7 ms·

I'm continually amazed that Abe's assassin appears to have successfully turned the media spotlight exactly where he wanted it to be, and so successfully turned

I'm continually amazed that Abe's assassin appears to have successfully turned the media spotlight exactly where he wanted it to be, and so successfully turned public sentiment against Abe that a vast majority of the population now opposes a state funeral for him.

ajay-d 4y ago
It really astounding how much of a success it was. Related article and discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32571989 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32571989
MomoXenosaga 4y ago
Abe was always controversial for Japanese. Most people only know his foreign policy but he was socially ultra conservative- even by Japan standards.
- fomine3 4y ago
  He was very conservative even in the party, but what he did as a prime minister is not much conservative (than expected) and some work are liberal-ish. He was very good at show himself conservative, so he was supported by conservatives.
oxff 4y ago
Someone over at Twitter called it the most successful robloxing in a while for this exact reason.
- deepdriver 4y ago
  Is "Robloxing" the new "but in Minecraft?" https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-minecraft https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-minecraft
PaulHoule 4y ago
Japan is a strange place. Polls show very low trust in the government, but the LDP has been in power since WWII almost continuously. A low faction of Japanese people claim to "believe in God" but Japanese participate in religious rituals at a high rate. Abe was controversial because he wanted to amend Japan's pacifist contribution which is a huge can of worms. Because Japan is so culturally homogeneous I think they'd have a very easy time picking an outgroup to blame for problems.
- blowski 4y ago
  > A low faction of Japanese people claim to "believe in God" but Japanese participate in religious rituals at a high rate. Most people in the UK celebrate Christmas, including atheists.
  - Hamuko 4y ago
    Giving my mom a pair of headphones doesn't feel that religious to me.
    - baby 4y ago
      Don’t you set up a tree and listen to Christmas music
      - Teever 4y ago
        Christmas Trees are something coopted by Christianity and are pagan in origin. Also there's very little about baby Jesus in 'Here comes Santa Claus' or 'Frosty the Snowman'
      - soperj 4y ago
        Christmas tree has it's roots in Pagan traditions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
        vorpalhex 4y ago
Kukumber 4y ago
I don't know why do you push this foreign view on their country (i kind of know, i'm just trying to be playful, hopefully you got the reference), maybe you have a specific agenda, i won't comment on it However i'll remind you that for the majority of Japanese, Abe is a 'traitor' (their word) [1] [1] - https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/abe-ignores-controversial-okinawa-referendum-on-us-base-move https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/abe-ignores-cont...
- yorwba 4y ago
  Seems like you linked the wrong article.
  - Kukumber 4y ago
    No, it's the proper article, journalist covering an information, up to various investigators to figure out the links As for the traitor thing, it's what the population is saying, try to get in touch with students, it's what contributed to the assassination of Abe and the current events (majority of the population against a national funeral, why? it was their prime minister, such figure this disliked?) My personal opinion: You don't assassinate your prime minister over a donation to a religious group, you do it because you are a nationalist and you punish act of treason
tjpnz 4y ago
I've lived here for close to a decade and was stunned by the reaction from the press. Even the NHK (which is a well known LDP mouthpiece) started covering the Unification Church angle early on. People like to bash the state of journalism here but I think this shows it to be worthy of more credit.
- lostlogin 4y ago
  Covering it after 60-70 years? At least they got there I suppose.
- Sin2x 4y ago
  This speed implies they knew about the state of affairs a long time ago but couldn't speak then, so that's not much of a credit to the country.
skhr0680 4y ago
I'd question if public sentiment was ever pro-Abe; he regularly antagonized and taxed the middle class while doing little or nothing to help them, even during the COVID pandemic. His connection to the Moonies is just the icing on the cake. Everyone has a relative or knows someone who lost all their money to a cult.
- maybelsyrup 4y ago
  Don't forget his strong family ties to psychotic Japanese fascism and racism [1,2], and his personal affinity for heinous war crimes and human experimentation in Imperial Japan [3]. Imagine your next door neighbor going out in public wearing a Dr. Mengele t-shirt and you start to get Abe's vibe. Complete ghoul. I know the Japanese aren't exactly excited to take responsibility for their role in WW2, but good for them all the same for seeing through this guy's bullshit. Every now and then these lone nuts get it right, I guess? [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shintaro_Abe https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shintaro_Abe [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi [3] https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2971580 https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.as...
  - Laaas 4y ago
    I don't think these ties make him as unpopular as you think. The third link is also from a heavily biased source.
    - maybelsyrup 4y ago
      > The third link is also from a heavily biased source. Say what you mean.
      - mrcheesebreeze 4y ago
        he means its obviously biased, a korean publication will clearly try their best to portray the events as they see it. South korea is very anti-japan, not that I blame them, but its bad enough that I wouldn't trust news from it unless it has proved itsself to be particularly trustworthy. This goes the other way around too, to this day koreans in japan are mistreated and japan is always putting propaganda especially in relation to disputed areas like dokdo. from the recent japan olympics we see they are okay with pissing off all their neighbors as well as being two faced regarding these disputes. korean and japanese news don't act unbiased at all in relation to eachother.
wahnfrieden 4y ago
An adjacent mental leap is to recognize how much power workers and the poor can have over corporate and politician behaviors (doesn't have to be violent assassination like this, that's besides the point - what was effective came from the resulting widespread awareness of the subject matter brought to attention). Hopefully LDP isn't able to whitewash it through mild reform.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
HereIGoAgain 4y ago
A just over 50% approval rating, in a vote largely based along political party lines, does not a vast majority of opposition make. What I find most interesting is that among younger generations, the approval goes past 65%. Though that might have something to do with younger people not having the luxury of ignoring potential future threats, with respect to defense, energy and such.

ajay-d 4y ago

It really astounding how much of a success it was. Related article and discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32571989 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32571989

MomoXenosaga 4y ago

Abe was always controversial for Japanese. Most people only know his foreign policy but he was socially ultra conservative- even by Japan standards.

fomine3 4y ago
He was very conservative even in the party, but what he did as a prime minister is not much conservative (than expected) and some work are liberal-ish. He was very good at show himself conservative, so he was supported by conservatives.

oxff 4y ago

Someone over at Twitter called it the most successful robloxing in a while for this exact reason.

deepdriver 4y ago
Is "Robloxing" the new "but in Minecraft?" https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-minecraft https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-minecraft

PaulHoule 4y ago

Japan is a strange place. Polls show very low trust in the government, but the LDP has been in power since WWII almost continuously. A low faction of Japanese people claim to "believe in God" but Japanese participate in religious rituals at a high rate. Abe was controversial because he wanted to amend Japan's pacifist contribution which is a huge can of worms. Because Japan is so culturally homogeneous I think they'd have a very easy time picking an outgroup to blame for problems.

blowski 4y ago
> A low faction of Japanese people claim to "believe in God" but Japanese participate in religious rituals at a high rate. Most people in the UK celebrate Christmas, including atheists.
- Hamuko 4y ago
  Giving my mom a pair of headphones doesn't feel that religious to me.
  - baby 4y ago
    Don’t you set up a tree and listen to Christmas music
    - Teever 4y ago
      Christmas Trees are something coopted by Christianity and are pagan in origin. Also there's very little about baby Jesus in 'Here comes Santa Claus' or 'Frosty the Snowman'
    - soperj 4y ago
      Christmas tree has it's roots in Pagan traditions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
      - vorpalhex 4y ago

Kukumber 4y ago

I don't know why do you push this foreign view on their country (i kind of know, i'm just trying to be playful, hopefully you got the reference), maybe you have a specific agenda, i won't comment on it However i'll remind you that for the majority of Japanese, Abe is a 'traitor' (their word) [1] [1] - https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/abe-ignores-controversial-okinawa-referendum-on-us-base-move https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/abe-ignores-cont...

yorwba 4y ago
Seems like you linked the wrong article.
- Kukumber 4y ago
  No, it's the proper article, journalist covering an information, up to various investigators to figure out the links As for the traitor thing, it's what the population is saying, try to get in touch with students, it's what contributed to the assassination of Abe and the current events (majority of the population against a national funeral, why? it was their prime minister, such figure this disliked?) My personal opinion: You don't assassinate your prime minister over a donation to a religious group, you do it because you are a nationalist and you punish act of treason

tjpnz 4y ago

I've lived here for close to a decade and was stunned by the reaction from the press. Even the NHK (which is a well known LDP mouthpiece) started covering the Unification Church angle early on. People like to bash the state of journalism here but I think this shows it to be worthy of more credit.

lostlogin 4y ago
Covering it after 60-70 years? At least they got there I suppose.
Sin2x 4y ago
This speed implies they knew about the state of affairs a long time ago but couldn't speak then, so that's not much of a credit to the country.

skhr0680 4y ago

I'd question if public sentiment was ever pro-Abe; he regularly antagonized and taxed the middle class while doing little or nothing to help them, even during the COVID pandemic. His connection to the Moonies is just the icing on the cake. Everyone has a relative or knows someone who lost all their money to a cult.

maybelsyrup 4y ago
Don't forget his strong family ties to psychotic Japanese fascism and racism [1,2], and his personal affinity for heinous war crimes and human experimentation in Imperial Japan [3]. Imagine your next door neighbor going out in public wearing a Dr. Mengele t-shirt and you start to get Abe's vibe. Complete ghoul. I know the Japanese aren't exactly excited to take responsibility for their role in WW2, but good for them all the same for seeing through this guy's bullshit. Every now and then these lone nuts get it right, I guess? [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shintaro_Abe https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shintaro_Abe [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi [3] https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2971580 https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.as...
- Laaas 4y ago
  I don't think these ties make him as unpopular as you think. The third link is also from a heavily biased source.
  - maybelsyrup 4y ago
    > The third link is also from a heavily biased source. Say what you mean.
    - mrcheesebreeze 4y ago
      he means its obviously biased, a korean publication will clearly try their best to portray the events as they see it. South korea is very anti-japan, not that I blame them, but its bad enough that I wouldn't trust news from it unless it has proved itsself to be particularly trustworthy. This goes the other way around too, to this day koreans in japan are mistreated and japan is always putting propaganda especially in relation to disputed areas like dokdo. from the recent japan olympics we see they are okay with pissing off all their neighbors as well as being two faced regarding these disputes. korean and japanese news don't act unbiased at all in relation to eachother.

wahnfrieden 4y ago

An adjacent mental leap is to recognize how much power workers and the poor can have over corporate and politician behaviors (doesn't have to be violent assassination like this, that's besides the point - what was effective came from the resulting widespread awareness of the subject matter brought to attention). Hopefully LDP isn't able to whitewash it through mild reform.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

HereIGoAgain 4y ago

A just over 50% approval rating, in a vote largely based along political party lines, does not a vast majority of opposition make. What I find most interesting is that among younger generations, the approval goes past 65%. Though that might have something to do with younger people not having the luxury of ignoring potential future threats, with respect to defense, energy and such.