Japan has been shocked by the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. That’s what the freelance journalist Martin Fritz says. He lives in Tokyo and explains the importance of the politician for his country.
SRF News: A man was arrested after the assassination of Shinzo Abe. Are there any clues as to the background of the fact?
Martin Fritz: The man who was arrested is 41 years old, comes from the city of Nara, where Abe’s campaign speech took place. He wore some military clothing. He shot Abe from behind or the side and was then overpowered by security forces. In the pictures you can see a double-barrelled, apparently home-made weapon. Two pipes are connected with tape. The use of firearms is severely restricted in Japan. It’s hard to get a gun. He probably built it himself.
Legend:
News of the assassination spread rapidly.
key stone
He shot Abe twice from about ten feet away. Abe was then briefly conscious and after that he apparently already suffered a cardiac arrest. He was then flown to Nara University Hospital in a rescue helicopter. He received several blood transfusions there. But after five hours, the doctors gave up trying to save his life.
Do you know more about the motive of the shooter?
One might think that the crime is related to the fact that he was once a career soldier in the Japanese Navy between 2002 and 2005. Hence probably his weapons know-how. But there are no police records of him. And at the scene of the crime, according to the broadcaster NHK, he is said to have said that he was dissatisfied with Abe’s behavior and then decided to kill him. He also had no political motives. The act currently seems completely pointless.
How important was Abe to Japanese politics?
Abe was certainly the most important and most important politician in the country. He campaigned for his Liberal Democratic Party. He had ruled Japan himself for eight years. He has not been in power for two years, officially for health reasons. But he only resigned because several scandals boiled over at the time. Despite his intestinal illness, he has become the most powerful figure here.
He prevented his political legacy from being criticized and corrected. He controlled the largest group of lawmakers in the LDP, which has dominated Japan for 70 years. Many officials owe him the job. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was also elected party leader with his help. Most recently, Abe had advocated a sharp increase in defense spending in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine. Of course that was controversial.
What politics did Abe stand for?
In his eight years in power, he has, on the one hand, steered Japan to the right. He reinterpreted the pacifist constitution so that Japanese forces can now support their ally, the United States, even when there is no direct attack on Japan.
Abe has opened up Japan to foreign investors, tourists and workers as never before.
But on the other hand, he advocated a neoliberal economic policy, the so-called Abenomics. Generous government spending and extremely loose monetary policy should boost growth. In doing so, Abe opened up Japan to foreign investors, tourists and workers as never before. He has had a very large influence on Japanese politics over the past ten years.
Nina Gygax and Brigitte Kramer conducted the interview.