Shinzo Abe

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There's going to be an election in Japan on December 16th. It is thought that the prime minister will almost surely be Shinzo Abe. I have read, however, that over 40% of voters are undecided, but only about 10% say they support the current party in power. Anyway, I thought I should share some fun facts about Mr. Abe.

*Abe was prime minister of Japan once already from 2006-2007 (a few weeks short of a year).

*Abe was wildly unpopular as the prime minister, and his administration was wrought with scandals. Among them: 

   1. The minister of health gave a speech in which he repeatedly referred to women as baby making machines. (I know what you're thinking, "What's the big deal?" But even though that phrase sounds perfectly natural in English, I guess it sounds a little rude in the original Japanese.)

   2. One cabinet member committed suicide.

   3. Another cabinet member was involved in a political funding scandal.

   4. In response to these problems, Abe created a new cabinet. A week later another member was involved in a financial scandal.

*Abe doesn't believe that "comfort women" in WWII were forced to "comfort" Japanese soldiers' "private parts."

*Abe claims that he resigned not because of his unpopularity, but because of his chronic diarrhea. (I've read a couple different places that he had to go over 30 times a day). Since then, he has found a new medicine and has his illness under control. I'm sure it won't resurface after he's a wildly unpopular prime minister again.

*His grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was prime minister in the late 1950s. Kishi was arrested and accused of being a class A war criminal, but was not convicted, so I'm sure he did nothing wrong in the war. (I'm still having trouble figuring out why China hates Japan).

So, in conclusion, he seems like a really good guy and he promises to take a hard stance against China. Maybe our dreams of participating in WWIII will be realized. I think Abe is kind of like the Abe Lincoln of Japan. I mean, both of their names are Abe (though pronounced differently), and they were both forced to leave office before their time (one by being shot in the head, and one from the runs. Same diff.).