Obituary: Abe Shinzo, the champion of Japan

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is welcomed to NZ on a state visit in 2014. (Image: Getty)

Tue, 12 Jul 2022

Abe Shinzo had already guaranteed his place in Japan’s history books. As prime minister from 2012 to 2020, he served longer than any other post-war leader.When an assassin shot him at an election-campaign event on July 8th, Mr Abe, 67, also became the first Japanese head of government to be killed in the post-war era. The shooting is a tragic coda to the life of one of the most consequential politicians of modern Japan.Though as a boy he dreamed of becoming a filmmaker, Abe’s path into politics was all but predetermined. Like many o...

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