Episode 362 - Abe, Part 2

History of Japan

Isaac Meyer

Japan, History, Japanese

4.8 • 744 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we chronicle Abe Shinzo's meteoric rise up the ranks of the LDP and the Koizumi cabinet, culminating in his first tenure as Prime Minister -- followed by his equally meteoric ascent back down the ranks, as his first attempt at governance will blow up in his face.

Show notes here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week's episode is brought to you by Audible.
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0:15.4	For listeners of the show, Audible is offering a free 30-day trial membership, complete
0:19.5	with credit for a free audiobook of your choice.
0:22.4	You can cancel any time and keep the free book or keep going with one of Audible's subscription offers.
0:28.3	Go to audibletrial.com slash Japan to claim your offer.
0:32.6	This week, I'm going to recommend 1984 by George Orwell.
0:42.2	If you've read it before, this is a good chance to experience it again, and if you haven't,
0:47.5	well, for my money, Orwell is one of the most brilliant writers of the 20th century, and I do think 1984 is his best book.
0:50.6	Go to audible trial.com slash Japan to claim your copy.
1:09.4	Music Go to audibletrial.com slash Japan to claim your copy. Hello and welcome to the history of Japan podcast, episode 362, ABE, part two.
1:17.8	I think it's fair to say that nobody really expected Koizumi Junichiro to become Prime Minister of Japan,
1:24.5	more or less straight up until the point when it was clear he was going to win.
1:29.4	His outlandish style and flamboyant character did not fit the model of a typical Japanese
1:34.7	prime minister. For the last half century, with only a few exceptions, the office had been held
1:40.7	by dry technocrats rather than exciting or magnetic leaders.
1:45.4	I'll always think of Charles de Gaul in cases like this, who supposedly referred to
1:50.2	Prime Minister Ikeda Hayato, the same guy who oversaw the start of rapid growth in Japan in the
1:55.8	1960s, as a glorified transistor salesman.
2:00.9	Koizumi was every inch the opposite of that.
2:03.7	He was a populist who liked to appeal directly to voters,
	...

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