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I went to a conference in Nara last year and at one of the receptions I told a Japanese attendee that I was sorry to hear about the assassination. I joked that

I went to a conference in Nara last year and at one of the receptions I told a Japanese attendee that I was sorry to hear about the assassination. I joked that my name is pronounced Abe like Abe Lincoln, not like Shinzo Abe. He kind of shrugged and said it would be kind of like if it had happened to Trump in the US, in that there were a lot of of people that didn't like him. The article makes it seem like people discovered about the cult connections after the fact. I wish I had known more about it to ask more questions. If anyone has more insight about it, I'd be glad to learn more. Ironically I was reading 1Q84 at the time, which is about a cult in Japan.

tjpnz 3y ago
The cult connections weren't widely known by the public prior. His assassin opened up a giant can of worms with the Reunification Church still discussed on the nightly news to this day. Last I heard the government is getting ready to ban them like they did Aum Shinrikyo. The whole thing has tarnished Abe's legacy, that and his expensive state funeral which pissed off a good chunk of the public.
- wahnfrieden 3y ago
  It is an ongoing issue and point of discussion/conflict with the public, with lots and lots of message management and incremental “progress”. There is some policy reform and push for more to be done. Doesn’t seem like much power has actually been purged of its accomplices tho kishida public support is very low I wouldn’t be surprised if it recovers whenever he’s replaced within his party politics is a losing game when the public buys into its machinations and scheming against their interests
- Aeolun 3y ago
  I feel like the public in Japan can get upset about the weirdest things though. Everyone loses their minds over the princess leaving the imperial family getting a 1M departure gift, and a funeral for the single most significant PM of our time that cost ten million dollars. Meanwhile, everything has gotten 10% more expensive over the past year or so, which is actually worth getting upset about, compared to the 0.01 yen that the Abe funeral cost each Japanese citizen.
  - niij 3y ago
    https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=10%2C000%2C000+usd+divided+by+japans+population https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=10%2C000%2C000+usd+divi... Tangent, but I looked up the price since ¥0.01 sounded too low. It's ¥12 per person on Japan (which should be a good approximation for number of japanese citizens)
    - Aeolun 3y ago
      Apologies, I figured the same thing but I didn’t bother looking it up, because 0.01 or 12 yen is the same kind of irrelevant to everyone but a 5 year olds spending.
      - niij 3y ago
        It is. I'm just having fun with Wolfram Alpha :)
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
dieselgate 3y ago
Not getting into politics at all but I imagine it'd be utter chaos if anything similar were to happen to Trump, that's an interesting perspective to hear though.
- dmonitor 3y ago
  If Trump died, and in the aftermath it was revealed he had ties to a Chinese cult, his only remaining supporters would probably be the cult-like reality deniers.
  - chihuahua 3y ago
    That Chinese cult would suddenly be immensely popular among tens of millions of Americans. Those people would dedicate their lives to the cult.
  - macintux 3y ago
    > ...his only remaining supporters would probably be the cult-like reality deniers. He built a huge base largely on people who prefer to believe him over reality.
    - GartzenDeHaes 3y ago
      "These people (the Trump voters) are sick and tired of being lied to by fake politicians and they just want to burn the whole system down -- Trump is their fire bomb." -- Michael Moore, prior to the 2016 election.
      - Aloha 3y ago
        That's not wrong, we have an issue with politicians promising things that are impossible or at a minimum highly implausible - because the structure of our political system means they won't be thrown out on their ear for making promises they can't keep.
        darkerside 3y ago
rayiner 3y ago
> He kind of shrugged and said it would be kind of like if it had happened to Trump in the US, in that there were a lot of of people that didn't like him. Not really--Abe's approval ratings were well above water almost his entire tenure, and his approval was often over 50%. Trump's approval rating never hit 50% and his net approval was underwater almost his entire presidency. It would be more like Reagan. A large minority of people really hated Regan. But he was relatively popular overall.
alephnan 3y ago
> a lot of of people that didn't like him. I’m presuming you held this conversation in English, which is correlated with a Japanese person who has more worldly experiences and views, and with that diverges from mainstream Japanese society. Most of Japan is conservative and inward looking. Despite the second strong passport in the world, very low percentage of Japanese people have one. Japan also has the lowest TOEFL score out of all Asian countries. Most gripes toward Abe was from economic frustration, especially during COVID. It does not make sense at all to make a Trump comparison because the American left/right Ideology does not map. Japanese people are mostly homogenous, and identity politics and immigration which are dividing issues in the west are not at the top here. Japan also has very low voter turnout because it’s continuity of conservatism whichever way.
- abecode 3y ago
  yes, you presumed correct, it was a guy who had studied in the US.
qingcharles 3y ago
Off-topic, but 1Q84 is a great book. "Put a tiger in your tank!"

tjpnz 3y ago

The cult connections weren't widely known by the public prior. His assassin opened up a giant can of worms with the Reunification Church still discussed on the nightly news to this day. Last I heard the government is getting ready to ban them like they did Aum Shinrikyo. The whole thing has tarnished Abe's legacy, that and his expensive state funeral which pissed off a good chunk of the public.

wahnfrieden 3y ago
It is an ongoing issue and point of discussion/conflict with the public, with lots and lots of message management and incremental “progress”. There is some policy reform and push for more to be done. Doesn’t seem like much power has actually been purged of its accomplices tho kishida public support is very low I wouldn’t be surprised if it recovers whenever he’s replaced within his party politics is a losing game when the public buys into its machinations and scheming against their interests
Aeolun 3y ago
I feel like the public in Japan can get upset about the weirdest things though. Everyone loses their minds over the princess leaving the imperial family getting a 1M departure gift, and a funeral for the single most significant PM of our time that cost ten million dollars. Meanwhile, everything has gotten 10% more expensive over the past year or so, which is actually worth getting upset about, compared to the 0.01 yen that the Abe funeral cost each Japanese citizen.
- niij 3y ago
  https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=10%2C000%2C000+usd+divided+by+japans+population https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=10%2C000%2C000+usd+divi... Tangent, but I looked up the price since ¥0.01 sounded too low. It's ¥12 per person on Japan (which should be a good approximation for number of japanese citizens)
  - Aeolun 3y ago
    Apologies, I figured the same thing but I didn’t bother looking it up, because 0.01 or 12 yen is the same kind of irrelevant to everyone but a 5 year olds spending.
    - niij 3y ago
      It is. I'm just having fun with Wolfram Alpha :)

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

dieselgate 3y ago

Not getting into politics at all but I imagine it'd be utter chaos if anything similar were to happen to Trump, that's an interesting perspective to hear though.

dmonitor 3y ago
If Trump died, and in the aftermath it was revealed he had ties to a Chinese cult, his only remaining supporters would probably be the cult-like reality deniers.
- chihuahua 3y ago
  That Chinese cult would suddenly be immensely popular among tens of millions of Americans. Those people would dedicate their lives to the cult.
- macintux 3y ago
  > ...his only remaining supporters would probably be the cult-like reality deniers. He built a huge base largely on people who prefer to believe him over reality.
  - GartzenDeHaes 3y ago
    "These people (the Trump voters) are sick and tired of being lied to by fake politicians and they just want to burn the whole system down -- Trump is their fire bomb." -- Michael Moore, prior to the 2016 election.
    - Aloha 3y ago
      That's not wrong, we have an issue with politicians promising things that are impossible or at a minimum highly implausible - because the structure of our political system means they won't be thrown out on their ear for making promises they can't keep.
      - darkerside 3y ago

rayiner 3y ago

> He kind of shrugged and said it would be kind of like if it had happened to Trump in the US, in that there were a lot of of people that didn't like him. Not really--Abe's approval ratings were well above water almost his entire tenure, and his approval was often over 50%. Trump's approval rating never hit 50% and his net approval was underwater almost his entire presidency. It would be more like Reagan. A large minority of people really hated Regan. But he was relatively popular overall.

alephnan 3y ago

> a lot of of people that didn't like him. I’m presuming you held this conversation in English, which is correlated with a Japanese person who has more worldly experiences and views, and with that diverges from mainstream Japanese society. Most of Japan is conservative and inward looking. Despite the second strong passport in the world, very low percentage of Japanese people have one. Japan also has the lowest TOEFL score out of all Asian countries. Most gripes toward Abe was from economic frustration, especially during COVID. It does not make sense at all to make a Trump comparison because the American left/right Ideology does not map. Japanese people are mostly homogenous, and identity politics and immigration which are dividing issues in the west are not at the top here. Japan also has very low voter turnout because it’s continuity of conservatism whichever way.

abecode 3y ago
yes, you presumed correct, it was a guy who had studied in the US.

qingcharles 3y ago

Off-topic, but 1Q84 is a great book. "Put a tiger in your tank!"