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SHINZO ABE

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reacts as East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao greets her during the ASEAN-Japan summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 26, 2025
Takaichi’s ‘Trump card’ for meeting U.S. leader? Her relationship with Abe.
Sanae Takaichi’s ties to slain former leader Shinzo Abe are expected to get her off on the right foot with Donald Trump as she aims to navigate defense and trade pressure.
Emperor Naruhito officially swears in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2025
Sanae Takaichi stands tall and heads into the breach
Her Cabinet includes several rivals from the presidential campaign. It is an attempt to smooth over ill and a smart move.
Tetsuya Yamagami, the man accused of killing former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, leaves a police station in the city of Nara in July 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 22, 2025
Mother of Abe’s alleged killer to testify in court
The trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, who is accused of killing the former prime minister with a homemade gun, is set to begin Tuesday.
Minoru Kihara (second from left) attends a Lower House plenary session on Tuesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 21, 2025
Who is Minoru Kihara, Takaichi’s new ‘cool-headed’ spokesman?
The former defense minister has many things in common with Japan’s first female prime minister.
Amid the election of Sanae Takaichi as Liberal Democratic Party president, and possibly the next prime minister, Japan's economy shows signs of recovery, but weak wages, a conservative corporate culture and currency issues raise doubts about a true economic thaw.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 13, 2025
Hypothermia in the land of the rising Sanae
Of late, the country has suddenly given every impression of heat. There are good reasons to believe hypothermia is over.
Then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and then-Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Sanae Takaichi mark a win by a party candidate in the July 2013 Upper House election. There is ongoing debate over whether Takaichi's economic approach will mirror the former prime minister's Abenomics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 10, 2025
The ‘Takaichi trade’ isn’t Abenomics 2.0, and that’s OK
Party leader Takaichi has been left with one of the poorest positions imaginable. The LDP is a minority in both houses of parliament.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (left) and LDP counterpart Sanae Takaichi meet in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2025
After 26 years, Komeito may be showing signs it will break with LDP
Komeito not immediately endorsing Takaichi reflects deep concerns among Soka Gakkai members, the party’s main supporters in the lay Buddhist group, about her ideology and policies.
The Nara District Court will deliver its verdict on the case against Tetsuya Yamagami, the man charged with the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on Jan. 21, 2026.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 3, 2025
Nara court likely to deliver verdict on Abe shooter in January 2026
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, is charged with the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022.
Former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Hakubun Shimomura had sought to resume kickbacks from party fundraising revenues, according to the testimony of a former faction accountant to the Tokyo District Court on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2025
Shimomura asked for resumption of kickbacks, LDP ex-accountant testifies
The former LDP policy chief suggested that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had agreed to resume the practice, former Abe faction accountant Junichiro Matsumoto said.
Veteran lawmaker Sanae Takaichi outlines her policy platform at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday as she makes another bid for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidency.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 19, 2025
Takaichi works to soften her image in LDP presidential bid
A long-time conservative champion, the former economic security minister had long worked to present herself as the poster child of the more hawkish wing of the LDP.
Voters look at posters of candidates for an Upper House election outside a polling station in Tokyo on July 20. The young abandoned the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for other conservative and newer parties in the recent poll. REUTERS
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2025
What is a ‘Japanese conservative’ in this day and age?
My view is that younger voters saw the LDP as a group of elderly, self-absorbed elitists who were out of touch with the issues that mattered to them.
(Left) Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde (second from left), Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (third from left) and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pose for a picture during the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Moran, Wyoming, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 25, 2025
Central bankers fear being caught in Federal Reserve’s storm
Politically motivated attacks on the Fed could spill over to the rest of the world.
Onetime members of a now-defunct faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are calling for the party to more actively promote conservative policies.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 17, 2025
Internal battle pits LDP’s conservatives against liberals
Some in the party —mainly ex-members of the now-defunct Abe faction — are calling for it to more actively advertise conservative policies.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba lays a flower during the memorial service at the Nippon Budokan on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 15, 2025
As Japan marks 80 years since WWII surrender, Ishiba expresses remorse
The prime minister’s reflections about the war stood in contrast to those of his recent predecessors.
Once seen as an unlikely prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba has struggled to deliver on promises, mishandled ties with U.S. President Donald Trump and now faces an election where the odds don’t look good for his party to come out victorious.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025
A trade deal fumble could be Ishiba’s last mistake
Ishiba already leads a coalition that lacks a majority in the Lower House, and another bad showing Sunday will likely mean Japan is looking for its third leader in as many years.
Police check the area before Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba gives a speech in Kobe on July 3 to kick off campaigning for the July 20 Upper House election.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2025
Police double staff who help prevent lone-wolf attacks after 2022 Abe shooting
Japan’s National Police Agency has also strengthened cyber patrols to find threatening posts on social media and collect information about suspicious individuals.
Mourners pay their respects to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday in the city of Nara where he was shot to death while giving a stump speech three years ago.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Jul 8, 2025
Three years after Abe’s shooting, where do things stand?
The criminal trial against the alleged shooter is proceeding at a snail’s pace due to the sensitivity, complexity and social impact of the case.
Mourners offer flowers and prayers for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot while campaigning in 2022, during a ceremony marking one year after his death, in Tokyo in July 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 13, 2025
Trial of suspect in murder of ex-PM Abe set to begin in October
The trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, 44, will commence on Oct. 28.
Printed copies of the newly disclosed documents related to the dubious sale of state-owned land to Moritomo Gakuen, on Wednesday in the city of Osaka
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 12, 2025
More Moritomo Gakuen papers disclosed to widow of Finance Ministry official
The ministry intends to gradually disclose all the documents, which total more than 170,000 pages.
Akie Abe (right), the widow of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2025
Putin praises Abe, saying the late prime minister wanted a peace treaty
No treaty was ever signed between the two countries as they could not resolve a dispute over what is known in Japan as the Northern Territories.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival