Abe, Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo, 67, the longest-serving prime minister of Japan, died after being shot during a campaign speech on Friday in Nara, according to CNN, Al Jazeera, Reuters and others.
He was pronounced dead by doctors at the Nara Medical University hospital in central Japan at 5:03 p.m. local time.
He was brutally gunned down while campaigning for a parliamentary election, an incident that created a shock for the country where guns are tightly controlled and political violence almost unexpected. Afterwards, a 41-year-old man, Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested by the police and it was later said that the gun was homemade.
He served as prime minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history.
Notably, he also became world-famous during the closing ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games when he dressed up as Mario Bros to be entrusted with the organization of the event in the country’s capital.
Below are the facts about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe including his political history, business and death
Contents
Shinzo Abe: Early Life
Abe was born on 21 September 1954 in Tokyo to a popular political family with significant economic influence throughout pre-war, wartime and post-war Japan (Wikipedia). He was assassinated on July 8, 2022, and pronounced dead a few hours later in a hospital.
Abe attended Seikei Elementary School and Seikei Junior and Senior High School. He studied public administration and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Seikei University in 1977.
Later, he left for the United States to study public policy at the University of Southern California’s School of Policy, Planning, and Development (now the USC Price School of Public Policy) for three semesters.
Shinzo Abe: Politics
Abe took many government positions after his work with Kobe Steel, his political career started when he pursued many governmental positions including private secretary to the chairperson of the LDP General Council and private secretary to the LDP secretary-general.
Shinzo Abe: Achievements
Shinzo Abe, in his second term that began in 2012, was elected due to his ability to lead the national economy that had been in setbacks during past administrations and introduced public administration policies known as “Abenomics“. (Marca 2022)
He led the country’s economic recovery based on three pillars: “monetary easing, further stimulus of public spending and structural reform.”
He boosted defence, and spending and pushed through the most “dramatic shift in Japanese military policy in 70 years.”
In 2015, Abe’s 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 II”
He also sought to improve relations with Beijing and held a historic phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2018. Moreover, he attempted to counter Chinese expansion in the region by uniting ‘Pacific allies’
Another notable achievement of Abe was his 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.
Shinzo Abe: Net Worth
To calculate his wealth, he is considered to have an average monthly salary of over $70,000 with an annual income of over $1 million making his net worth $10 million as estimated by many sources on the internet.
Shinzo Abe: Assassination
Abe, during a campaign speech Friday in Nara, according to CNN, Al Jazeera, Reuters and others, was shot. He was pronounced dead by doctors at the Nara Medical University hospital in central Japan at 5:03 p.m. local time after a few hours.
He is survived by his wife Akie Abe, née Matsuzaki, who he married in 1987. The couple did not have children.
