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Grief & controversy in Japan for Shinzo Abe's state funeral
The State Funeral of Shinzo Abe | Quick Take | GZERO Media

Grief & controversy in Japan for Shinzo Abe's state funeral

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi, everybody. Ian Bremmer here from Tokyo, Japan, where it has been a pretty intense day. The state funeral of Shinzo Abe, the prime minister who, of course, of Japan was assassinated some 80 days ago. In some ways just kind of an astonishing couple of weeks for the world. Beginning of last week, of course, you had the funeral for Queen Elizabeth, by far the most important figure for the United Kingdom in the post-war period. Then the United Nations, where the entire world comes together in New York, and now in Japan, the state funeral, the first state funeral that you've had in Japan, 55 years for Abe Shinzo, who is by far the most important figure in Japan in the post-war period.

And in both cases, an astonishing outpouring of emotion, of grief in both countries. In the United Kingdom, of course, because she had ruled for 70 years, through so many prime ministers, since Churchill. In Japan, because Prime Minister Abe was gunned down, was assassinated by a young man with homemade weapons in a country that has virtually no violence and certainly not gun attacks against a former prime minister in broad daylight.

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Shinzo Abe’s goal of militarization & PM Kishida’s “golden opportunity” to reform Japan
Will His Successor Carry Out Shinzo Abe’s Legacy? | GZERO Media

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

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.

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Assassinated! Japan’s grief & how Shinzo Abe’s goals will shape Asia
Assassinated! Japan’s Grief & How Shinzo Abe’s Goals Will Shape Asia | GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

Assassinated! Japan’s grief & how Shinzo Abe’s goals will shape Asia

How will the shocking assassination of Shinzo Abe, Japan's former and longest-serving prime minister, reshape the country and the broader region?

And will it lead to realizing Abe's unfulfilled dream of amending Japan's postwar pacifist constitution?

On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer speaks to longtime Abe adviser Tomohiko Taniguchi, who shares how he felt when he found out his close friend had died.

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Japan’s history of political assassinations
Ian Explains: A History of Political Assassinations in Japan | GZERO World

Japan’s history of political assassinations

The shocking assassination a week ago of former Prime Minister Shinzo has rattled Japan, where such acts of political violence are now extremely rare — but were once common.

In 1932, the head of government was killed by army cadets in an attempted coup. In 1960, Abe's own grandfather, also then-PM, survived a knife attack. Japan's last high-profile assassination occurred that same year, when a socialist politician was stabbed to death on national television.

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How Shinzo Abe's positive legacy could shape Japan's future
The Impact of Shinzo Abe's Assassination on Japan's Future | GZERO Media

How Shinzo Abe's positive legacy could shape Japan's future

How will the shocking murder of former PM Shinzo Abe affect Japan moving forward?

In past national tragedies, especially the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, longtime Abe adviser and close friend Tomohiko Taniguchi says that the "outpouring of sympathies and empathies from abroad helped a lot."

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Mourning, disbelief & anger at the death of Japan’s Shinzo Abe
In Slain Shinzo Abe, His Longtime Aide Lost a Friend | GZERO Media

Mourning, disbelief & anger at the death of Japan’s Shinzo Abe

When Tomohiko Taniguchi learned that former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe had been killed, he felt many things, but first his thoughts turned to the man who took the life of his ex-boss and mentor.

"I was filled with a lot of but different emotions all at the same time," he tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World. "Disbelief, grief, [but] the strongest emotion, of course, was anger."

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Podcast: As Japan reels: examining Shinzo Abe’s legacy & Japan’s future with his friend and adviser

Transcript

Listen: Japan is reeling from the shocking assassination of Shinzo Abe, Japan's former and longest-serving prime minister. On the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer speaks to longtime Abe adviser Tomohiko Taniguchi, who discusses the impact of Abe's legacy on the country and the broader region. Will Abe's unfulfilled dream of amending Japan's postwar pacifist constitution now be realized?

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Japan’s Shinzo Abe assassinated

Japan’s Shinzo Abe assassinated

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe died on Friday after being shot while giving a speech at a campaign event in the city of Nara. He was 67.

“This heinous act of brutality is utterly unforgivable,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said of the killing.

Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister before stepping down in 2020 due to health issues. During his time in office, he conceived of and implemented “Abenomics,” a set of policies to revive Japan’s languishing economy amid a rapidly aging society made up of three “arrows” or pillars: monetary easing, fiscal stimulus, and structural reforms.

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