I also don't follow Japanese politics very closely and am just now skimming. A lot of people have posted a ton of other damning stuff but he is generally described as an ultra right nationalist and Steve Fucking Bannon apparently called him "a great hero to the grassroots, the populist, and the nationalist movement throughout the world", and even said he was Trump before Trump.
....that's pretty damning just on its own.
Edit: LMAO...his bio reads more and more like a demons resume the deeper you go.
Japanese politics are dominated by a single liberal-conservative party that's won nearly every election since the 50s. Abe was the leader of a faction in that party (and still influential it) that seeks to revise Japanese pacifism by changing the constitution in order to instill a more militaristic foreign policy, as well as to promote nationalism and patriotism in the country to the greatest extent possible. Along with most Japanese PMs he honoured war criminals by visiting a shrine for WWII Japanese soldiers (including top military commanders), and generally wants to sweep any consequences of Imperial era under the rug.
Abe wasn't really uniquely bad in the Japanese political scene but he's kind of emblematic of its ambient shittiness. Maybe like a more successful Bush Sr.
Almost like appointing the guy's grandfather, a certified war criminal and ultra right nutter, to lead the country during US occupation had some long lasting ramifications
I know next to nothing about him, why is everyone stoked about this?
I also don't follow Japanese politics very closely and am just now skimming. A lot of people have posted a ton of other damning stuff but he is generally described as an ultra right nationalist and Steve Fucking Bannon apparently called him "a great hero to the grassroots, the populist, and the nationalist movement throughout the world", and even said he was Trump before Trump.
....that's pretty damning just on its own.
Edit: LMAO...his bio reads more and more like a demons resume the deeper you go.
Japanese politics are dominated by a single liberal-conservative party that's won nearly every election since the 50s. Abe was the leader of a faction in that party (and still influential it) that seeks to revise Japanese pacifism by changing the constitution in order to instill a more militaristic foreign policy, as well as to promote nationalism and patriotism in the country to the greatest extent possible. Along with most Japanese PMs he honoured war criminals by visiting a shrine for WWII Japanese soldiers (including top military commanders), and generally wants to sweep any consequences of Imperial era under the rug.
Abe wasn't really uniquely bad in the Japanese political scene but he's kind of emblematic of its ambient shittiness. Maybe like a more successful Bush Sr.
Almost like appointing the guy's grandfather, a certified war criminal and ultra right nutter, to lead the country during US occupation had some long lasting ramifications
Is there anything the US HASN'T fucked up?