She was an anti-Japanese activist, calling him a 'villain' and 'militarism-oriented
2020/9/2
The following is from an article by Yoshihisa Komori, a visiting correspondent in Washington, D.C., which appeared in the Sankei Shimbun on August 30, entitled Erasing the 'Dangerous Abe' Falsehood.
Who's Afraid of Shinzo Abe?
The New York Times once ran an English-language article of mine with this headline.
On September 30, 2006, four days after Shinzo Abe was named the youngest and first postwar-born prime minister in the postwar era.
The New York Times was unfairly harsh in its editorial on Abe at the time.
It labeled Mr. Abe a "dangerous hawkish nationalist" and other labels for his explicit assertions about the young chief cabinet secretary in Koizumi's government on constitutional and historical issues by the standards of a 'normal country.'
The paper's Tokyo bureau chief, Norimitsu Onishi, even denounced Mr. Abe's theory of Japan's democracy as an illusion.
The paper often quoted Alexis Dudden, the American historian who declared Emperor Showa guilty in a mock trial in Tokyo in 2000, in its "Abe-bashing" of history's perception.
She was an anti-Japanese activist who had scorned Prime Minister Abe, calling him a 'villain' and 'militarism-oriented.'
When the editor of the New York Times op-ed section approached me in Washington to write for the paper, it was probably out of a desire for balance.
He knew that I had made Prime Minister Abe's acquaintance as a political reporter in Tokyo when he was the secretary to his father, Foreign Minister Shintaro. He asked me to write an article for the paper.
My rather lengthy contribution appeared at the top of the contribution page.
I began by writing that Prime Minister Abe is a staunch advocate of the Japan-U.S. alliance, which has democracy as its common denominator, and that his condemnation of North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens and China's oppression of its people is probably due to his belief in the universal values of democracy and human rights.
I also argued that Prime Minister Abe's argument for constitutional revision is an effort to break the unnatural shackles of a sense of national defense and national belonging that other countries would have taken for granted. His assertions on historical issues are a correction of distorted facts.
I wrote this now-obvious commentary in such an exaggerated manner because the backlash against Abe in the United States at the time was severe.
Shinzo Abe is an unidentified upstart politician and a dangerous leader pushing Japan in an undemocratic direction.
The New York Times also painted a false picture of him.
So, I concluded my essay with the following.
'Abe will heed his grandfather's advice, former Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke, and keep Japan's future defense firmly within the U.S-Japan alliance's bounds. Americans, Republicans, and Democrats alike, will find today's popular new Japanese prime minister to be a thoroughly modern, straightforward, and trustworthy friend.'
I'm glad to see that my hopeful predictions of 14 years ago have come true, and even while conscious of the folly of self-praise, I remember with modest satisfaction.
Republican President Trump and former Democratic Vice President Biden have now squarely expressed their unwavering appreciation for Abe's track record of strengthening the alliance and friendship between the United States and Japan.
The strengthened ties with the United States are invaluable to Japan today in dealing with the immediate threats and national crises of China and North Korea.
What turned the headwinds on the U.S. side into an unprecedentedly favorable wind was nothing short of Prime Minister Abe's abilities, efforts, faith, and philosophy.
2024/9/5 in Mihara, Hiroshima
Who's Afraid of Shinzo Abe?
The New York Times once ran an English-language article of mine with this headline.
On September 30, 2006, four days after Shinzo Abe was named the youngest and first postwar-born prime minister in the postwar era.
The New York Times was unfairly harsh in its editorial on Abe at the time.
It labeled Mr. Abe a "dangerous hawkish nationalist" and other labels for his explicit assertions about the young chief cabinet secretary in Koizumi's government on constitutional and historical issues by the standards of a 'normal country.'
The paper's Tokyo bureau chief, Norimitsu Onishi, even denounced Mr. Abe's theory of Japan's democracy as an illusion.
The paper often quoted Alexis Dudden, the American historian who declared Emperor Showa guilty in a mock trial in Tokyo in 2000, in its "Abe-bashing" of history's perception.
She was an anti-Japanese activist who had scorned Prime Minister Abe, calling him a 'villain' and 'militarism-oriented.'
When the editor of the New York Times op-ed section approached me in Washington to write for the paper, it was probably out of a desire for balance.
He knew that I had made Prime Minister Abe's acquaintance as a political reporter in Tokyo when he was the secretary to his father, Foreign Minister Shintaro. He asked me to write an article for the paper.
My rather lengthy contribution appeared at the top of the contribution page.
I began by writing that Prime Minister Abe is a staunch advocate of the Japan-U.S. alliance, which has democracy as its common denominator, and that his condemnation of North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens and China's oppression of its people is probably due to his belief in the universal values of democracy and human rights.
I also argued that Prime Minister Abe's argument for constitutional revision is an effort to break the unnatural shackles of a sense of national defense and national belonging that other countries would have taken for granted. His assertions on historical issues are a correction of distorted facts.
I wrote this now-obvious commentary in such an exaggerated manner because the backlash against Abe in the United States at the time was severe.
Shinzo Abe is an unidentified upstart politician and a dangerous leader pushing Japan in an undemocratic direction.
The New York Times also painted a false picture of him.
So, I concluded my essay with the following.
'Abe will heed his grandfather's advice, former Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke, and keep Japan's future defense firmly within the U.S-Japan alliance's bounds. Americans, Republicans, and Democrats alike, will find today's popular new Japanese prime minister to be a thoroughly modern, straightforward, and trustworthy friend.'
I'm glad to see that my hopeful predictions of 14 years ago have come true, and even while conscious of the folly of self-praise, I remember with modest satisfaction.
Republican President Trump and former Democratic Vice President Biden have now squarely expressed their unwavering appreciation for Abe's track record of strengthening the alliance and friendship between the United States and Japan.
The strengthened ties with the United States are invaluable to Japan today in dealing with the immediate threats and national crises of China and North Korea.
What turned the headwinds on the U.S. side into an unprecedentedly favorable wind was nothing short of Prime Minister Abe's abilities, efforts, faith, and philosophy.
2024/9/5 in Mihara, Hiroshima
