TOKYO(Reuters)Police are on alert as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s group’s vehicle stopped in an alley in front of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s home in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.
Police are on alert as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s group’s vehicle stopped in an alley in front of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s home in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.
the door of the house in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s body was enshrined, was tightly closed. Around the house, about 20 police officers in uniform watched the Japanese pass by. When a woman in her 40s stopped in front of the main gate for a while and took a posture of praying for repose, a police officer approached and said, “Please move without standing.”
Under the control of the Japanese police, Japanese people from all over the country stood in an alley more than 50 meters away from the main gate to pray for Abe’s repose. No Japanese made a loud noise out of anger at the murder suspect.The killer retaliated religiously

A Japanese man went back and forth for a long time with flowers for condolences and then left somewhere. In the heat of more than 30 degrees, he seemed hesitant because he did not know where to go. Iwama, who is from Shinagawa, Tokyo, said, “It’s getting harder to make ends meet, but I’ve lost a politician who can get through the crisis.” “I feel uneasy that Japan is no longer a safe country,” said Mizuki Furui, 39. More than 1,000 mourners visited the altar set up at the scene of the incident in Nara Prefecture in the morning alone. Narashi is planning to conduct trauma counseling for citizens shocked by the death of former Prime Minister Abe.Since Abe’s shooting death, Japanese society has been rapidly stagnating. Anxiety, a sense of defeat and helplessness are expanding.

The confidence of rebuilding a “strong Japan” is disappearing. Abe put up the slogan ‘Beautiful Japan’ after becoming the youngest prime minister. After the collapse of the bubble economy, he was a politician who faced Japan’s “lost 30 years” and suddenly disappeared.

Moreover, Abe’s shooting and death signaled to the public that Japan was no longer safe. The myth of Japan, a security and security country, has collapsed. The Japan Trauma Stress Association recommended, “Do not watch repeatedly the shooting video or watch TV news broadcasts while eating.” Atsushi Shigemura, a professor at Meiji University, said, “As it is a shocking incident where a former prime minister who everyone knows is shot, there is a high possibility that people will easily empathize,” adding, “If you feel uncomfortable (with the shooting video), you should stop watching immediately.”
The “manual-moving system” that Japanese value the most and feel stable did not work this time. There were about 10 bodyguards around Abe, but no one noticed even though a suspicious figure approached a close distance of 6 to 7 meters. In particular, there was a time of three seconds between the first explosion and the second firing, but no one threw himself in front of former Prime Minister Abe or made him lie face down. The manual also did not work when the cruise ship sank in Hokkaido this April, said Lee Kei, a 40-year-old lawyer living in Shinjuku.

MIKE CHOI

ASIA JOURNAL

Abe will meet Trump from April 17-18 to discuss North Korea and trade ties at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida ahead of an inter-Korean summit scheduled for April 27 and planned talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before the end of May.

The White House confirmed the plan, saying Trump and Abe “will discuss the international campaign to maintain maximum pressure on North Korea.”

Japan’s Foreign Minister Taro Kono may also visit South Korea. He will meet President Moon Jae-in and Seoul‘s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha for two days between April 9 and 13 in an attempt to influence the upcoming inter-Korean summit, Kyodo News reported, quoting Japanese officials.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Yonhap)

During his meeting with Moon, Kono is expected to request that Moon bring up the issue of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals during the inter-Korean summit, the officials were quoted as saying. North Korea is accused of abducting 17 Japanese nationals during the 1970s and the 1980s.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the two countries are in talks on Kono’s possible visit to Seoul, but nothing had been confirmed.

Abe’s diplomatic outreach comes amid growing fears in Japan that the diplomatic drive led by South Korea, North Korea and the US could fail to suit its security concerns and interests, and leave it out of critical decisions in the process of denuclearization of North Korea.

Japan has been at the forefront of the US-led maximum pressure campaign, which aims to push the North to give up its nuclear and missile programs through economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation. It has remained skeptical about the North’s recent peace offensive, denouncing the communist state as buying time to perfect its nuclear programs.

But a fast-paced thaw and momentum of dialogue on the Korean Peninsula, following the North’s participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February, appears to have left Japan perplexed. Abe reportedly was not informed in advance of Trump’s decision to sit down for talks with Kim.

“I am also afraid that (Trump) may achieve a nuclear test ban, but end up accepting North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons,” Abe told the upper house budget committee on March 28. He expressed worries that medium-range missiles and short-range missiles, which could pose a direct threat to Japan but not to the US, may not be addressed during the upcoming talks.

The issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea also remains highly critical for Abe who rose to political prominence on his calls for a tough line on North Korea and his pledge to bring home Japanese nationals detained in the communist state.

Japan has said North Korea abducted at least 17 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to train agents in the Japanese language and culture to spy on South Korea. North Korea acknowledged in 2002 that it had abducted 13 Japanese. It released only five of them, saying the other eight had died.

Abe is losing popularity at home over his alleged involvement in cutting the price of state-owned land sold to a nationalist school operator who claims ties to Abe and his wife Akie. His approval rating plunged by 6 percentage points to 42 percent, according to a survey conducted from March 31-April 1 and published Monday by Yomiuri Shimbun. His disapproval rating stands at 50 percent, according to the survey.

Further alienating Japan in the diplomatic game may be China. Chinese President Xi Jinping met North Korean leader Kim in Beijing last week to improve their strained ties, dismissing concerns that China is being sidelined in the denuclearization talks and losing influence over the reclusive regime.

Abe said that he had learned about Kim’s meeting with Xi through news reports.

In what appears to be a sign of Japan’s frustration, Abe has proposed a face-to-face meeting with the North Korean leader to discuss North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens, Japanese media reported. The talks could possibly take place in June, according to the reports.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)