Word: abe
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...some ways, he succeeded. Abe mended fences with China and South Korea. He set up a legal framework to amend the constitution, which includes clauses that currently keep Japan's army from active participation in combat...
...What a comedown for a man who drew leadership inspiration from his grand-father, a staunch nationalist who bounced back from imprisonment as a war criminal to become Premier in the 1950s. The youngest Prime Minister in postwar Japanese history, Abe came to power last September as the architect of a self-proclaimed "assertive diplomacy" in which a re-energized nation would claim its rightful place on the global stage. The 52-year-old vowed to repair relations with Asian neighbors still wounded by Japan's wartime aggression and aimed to transform the nation's military from a limited self...
...ambitious foreign-policy goals, Abe was undone by far more prosaic domestic concerns. According to results of a government survey released on Sept. 8, what the Japanese most wanted from their leaders were medical and pension reform, better elderly care and more jobs. A commitment to defense and regional security was low on the list, lagging even behind worries over Japan's declining birth rate. Abe didn't appear to sense the country's preoccupation with bread-and-butter economic issues. Even though Japan has finally crept out of recession, the PM failed to address a perception that only corporate...
...Indeed, until the end Abe continued to beat the foreign-policy drum without acknowledging the primary cause of his dismal approval ratings. On Sept. 9, while hobnobbing with other international leaders at this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Sydney, Japan's Premier laid down a surprising ultimatum: he would resign if parliament did not extend legislation allowing the Japanese navy to refuel American ships supporting military operations in Afghanistan past a Nov. 1 deadline. Abe argued that the DPJ's opposition to the naval commitment would only reinforce Japan's image as an immature global power unwilling...
...fight promised to be ugly, but the issue would have taken weeks - if not months - to work its way through the Diet. So why did Abe, only three days after promising to fight on, decide to throw in the towel? Plagued by rumors of chronic ill health, he looked exhausted in the days before his resignation announcement. "Abe broke under the pressure," says Norihiko Narita, a politics professor at Surugadai University near Tokyo. "The weight of his responsibilities was just too much." For his part, Ozawa expressed bewilderment over the about-face. "I have been in politics nearly 40 years...