Shinzo Abe’s goal of militarization & PM Kishida’s “golden opportunity” to reform Japan

July 19, 2022

Will His Successor Carry Out Shinzo Abe’s Legacy? | GZERO Media

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed to continue where his ex-boss, the late Shinzo Abe, left off. And he just got the parliamentary majority he needs to get big things done — including, perhaps, tweaking the constitution like Abe long dreamed of.

"Kishida now [has a] golden opportunity," Tomohiko Taniguchi, Abe's former adviser and close friend, tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.

But it won't be easy, and constitutional change is not the only big agenda item. In fact, Taniguchi would rather Kishida prioritize re-writing Japan's social contract to spending less on the elderly and more on young Japanese. Still, he believes changing the constitution is long overdue, and the PM has now been endowed with enough political capital to "tackle these issues head-on."

Watch the GZERO World episode: Assassinated! Japan’s grief & how Shinzo Abe’s goals will shape Asia

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