Our writers here critically explore Abe’s legacy. Koichi Nakano argues that Abe was, in fact, a loyal servant of Washington and his main achievement was to turn Japan into a more reliable military ally in America’s coming showdown with China. Did Abe improve the economic lot of most Japanese citizens? No, concludes Richard Katz. ‘The most basic task of a political leader is to leave his country better off than he found it—or, at least no worse. By this minimal goal … Abe failed miserably.’ Despite becoming an unlikely ambassador for free trade, Abe’s reputation as a great global statesman is hugely overrated, argues Jeff Kingston. Though he worked to revive ties with Japan’s closest neighbours, his term in office saw worsening foreign relations, particularly with South Korea—hardly helped by his disputing the history of Japan’s misdeeds during the second World War. Abe’s record on relations with Russia suggests ‘credulity and a shallowness of strategic thinking’, insists James D. J. Brown. He was ‘either a poor judge of character or saw Putin for the dictator he is yet embraced him anyway. None of these are the qualities of a great statesman.’