■ Introduction: Unjust Assassination
Three years have passed since Shinzo Abe was assassinated. Due to the extremely mysterious circumstances of the murder, Japanese courts have yet to even specify a date for the first hearing. It will be impossible for the prosecution to prove a murder charge. Perhaps out of consideration for this, members of the defense team have said they will plead mitigating circumstances and will not contest the murder charge. Who are these defense team members? It has not been revealed whether they are publicly appointed or privately appointed, nor even how many members they are. Perhaps out of fear that the truth of the incident will become public, this unprecedented situation of no trial being held has continued. Note 1
In the midst of this, highly likely reports were published stating that " the Nara District Court has proposed to hold the first hearing on October 28th " and "adjustments are being made toward handing down the verdict as early as January next year." If the first hearing ends with the reading of the indictment and the defendant's initial plea, and if the defendant does not contest the charges at all at the second hearing at the end of the year and concludes by appealing for leniency, then a verdict will be made early in the new year. If there is no appeal and the guilty verdict is confirmed, the truth will be buried in the dark due to the "complicity" of the three legal professions.
This is an outrageous variant of the theory of government acts, which implies that "judicial review does not extend to highly political acts." For the neoconservatives, the value of Shinzo Abe , a fanatical imperial worshipper, was destroyed by turning Japan into a military superpower and a country capable of waging war on a global scale. Abe's arrival caused Japanese politics to shift extremely to the right in order to turn Japan into a military superpower, but this needed to be corrected. It is more natural to see this murder as an organized crime . The truth is being covered up forever .
■ The rise of neo-conservatives and 52-year-old Prime Minister Abe
The role of the Shinzo Abe administration, which is considered the longest-serving administration in history and lasted for a total of eight years until 2020, can be summed up as the approval of the exercise of the right of collective self-defense by making the Self-Defense Forces a military force capable of fighting under the command of the U.S. military. However, in his memoirs, Abe concealed the fact that this was a strict order from the U.S. and spoke as if it was something he had done voluntarily.
Shinzo Abe, who succeeded his father, former foreign minister Shintaro Abe, after his death from illness , was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1993. After that, without any experience as a cabinet minister, he served as secretary-general of the LDP , the top cabinet position, and chief cabinet secretary , before rising to the position of prime minister in 2006 at the age of 52.
This unprecedented "speedy promotion" can be attributed to the overwhelming power of the American neoconservatives who drew up a vision for world domination after the Cold War. The core of the US policy towards Japan was to create a system that would allow the Self-Defense Forces to be deployed anywhere in the world, and in particular to use them as a military force to support the confrontation with China. The Abe administration was born as a pawn in that vision for world domination .
■ Post-Cold War and American Hegemony
What was the United States doing behind the scenes of Shinzo Abe's "unusual" rapid rise to power and his two terms as prime minister? The year 1993, when Shinzo was first elected, was a time of great change in the international order. The Cold War ended in 1989, and the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The world was moving away from conflict toward reconciliation and cooperation, and momentum was building for the dividends of peace to be reaped.
However, the reality was different. For the neo-conservative warmongers known as neo-cons, who controlled the US's foreign and security policy, this was an opportune time to advance toward world domination through sole American hegemony.
The first blow that made the Japanese people realize this was the criticism of the financial support for the Gulf War, which threatened the Japanese government with "shedding not only money but also blood. " The beginning of the "from money to people" trend was the first overseas deployment of the Self-Defense Forces to the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (PKO). Participation in the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces ( PKF) was seen as the realization of collective security as stated in the UN Charter.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the George Bush administration (1989-1993) was dominated by neoconservatives, led by Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. Cheney served as vice president in the Bush Jr. administration (2001-2009) and was known as the shadow president. In February 1992 , he secretly had a draft of the Defense Planning Guidelines (DPG) prepared, a plan for world domination. They proposed a unilateral hegemony plan in which the United States , now the "sole superpower," could act independently without being bound by the United Nations .
The DPG is called the Wolfowitz Doctrine because it was drafted mainly by Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz . The pillar of the DPG is "not to allow the emergence of new rivals to the United States," with China and Russia in mind. Furthermore, it aimed to incorporate former enemy nations Germany and Japan as pawns in America's plan for world domination, and to contain them so that they would not become a threat to the United States again . They established a think tank in Washington DC called the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), and wield enormous power .
■ Not allowing Japan to defect
In the 1993 Lower House election in which Abe was first elected, anti-LDP votes flowed in large numbers to a new conservative party, giving birth to a coalition government of eight non-LDP parties, and bringing an end to the 55-year system of conflict between the LDP and the Socialist Party. The LDP was removed from power for the first time, the Communist Party was excluded, and the end of the Cold War was reflected in Japanese politics, albeit in a distorted way. The resulting glass-like Hosokawa Morihiro administration tried to shift from absolute support for the Japan-US Security Treaty to an emphasis on the United Nations in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This stance was in direct opposition to the neoconservative DPG (Defense Planning Guidelines) mentioned above , and the Hosokawa administration collapsed within a year in 1994 .
In response to this movement of Japan away from the US, a group called Japan Handlers has emerged in the US. Unlike the traditional Japan-friendly faction, this term refers to those who manipulate Japan politically from behind the scenes . The US think tank "Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)" is famous as a home for Japan Handlers. From 2000 to 2025, they have published six bipartisan policy recommendation reports called "Armitage Reports," which are also called "Japan Diplomatic Guidelines" or "Japan Directives," and have had the Japanese government faithfully carry out their instructions.
■ Emphasis on East Asia and redefining security
It is said that Michael Green and Patrick Cronin acted as Japan handlers to halt the Hosokawa administration's inclination to place importance on the United Nations. Through Kurt Campbell, who was then Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Clinton administration, they urged Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Nye to prepare the "East Asia Strategy Report," commonly known as the "Nye Initiative," in February 1995. The core of this report called for maintaining a 100,000-strong US military presence in East Asia even after the Cold War, strengthening the functions of US military bases in Japan, and relaxing or eliminating restrictions on their use. All of the above members would go on to become senior officials at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the 2000s .
[Photo] "Japan Handlers" Richard Armitage (far right), Michael Green, and Joseph Nye gathered at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation-sponsored "US-Japan Security Study Group." June 24, 2013, on the second floor of the Hotel Okura Tokyo Annex in Minato Ward, Tokyo.
In June 1996, the Japan-US Joint Declaration on Security was issued, redefining the post-Cold War Japan-US Security Treaty. Like the Nye Report, it stated that maintaining and strengthening the Japan-US alliance is essential for stability in the Asia-Pacific region even after the Cold War . The Guidelines for Japan-US Defense Cooperation were then reviewed, and new Guidelines were decided in September 1997. In 1999, the Law on Situations Surrounding Japan was enacted, and attempts to move the Self-Defense Forces away from the principle of exclusively defensive defense of Japanese territory began. When the Bush Jr. administration began in the early 21st century, the Self-Defense Forces were sent to Afghanistan and Iraq under the pretext of logistical support and deployment to non-combat zones, and the groundwork for Japan to be incorporated into US-led wars was laid to the brink.
In any case, in order for the Self-Defense Forces to engage in joint military activities with the U.S. military outside of Japan's territory, including full-scale combat, it was necessary to get the Japanese government to approve the exercise of the right of collective self-defense and to enact new security legislation, which is a collective term for the revised Self-Defense Forces Act and the Act on Cooperation and Support Activities for Foreign Military Forces .
The first Armitage Report was delivered to the Japanese government in 2000. Its main demands included the approval of the exercise of the right of collective self-defense, the passage of emergency legislation in the Diet, and the integration of the SDF with the US military. The third report, published in 2012 , clearly called for the enactment of a new security law based on the approval of the exercise of the right of collective self-defense. For a quarter century, the Japanese government had accepted all of the US demands as if swallowing them whole, but it took 15 years to approve the exercise of the right of collective self-defense and pass the new security legislation. The holding of the expert council, which was the forum for discussion on enabling the SDF to fight outside Japan's territory, the cabinet's approval, and the deliberations on the bill were all carried out under the first and second Abe administrations.
■ Inciting the China threat and promoting patriotism
As a prerequisite for "building a fighting nation," it was necessary to incite fears of the threat of China while also fostering among the Japanese people a passionate admiration for the Imperial State of Japan through the promotion of patriotism and a mood of returning to the prewar era.
I lived abroad from 1993, when Shinzo Abe was first elected, until 2007, when the first Abe administration collapsed. When I returned to Japan, I was surprised by the unusually active nature of right-wing groups, the fear of the rise of China, hate speech against Koreans and North Koreans, and the abundance of "Japan is amazing" cries. In particular, at international indoor sports competitions such as volleyball and figure skating, spectators wearing Hinomaru headbands held banners reading "Go Nippon!" and "Nippon is amazing!" and waved the Rising Sun flag in praise of patriotism, and the venues were filled with extraordinary cheers and enthusiasm for " Go Japan!"
In 1997, the Association to Protect Japan and the National Conference to Protect Japan merged to form Japan Conference, Japan's largest right-wing group. In response, the Japan Conference Diet Members' Association was formed, which proclaimed that it would " work to rebuild a beautiful Japan and build a proud nation," and 189 Diet members participated (see photo). Abe also actively participated, criticizing the China stance of the Kochikai, led by the liberal and pro-China Kato Koichi, and the Kono Yohei group as tributary diplomacy, and began to criticize the LDP as a whole for its leftward shift with a liberal orientation following the launch of the LDP-Social Democratic Party-Sakigake coalition government in 1994 .
Obsessed with the Imperial Japanese view of history, deriding the 1947 Constitution, a symbol of postwar democracy, as an occupation constitution and calling for its revision, denying the Tokyo Trials, praising the Yasukuni Shrine ideology, and clinging to the denial of Japan's invasion of China and the conscription of comfort women, Shinzo Abe, who has made a name for himself for addressing the issue of abductions by North Korea, has risen to stardom in Nagatacho as a "hawkish nobleman." Some have sarcastically said, "A rich young man with little political awareness, surrounded by so many wolves, transformed himself into a wolf."
The intensifying anti-Japanese demonstrations in China in the 2010s and the nationalization of the Senkaku Islands by the Democratic Party of Japan government have made the deterioration of relations with China decisive. Just as the Tiananmen Square incident, the Uighur Xinjiang independence movement, and the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement show signs of US and UK intelligence agencies' involvement, the large-scale riots in China and the growing tensions in the East China Sea cannot be seen as having occurred naturally. It is reasonable to assume that there was some involvement of groups that profit from worsening Japanese people's feelings toward China and turning their hatred into anger. It was essential to form a public opinion that accepted the exercise of the right of collective self-defense, followed by the establishment of an enemy base attack posture.
■ Security Legislation Advisory Board - Sase, Okazaki, Armitage
I wrote above that "the neocons have singled out Shinzo Abe for the job." Let's take a closer look at that.
The first Abe administration, which came to power in September 2006, established the "Council on Reconstructing the Legal Basis for Security" (Council on Security Legislation) as a "private advisory body to the Prime Minister to examine the issue of allowing Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense and its relationship to the Constitution." The 14 scholars and experts selected as members were all an inner circle of supporters of the right, and the group was formed with a preconceived conclusion in mind. The idea to establish the Council on Security Legislation had been prepared behind the scenes by Japanese and American officials for over five years.
Among them was Sase Masamori, who had lectured on international law at the Faculty of Law at Seikei University, where Abe studied. Sase is a political scientist specializing in security studies, and in 2001 published a book entitled "Collective Self-Defense." This caught the attention of Okazaki Hisahiko, a former Foreign Ministry bureaucrat who had his eye on Abe, the "hawkish nobleman." According to sources, Okazaki arranged a meeting between Abe and Sase, and began to seriously educate Abe on the "right to collective self-defense."
On the other hand, Okazaki , who had been seconded to CSIS , had close ties with Armitage and other Japan handlers and neo- conservatives. There is no doubt that Armitage, Nye and others selected Abe through Okazaki. Abe was recognized as a trump card for the approval of the exercise of the right of collective self-defense, a long-cherished wish of Japanese and American officials.
As a culmination of this work, in 2004, a book was published entitled "Determination to Protect This Country," in which LDP Secretary-General Abe Shinzo answers questions posed by Okazaki about Japan's diplomatic and political issues, such as the Iraq War, the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces, the right of collective self-defense, and the Japan-US alliance. As Okazaki stated, " It may be premature to ask him to answer such a wide range of questions about protecting the national interest, but I thought that now was not the time to leave it," Abe became Chief Cabinet Secretary the following year, and Prime Minister in 2006. Abe's handlers in Japan and the US worked hard to skillfully put Abe on the path they had laid out for him.
■ Inside the "surprise personnel changes"
Abe became Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in April 2000, and in October of the same year the first Armitage Report was published, explicitly calling for the acceptance of the exercise of the right of collective self-defense. Abe made a name for himself by "returning abduction victims" following Koizumi's visit to North Korea in 2002, and as mentioned above, he was promoted to Secretary-General of the LDP in 2003, a "surprise personnel move" by Koizumi, and in 2005 he joined the Cabinet for the first time as Chief Cabinet Secretary. It was a mere 10 years after his first election. It was a "miracle."
Just how unusual and extraordinary this personnel move is becomes clear when we compare it with the career history of current Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa, who was also elected from Yamaguchi. Hayashi was first elected to the House of Councillors in 1995, two years after Abe's first election. After spending nearly 30 years gaining experience as Minister of Defense and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Hayashi switched to the House of Representatives and was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Kishida and Ishiba cabinets.
What kind of power led to appointing a four-time elected member of the House of Representatives, who had never even been a parliamentary vice-minister or vice-minister, as Chief Cabinet Secretary, the highest-ranking cabinet member, and then as Prime Minister the following year? What gave rise to this "surprise personnel change"? The existing media has suppressed this question. Of course, it could only be the pressure from the US neoconservatives and Japan handlers, who have been giving strict orders to approve the exercise of the right of collective self-defense.
A world where seniority is absolute. So a three-time elected politician suddenly became the party's top position as Secretary-General. The bosses of the LDP factions, who had been slowly climbing the ladder step by step to seize posts and power - the lifeblood of a conservative politician - kept quiet. The same goes for their entourage. There was not even a ripple on the surface within the LDP. They feared the power of Washington, and their rebellious feelings were frozen out of awe. The media simply reported it as a surprise personnel move after Koizumi's successor, and the shadow of Washington was kept hidden from the coverage. (Continued)