As Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe brought unusual political stability and optimism to the country; his shocking assassination has evoked memories of the political violence that was rife in the run-up to the second world war. Japan is unlikely to revert to those dark days, when targeted killings were used to bring democratic politicians to heel. But whatever the lone gunman’s motives, the shooting has reverberated around the world.
Abe’s second stint as prime minister, from 2012 to 2020, made him one of the world’s most recognisable statesmen; an achievement in itself given that before his first tenure in 2006-2007, Japan had nine prime ministers in 16 years. That recognition, coupled with his assertive promotion of his country, restored Japan to the world stage after years of economic and diplomatic stagnation. Abe remained a political heavyweight after his resignation; he was campaigning ahead of Sunday’s elections to Japan’s upper house when he was gunned down on Friday at the age of 67.
A political princeling — his grandfather, who was accused of being a war criminal, was later released without charge, and then became prime minister — Abe lacked the common touch. Yet his brand of polarising but charismatic showmanship propelled him to become, at 52, the country’s youngest prime minister since the second world war, and the first to be born after the war ended.