Japan: Prime Minister Abe Steps Down · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

After less than a year in office, with approval ratings dropping to record lows after a recent humiliating upper house election defeat, and facing increasingly vocal opposition even from within his own party, Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo finally took the step many had been demanding on Wednesday and declared his intention to resign. Only days earlier, Abe had promised to step down if he did not receive support for legislation to extend Japanese anti-terrorism operations in Afghanistan [Ja], a promise which never ended up being put to the test. The abruptness of the decision, which appears to have been news to everybody but Abe's closest supporters, brought the beleaguered prime minister yet more criticism [Ja], and for the most part his move doesn't seem to have gone down very well with bloggers either. Meanwhile, the mystery of the resignation has already deepened with news of Abe's subsequent hospitalization and rumors that he may have quit in advance of yet another scandal.
The timing of Abe's resignation was a surprise to fellow LDP member and blogger Yamauchi Koichi, who argues that:
辞めるなら参院選直後がよかっただろうし、
国会開会直後に辞められると総裁選も落ち着いてできません。
密室で後継総裁を決めることは何としても避けなくてはいけません。
党員投票も含めたオープンな総裁選が望ましいのですが、
国会開会中だとそれも難しい状況です。
Former Diet member and Ambassador to Lebanon Amaki Naoto, a vocal opponent of the Abe administration, wrote in his blog on the day of the resignation:
Up until I heard Prime Minister Abe's press briefing, I was worrying about him. To quit at a time like this is really not normal. I was thinking that he must have been driven nearly to the point of committing suicide, that he might not even be able to show up to the press briefing, things like that.
But then when I saw a smiling Prime Minister Abe come out and repeat his cryptic words, I thought, this is really an incompetent person who can't be saved. Even at this final stage, he ran away from answering questions. There is no sympathy for him any more. All of the responsibility rests with Prime Minister Abe.
[Note: for reasons of copyright, the original Japanese text is not included but can be found here.]
Frustration about Abe leaving before he could face questioning was felt by many. Blogger A.K.I. writes:
なんとも間の悪い。WEで新しい大臣が再度墓穴を掘ったと思ったら畳み掛けるように総理が辞意を表明とは。
結局彼には覚悟がなかったように思う。間違ってても明確なビジョンを背負い戦う覚悟が。美しい国という言葉はあいまいで、確かに彼は何かをその言葉に託していたとは思うのだが、それはビジョンと呼ぶにはあまりに漠然としていた。小泉の演出に馴れた国民の目に、それはあまりにぼけたものに映ってしまった。
しかし職を賭けると啖呵を切った直後に職を捨てるというのは聞いたことがない。覚悟の無いおぼっちゃまらしい幕切れではあるが、そこに「美しさ」はあったのか。せめて自分の選んだキャッチコピーにくらいは殉じてほしかった。
戦後レジームからの脱却というのも散々口にしていたように思う。具体的に何を指しているのかいまいち伝わらなかった。戦後レジームとは何で、何故脱却が必要なのか結局わからないままだ。
However to lay everything on the line and ditch his job right after getting stinging criticisms hurled at him, I've never heard of anything like this. The curtains have fallen for this unprepared young man from a well-to-do family, but was there any “beauty” in it? I was hoping at least that he would die for the catch copy [*] that he himself had chosen.
Departure from the post-war regime was a topic that he spoke about a lot, it seems. But he never properly transmitted in concrete terms what was he aiming at. What is the post-war regime and why do we have to depart from it, in the end I still don't understand.
[catch copy: in copywriting, large text that appears in ads or brochures to catch the reader's attention]
Many bloggers felt that they didn't understand what Abe had been trying to do. One blogger responded this way:
決断が遅すぎる。
辞めるためのタイミングを計っていたのかわからないが。
しかし結局安部さんは、何がしたかったんだろう。
The decision was too late.
I'm not sure if he planned the timing of his resignation, but…
In the end, what was Abe trying to do anyway?
Blogger Gucchi shared this feeling, drawing a comparison with former Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro:
小泉さんは良くも悪くも、自分の信念を通した人でしたので、見ている方としては分かりやすさがありましたが、安倍さんは最後まで何をやりたいのかよく分かりませんでした。
Interestingly, however, this feeling was not shared universally. Hakushi No Hitorigoto, a popular Japanese blogger, writes that:
安倍総理の在任期間は1年間に満たず、その終止符は猪突に打たれた。だが、結果的に、この青年宰相は良識に勇気を与え、ある意味で、悪党との対比によって、特定国の汚らしい反日策動を背景としたドロドロの構図を我々国民に見せてくれた。実に短期間ではあったが、多数の法案採決の実績ともに、意識ある国民がそこで学んだ教訓もまた大きい。
今後の国作りにおいて、良識は何に留意し、何と闘うべきか。また、どのような国作りを目指すべきか、その方向性のあらましを、青年宰相は示してくれたのである。彗星のように現れ、そして消える宰相だが、亡くなったわけではない。政治家として捲土重来を期し、良識の希望と力になってくれる日の来たらんことを。ご健勝を願う。
Blogger untitle agreed:
色々批判はあるのだろうが，健康状態も悪かったと言う話もある．安部総理にお疲れ様と言いたい．
Finally, Abe's promise about anti-terror legislation in Afghanistan sparked some bloggers to ask about his sense of responsibility. Blogger Maeda Kouichi writes about Abe's declaration at the APEC summit in Sydney, echoing the thoughts of many:
安部総理が「インド洋上でのアメリカ艦船に給油できないなら総理大臣を辞める」と発言した。年金問題に決着がつかなかったら責任をとって辞めるというのならわかる。任命した大臣の不正がどんどん発覚しても、責任をとろうなんて考えがまったくないのに、アメリカ軍に燃料補給できないなら責任をとって辞めるというのだ。安部が日本国民に責任をとる総理ではなく、アメリカ軍に対して責任をとる総理であることがはっきりした。