Few of Japan’s postwar leaders have been as consequential as Shinzo Abe, the retired Prime Minister who was assassinated Friday at the age of 67. Many will describe his legacy as “controversial,” which is true. But Abe’s gift to his country was to deliver the kind of controversy Japan needed, when the country needed it.
When Abe came to power the second time, in late 2012, Japan seemed adrift. Its economic miracle was long past, the optimism of the Junichiro Koizumi era in the early 2000s was spent, the traumas of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami were still fresh. Abe brought energy and national confidence back to Japanese politics and government.
