What is the shins of as legacy japans longest serving Prime Minister has resigned described as a nationalist who struggled to introduce aggressive Economic Reforms so how far has he succeeded and how will japanese remember him this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program im adrian for they get the surprise resignation of japans Prime Minister shinzo sent shock waves through the countrys political establishment the 65 year old quits citing Health Reasons related to all sorts of collide a chronic bowel disease that hes lived with since he was a teenager ill be apologised to the japanese people and said that he didnt want his illness to get into the way of Decision Making of serious Priyanka Gupta takes a look now back at the korea of japans longest serving leader a chronic illness that cut short his 1st of an office 13 years ago has come back to force. Japans longest serving Prime Minister to step down is then thawing out and. I would like to sincerely apologize to the people of japan for leaving my post with one year left in my term of office and amid the coronavirus was well various policies are still in the process of being implemented. Oh the foremost of the century should so abi has told me to japans politics he comes from an influential political dynasty his grandfather was Prime Minister and his father foreign minister the conservative politician rose through the ranks of his liberal Democratic Party and became japans youngest Prime Minister since world war 2 in 2006 but thats didnt ended the full year due to help. 5 years later he returned if his 1st term was mauled by a political inexperience the 2nd had a renewed focus on agenda. Up in the midst of what became known as abu nomics was a series of the bishops reforms aimed at boosting japan struggling economy his vision of a well the stronger japan came with a Lifelong Mission to amend the countrys pacifist constitution which bars it from hostile acts except in self defense many japanese opposes constitutional changes the but he did manage to repeatedly win elections as a result of the stability that he brought the fact that hes won 6 National Elections and basically been unopposed and really has shown no sign of losing his power really up until now it is a year. That japan has been well governed has been predictably and consistently govern for that period and he has managed to translate that into a much more visible role for japan in asia and globally our base trend in security entry ties with the u. S. Making japan one of its closest allies. And despite total disputes he warmed up to regional superpower china and japans wartime legacy led to renewed friction with south korea causing their worst diplomatic and create dispute for decades. The 2011 earthquake tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear disaster was a further test of his leadership another came in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic scuttled his plans to showcase japan on the world stage by hosting the tokyo summer olympics the worlds 3rd largest economy already on the slide since 20 teen slumped to a record low abbies resignation has set off a succession battle in the ranks of the governing liberal Democratic Party and their concerns about what the future holds for a country long used to stability Priyanka Gupta aljazeera. Lets bring in our guests then from tokyo were joined by. A special advisor to the cabinet of shins our band professor at Keio University from camber up Lauren Richardson director of studies at astray and National UniversitysAsia Pacific College diploma say out also in tokyo is david laney a professor of japanese politics at Western University thank you all for being with us to waco to go to lets start with you whats your reaction to our base resignation he was japans longest serving Prime Minister but was he a good Prime Minister how will history judge him. History will judge him as someone. Who has brought japan closer to countries such as australia india and perhaps you do ok and france and so on. Someone who has been able to revisit japans true sell its identity that is japans. Dieties maritime democracy so doubts an external factor domestically long awaited was an element of hope without going to church any nation including japan could not grow for a wealthy and declining population countries such as japan whats most important is to hope for the best for the future specially for the young generations and shes oh i was right in the middle of rewriting its social contract by shifting the weight of. Social Welfare Program slightly from the elderly to the younger generations so that the childbearing cost is going to be lower still for the future but many things are in the midway and certainly abduction case the north korean government sponsored actions brok many japanese citizens to north korea the object ts are still in north korea and shinzo out there has not been able to bring them back to japan and to his greatest greatest regret Lauren Richardson is a pragmatist who throughout his tenure sought to strengthen alliances across asia including with china about relations with south korea have sunk to historic lows why was that is it is it always fault or the fault of a and or both. You know its an important question obviously the relationship between japan and south korea is a really crucial one in the region because they both have a shared outline in the u. S. And obviously that Alliance System becomes stronger when japan and south korea get in the long i dont think we can clearly attribute that or tear a ship into abyei or to maine i think theres been some major changes in the relationship that have developments in both countries that have coincided we speak of a administration so one of the major complication developments in some of the best south korean judicial outcomes in recent years especially the 2018 Supreme Court case. That ruled Japanese Companies that use korean labor in world war 2 need to compensate those laborers but at this position and this is marriage by whose l. D. P. The liberal Democratic Party counterpart says that all of those issues will result in 165 so what we say a major. Goal that has emerged in one in the 2 opinions of the 2 leaders president moon argues that that treaty they signed in 1965 did not not look a the rights of victims because it didnt have include of the victims and he also argues that the separation of powers seen in south korea obliges game to abide by the ruling so i think you have a 2 latest positions on the postcolonial sentiment settlement of diametrically of quest david laney how do you say based legacy he was instrumental in bringing the olympics to japan how much of a blow to him personally would it be not to be the man in charge when and they have to postpone games actually take place. I think it will be heartbreaking for him personally although i think its probably secondary among his concerns at the moment and obviously like most people i wish him good health i do think that probably when we think back upon his legacy its probably going to be about the way in which he likely reshaped the Decision Making structure in tokyo i mean for you for sort of come to take it for granted that japanese Prime Ministers last for a while Prime Minister koizumi back in early 2000 lasted for 6 years and now with Prime Minister are they having served for nearly 8 its a fairly remarkable stretch but for the most part japanese Prime Ministers are short term caretakers over a fractious political system we may return to that and i think that what will be problematic is that he has been very very strewed a very effective at centralizing a lot of the Decision Making at the hands of the Prime Minister at his team and so what will happen if theres a series of short term Prime Ministers after it maybe not so much policy instability as policy interaction so well be looking at them to figure out whether or not theres going to be a sustainable legacy from the from the abbaye years beyond. With regard to the lympics i do think the limits are going to go ahead if the i. O. C. Says that he wants to have them go ahead and that will be dictated by the direction of the good antivirus tell him whos likely to replace all they have he groomed a successor. The answer is i dont know a contest is going to soon take place within the l. D. P. Its going to be a party of fair and there are a couple probably several contenders for the presidency of the ruling party. Many being rumored and shinzo out clearly distance shows to distance himself from the Decision Making process for those candidates lauren what Foreign Policy successes and failures will relations at least between japan and south korea improve with someone else at the helm. Its a good question i think is said then we have been some successes i think that ive been has really increased japans presence on the global stage and as mentioned by mr trying to be key he has also really strengthened not only the u. S. Japan alliance which was really put to the test with the idiosyncrasies of the Trump Administration or really the translated ship but at the same time hes really improved and deepen ties with japan and other Strategic Partners in the region including a strain riya and india and at the same time hes beaten her relations in the south the signal to Southeast Asia with countries that are quite vulnerable to chinese influence so hes really expanded the scope of japans i guess. Well Foreign Policy and i think at the same time when it comes to south korea i dont expect to see any improvement. With up a successor and i think its because there is position on the 965 treaty. Is widely supported not only in the Democratic Party where his successor obviously very likely to come from but also in the wiat a conservative setlist lynn in japan i mean its very deeply entrenched that these issues the results especially issues pertaining to korean labor from the colonial period so i expect hes only going to be change at some point in the future perhaps he said maybe a change of party and then if we see the opposition but he can tell all if we see a maybe its a change of leadership in south korea which will obviously happen in a fairly new future david to what extent did his handling of the off the mark of the Fukushima NuclearDisaster Impact upon his reputation both at home and abroad. Well he wasnt actually Prime Minister at the time of the disaster the Prime Minister at the time of the disaster was Prime Minister column out now took on who was then succeeded by another Prime Minister the Democratic Party which was then defeated in a subsequent election by the l. D. P. Eat it brought back to power in 2012 and so he is some ways benefited from the disaster insofar as it implied to many voters that the d. P. J was incapable of actually handling a policy disaster whether thats a Fair Assessment or not is another matter but i am self in some ways moved the direction of the discussion because as much as the as much as japan started to move towards an antinuclear strategy up and sell it started to push for wider dependence upon Nuclear Power that hasnt been success hasnt been successful yet and its not clear will be but certainly what obviously trying to do has been to return japan to what he would apply would be a Sustainable Energy future dependent on Nuclear Energy and thats in some ways been one of the greatest legacies that it will have from the from his handling of the outcomes of the siemens aster. Well japan continue on its current economic and diplomatic course under its new leader what do you see as successes main priorities now. Fact of the matter is japans got no luxury. Whereby you could choose one from the other the options available for japans future are actually now wrong either on the domestic front or under Foreign Policy front in the Foreign Policy. Area japans need japans need is going to be the same to strengthen ever more the Us Japan Alliance the linchpin of the security arrangement across the region and then has got to invest further into its relationships with like minded maritime democracies such as the steady india and so on support domestically the productivity is the key because japans declining population is very much incurable at least in the short term and. Were available seat country to grow further there is only one way leapt that is to boost your productivity it which is hard to come by which is the reason why construct conk continuity and consistency are among the most important assets expected to be held by the next Prime Minister and the Prime Minister after the next otherwise people couldnt expect long term couldnt hope for the future in the long term perspectives and long Term Investment is going to know not to take shape when and where you would on taliban much expectation for the future lauren he changed the status quo of japans defense policy to enable a more proactive security role in the region just how different today is japan as a Regional Power thanks to. I think its very different and i think that will be one of the Prime Minister ever is mainly because he is i think because we all know that his primary objective was to change japans the fencepost at a constitutional right by changing the pacifist well if. That sort of prohibits to prayer from being a socalled normal security act but as they all resemble to work around that cools by you know sort of legislating around it to enable japan to participate in collective selfdefense something that was considered unconstitutional before also by acquiring. Like substantially more military assets that were previously relegated to the no go zone what could be you know in some ways considered fencing is. Rather defensive. Also removing and exploit prayer and setting to exploit and just generally i think by act to kill aiding a new strategic framework that included the u. S. To promise terror in india that went to what was known as the quiet. And yet generally playing a leadership role in the security of the region particularly around the South China Sea i think thats a major change david to what extent when we chose to put it in the report just before we began our discussion but to what extent was he influenced by his paternal grandfather who was once jailed as a war crimes suspect that went on the surface Prime Minister in 1957. Thats a great question he himself says that hes been influenced quite a bit when he wrote his book at. Japan the beautiful i just before he became Prime Minister the 1st time to 2006 he actually spoke quite a bit about the way in which his grandfather had been treated and he felt unfairly by the press and by historians leaving that aside he himself has long argued one of the main problems for japan has been its inability to express National Pride because of a kind of history thats been forced upon it by virtue but attentive its had lost the war and having been occupied by the United States afterwards and so part of his mission in the postwar era has and during his era has been to try to get japanese to rethink what it means to be japanese and to rethink their history the reason i think that thats controversial is not only because the way in which we cast some of japans behavior during the war and its obviously upset bunch of japans neighbors but also because the way in which it recasts some of what he suggests he wants to tend to be able to do in the future well i believe hes absolutely sincere that his Foreign Policy goals are simply designed to protect stripped down the fact that his efforts to recast japanese history in a way that suggests japans move vans maneuvers touring the into war era were driven in part by the existence use of Global Politics rather than by a sort of aggressive imperial set of moves thats raised concerns about whether or not here others have decide to repeat to rebuild some kind of military empire i think they dont but i do think that hes left himself alone rable to that because of the way he talks somewhat romantically about japans past in the way in which hes aligned himself with key figures in the socalled british industry right time ago he strengthen security and trade ties with the u. S. He kind of thought relations with china what are we to make of his apparently deft handling of the the unpredictable trumpet ministration. Whoever is. Indeed the highest office in United States of the United States it is incumbent upon the japanese Prime Minister to cultivate the best possible to the 1st possible relationship with the poetess of today and thats what she has done both with. And with donald trump one could only hope his successor is going to do the same and by the way not only with japan and not only with the United States japan understands a lot better has gotten very close also to European Countries japan free trade pact Economic Partnership agreement is among the biggest and the richest in terms of coverage ever forged between an among rich nations so under siege of all of it japans being able to bring it so closer to democratic nations on the european front as well and thats going to make pretty much an important part of japanese identity now and down the road lauren repartee running out of time here and i want to get another question in to david so if you could be as brief as possible id be grateful while popular enough to win 6 National Elections bringing stability and relative prosperity to japan he did have a knack for courting controversy he repeatedly visited the yes according shrine was not a deliberate attempt to be provocative on his part which audience was he playing to what he was doing that a domestic one or an international one. You know i think premise that i bear its not a 100 miss some are cute critters are. The most ive done the saying visited this person yes the cornish trying to think that her mate not trying to provoke him you know china and south korea but definitely rendering to domestic constituencies particularly that conservative constituency that typically votes are counted pretty and would like you know the Prime Minister to pay his respects to the war dead. Yet into the david what are we to make of the timing of his departure we know that ill health has plagued him throughout his life and forced him to end his tenure as Prime Minister is that is there more to it this time the than just ill health is the timing of it of this announcement of his resignation significant well its hard to know some of the more conspiracy minded observers in japan have noted that the 1st time he resigned it was shortly after he had passed his one year tenure so he wouldnt just be a less than 11 year Prime Minister and then resigned because of ill health this time he was just a couple of days after he broke the record of Prime Minister. For longest serving continuous Prime Ministers tenure and so i think some of suggested that he really realized his time was about up and just wanted to make certain had the records i really believe thats true and he actually did seem to be quite physically well during the process the press conference to be held but it was clear that he was on his way out his popularity was declining in part because of the economic ravages inflicted on japan and other countries bob to go but that he virus by a series of scandals that he didnt handle terribly adeptly and by just. I think that she among a number of voters with his cabinets inability to point to a new direction Structural Reforms for the economy so i think that he this was probably the time to be going sometime this year i think he would have held on through the end of the year and that city place but i think with the uncertainties surrounding that there is really no reason to risk his health need further there im afraid we must leave it many thanks indeed to make a ton of good she learned richardson and david laney and thank you for joining us now because you can see the program again at any time just by going to the website at al jazeera dot com for further discussion join us at our Facebook Page youll find that at facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story and you can join the conversation on twitter our handle at a. J. Inside story from Adrian Finnegan for the whole team but he thanks for watching well see you again on. 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