just Reducing them to 0% he actually had them in the negatives so by taking a loan the bank would pay you money 

Normally governments don’t like inflation, Abe began printing lots of money with the goal of getting the national interest rate of Japan to 2% 
This is pretty shocking for someone like myself that has experienced the brilliant strategy, of Turkey’s glorious leader Recepp Tayipp Erdogan. coined Erdonomics which I don’t have time to get into, its too brilliant and our 73% inflation rates,
Step aside Argentina,
But I digress 
Another problem for Japan is birth rates, it has been predicted that Japan by 2060 will have a reduced population to 1/3 of today…

Japan doesn’t like immigrants 
Less people means less workforce
Abe encouraged women to join the workforce

On the Structural reforms front Abe incentivized people to have children, he did this by investing in childcare and educational reforms 
The idea is that if Japan is a cool place to have children more people are likely to have children 
Helping Japan not have a labor crisis in the future

Abenomics had its hits and misses 
Japanese unemployment rate dropped below 3% which was a success but
Abe aimed to get inflation rate to 2% but that didn’t happen 

Abe should be admired for daring to try new approaches and for looking at Japan objectively observing its flaws and unique cultural characteristics and combating that. in a world where this is often not the case…

Abe is survived by his wife Akie Abe, née Matsuzaki, who he married in 1987. The couple did not have children.