[Global Issue+] 'Abe,' Born into a Japanese Anti-War Peace Activist Family, Became a Symbol of the Far Right

Prime Minister Abe's Grandfather, Anti-War Politician During the Pacific War
Father Also Led Anti-War Peace and Labor Movements... Son Turns Far-Right
Influenced by Maternal Grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, Class A War Criminal of the Pacific War

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Following Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's sudden announcement of resignation, Japan's political landscape has plunged into turmoil. It is reported that there is currently no successor capable of filling the void left by the longest-serving prime minister in history. It remains uncertain who will resolve the pressing issues piled up, including Abe's aggressively promoted economic policy known as Abenomics, the urgent COVID-19 crisis, Japan's rearmament, and diplomatic matters with neighboring countries such as South Korea.

Foreign media outlets are also extensively covering Abe's resignation. Among the figures most frequently highlighted in his profile is Nobusuke Kishi, an economic bureaucrat and Class A war criminal who led the management of Manchukuo, a puppet state of Imperial Japan during the Pacific War. Kishi, Abe's maternal grandfather, is known as the person who had the greatest influence in shaping Abe into Japan's representative right-wing politician. As a postwar politician, Nobusuke Kishi not only served as prime minister but is also famous for founding the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan's ruling party today.

However, there is hardly any mention of Abe's paternal grandfather, Kan Abe, in contrast to Nobusuke Kishi. Although not well known outside Japan, Kan Abe is recognized domestically as a principled politician who risked his life advocating anti-war and peace theories during the Pacific War. It is also known that Abe himself frequently mentioned his maternal grandfather but rarely spoke about his paternal grandfather.

Abe Kan, grandfather of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and known as a Japanese anti-war peace activist politician, member of the House of Representatives [Image source=Yamaguchi Prefecture official website]

According to the Mainichi Newspaper, the Abe family was a large landowner family living in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. Kan Abe, the grandfather, was known as an anti-war peace advocate who opposed the war cabinet led by Hideki Tojo during the Pacific War in 1942. At that time, Imperial Japan forcibly dissolved all political parties in 1940 and created an organization called the Taisei Yokusankai, a political control body. Subsequently, only candidates who fit the logic of Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere were recommended and supported, ensuring that only lawmakers favorable to the regime were elected.

Even in such times, Kan Abe bravely opposed the Tojo cabinet and ran as an independent candidate, demonstrating his strength by winning election in his hometown of Yamaguchi Prefecture. This was the result of overcoming police oppression and various inducements. Unfortunately, he passed away from a heart attack in 1946, shortly after Japan's defeat, unable to fulfill his dreams.

His anti-war peace ideology was later inherited by his son, Shintaro Abe. Shintaro Abe originally worked as a reporter for the Mainichi Newspaper before entering politics and served as Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs, equivalent to our foreign minister. He met and married Yoko, the daughter of Nobusuke Kishi, through an introduction by a senior journalist and entered politics as his father-in-law's secretary. However, he had a completely different political stance from his father-in-law. In 1985, Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe caused a stir by stating at the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, "I believe the world wars were very wrong wars that brought Japan to the brink of ruin. Internationally, there is criticism that these wars were wars of aggression, and the government must fully recognize and respond to such criticism."

The image of former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, known as the maternal grandfather of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a figure who had an absolute influence on his ideology [Image source: Official website of the Prime Minister of Japan]

Shintaro Abe was elected secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party in 1991 and was considered a strong candidate for the next prime minister but unfortunately died of pancreatic cancer. During his lifetime, he believed that his second son, Shinzo Abe, whom he introduced to politics as his secretary, would succeed him. However, the one who succeeded Abe was not his father but his maternal grandfather. It is known that Shinzo Abe harbored strong resentment toward his father from childhood and had no intention of following in his footsteps.

The relationship between Prime Minister Abe and his father, Shintaro Abe, was reportedly not good. According to the Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Post, both Abe's grandfather and father graduated from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Law and always pressured Abe by saying, "Our family has only the University of Tokyo as a university," which Abe strongly resisted. Contrary to his father's expectations, Abe entered Seikei University, a private school that does not require entrance exams, and was working at Kobe Steel. However, his father forced him to quit and brought him into his secretary's office.

In contrast, Nobusuke Kishi is known to have greatly favored his grandson. Abe referred to himself as the grandson of Nobusuke Kishi from a young age and often said that his admired figure was Yoshida Shoin, who advocated a hardline foreign policy such as the Seikanron during the Meiji Restoration. The reason why Abe valued his maternal family more than his paternal family and inherited their ideology is unclear, but it is widely accepted that his relationship with his father had a significant influence. It is said that Shintaro Abe himself never imagined that the family dynamics would have such a profound impact on the history of not only Japan but the entire Northeast Asia region in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.