1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

RIP Shinzo Abe

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by ETC(SS), Jul 8, 2022.

  1. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2010
    7,744
    6,545
    0
    Location:
    Redneck Riviera (Gulf South)
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Probably not a household name here in the US, but a significant world leader nonetheless.

    He was Japan's longest serving PM, and his policies ranged from a "Make Japan Great Again" military build-up to his 'three arrows" financial policies (Abenomics) whose wild spending and monetary easing would warm the hearts of folks on the otha side of the yawning political chasm here in America.

    Interesting thinker and doer.

    Political assassinations are not exactly unheard of in the Land of the Rising Sun, but gun crimes are not as much of a 'thing' and handguns are viewed with even more contempt than they are in the EU (Abe's killer apparently used a "ghost" not-quite-a-handgun.)

    ご冥福を祈ります。

    (Hope that's right!)
     
    #1 ETC(SS), Jul 8, 2022
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2022
    BiomedO1 likes this.
  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2005
    27,375
    15,513
    0
    Location:
    Huntsville AL
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    Japan has capital punishment.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #2 bwilson4web, Jul 8, 2022
  3. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2021
    1,447
    790
    0
    Location:
    SacTown, Ca
    Vehicle:
    2021 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    He helped orchestrate Japan's return form the "lost decade" of the late 90's and early 2000. A lesson every economics student must master to get their degree. Something that we, here in the states may have to face and has been lucky to avoid so far..........

    RIP; he will be missed......
     
    #3 BiomedO1, Jul 8, 2022
    bisco likes this.
  4. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2010
    7,744
    6,545
    0
    Location:
    Redneck Riviera (Gulf South)
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Not really a fan of that form of state sponsored murder, but it might be preferable to LWOP in one of their prisons.
     
    #4 ETC(SS), Jul 8, 2022
  5. John321

    John321 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2018
    1,200
    1,201
    0
    Location:
    Kentucky
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    While this type of incident is very unusual in Japan it is not unheard of.

    When in Japan on work assignment in 2000 I felt perfectly safe while walking after midnight in downtown Nagoya, Toyko, Kyoto or Toyota City. Violent crime wasn't tolerated, the Japanese people just won't put up with it

    I hope that hasn't changed since then.
     
    #5 John321, Jul 8, 2022
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    108,713
    49,402
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    i was surprised to learn he was a firm believer in writing the pacifist stuff out of their constitution.

    seems to be a big point of contention, even though we had good relations mostly otherwise
     
    #6 bisco, Jul 8, 2022
  7. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2010
    7,744
    6,545
    0
    Location:
    Redneck Riviera (Gulf South)
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    That's why the references to him being "Japan's Trump' are only made by those who are willfully ignorant of Shinzo's policies. Despite his membership in the curiously named 'Liberal Democratic Party' Abe spent money like a real lib.

    I was never much of a fan of Abe's flavor of Nationalism, but I understand that a lot of it was probably playing to the home crowd.
    MY mileage.
    Japan c-2022 has even less in common with Imperial Japan than Germany has with the Third Reich, and as we've seen ONLY RECENTLY with the latter, it IS possible to meet one's self-defense OBLIGATIONS without going all "mega MAGA.'
    It's culturally complicated, and racism cuts both ways but somehow ALL of Japans near-peer nations pretty much at least pretended to play well together under Abe
    Imperial Japan made lots of enemies after Matthew Calbraith Perry's black boats prompted the Meiji Restoration.
    Only ONE of these nations was not-so-curiously silent after Abe's murder.
     
    #7 ETC(SS), Jul 9, 2022
  8. hkmb

    hkmb Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2010
    279
    1,855
    0
    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    We agree, for once.

    I didn't know Abe, but everyone I know who did know him very much respected him. Even those who didn't agree with his policies said that he was honest and trustworthy, and that his decisions were led by what he thought was best for Japan, rather than what was politically expedient or what was best for him.

    It really is a shocking incident.

    Almost unheard of, though.

    It's hard to get recent figures, but there were nine gun deaths - including suicides and accidents - in 2018, and one gun homicide in 2017, in a country with a population around 40% of that of the US.
     
    #8 hkmb, Jul 11, 2022
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)