ABE Shinzō

Shinzō Abe (1954-2022) took office as the 90th Prime Minister in 2006 and resigned in 2007. He came back to power as the 96th Prime Minister in 2012. Serving as the Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP, 自民党) leader from 2012 to 2020, Abe Shinzō vigorously called for constitutional revision during his time in office. On July 8, 2022, two days before the 2022 House of Councillors election, he was assassinated while delivering a campaign speech for a LDP candidate in Nara, Japan.

Several big-name politicians in the LDP have come from the Abe family. Abe Shinzō’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, led Japanese rule in Manchuria as a high-class bureaucrat of the General Affairs State Council (国務院), and after World War II, he took office as prime minister (1957-1960). Kishi renewed the Japan-US Security Treaty despite wide protests in 1960. Kishi's younger brother, Eisaku Satō, also served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1972. Kishi's son-in-law and Shinzō’s father, Shintarō Abe, was a well-known politician as well, serving in several cabinets as a minister.

When Shinzō Abe took office from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ, 民主党) in 2012, he framed constitutional revision as an issue of national pride for the Japanese people in his 2012 political platform. In a 2017 speech marking the 70th anniversary of the enactment of the Constitution of Japan of 1947, he declared his aim to enact “a new constitution” in 2020. He also insisted that Article 9 stipulate the status of the Self-Defense Forces in the same speech. In addition, information about his activities and publications as Prime Minister, including statements and policy platforms, can be found on archived versions of the Prime Minister's Office website.