Friday, September 22, 2006

Shinzo Abe Won LDP Nomination for Next Japanese PM


See the photo. Good looking? Yes, certainly he is. The person in the photo is Shinzo Abe (pronounced “a-bé”, not Abe of Abraham.), currently Chief Cabinet Secretary.

He won Liberal Democratic Party’s nomination for next prime minister on September 20. To become the prime minister, he must compete with opposition candidates at the Diet on September 26. People expect him to succeed Koizumi policies, like deregulation and stronger defense.

He won trust from the Japanese public in his sincere attitude to tackle the problem of abduction by North Korea. He is a pro-American nationalist. While advocating a stronger US-Japanese alliance, Abe emphasizes that Japanese regain patriotism and pride in their history.

Ever since the postwar regime change, patriotism has been a taboo word in Japan. The allied forces regarded wartime chauvinism a dangerous ideology.

His book, entitled “Toward a Beautiful Japan” is a bestseller now. Can he lead Japan to a real beautiful country? Anyway, don’t miss the 26th Japanese Diet. The world second largest economy will be more self-assertive in global politics under new prime minister.

I will write a more detailed post on him later.

No comments: