Jul 17, 2021
In a conversation that appeared in the August issue of the monthly magazine Hanada and was reported by the Mainichi Shimbun, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that parties “who have been criticized by some as anti-Japan” are now “strongly opposing staging the Olympics.”
Abe’s interlocutor, former news presenter Yoshiko Sakurai, is a well-known conservative pundit, and Abe cited two bete noire of the Japanese right, the Asahi Shimbun and the Japanese Communist Party, as leading the protest movement against the Olympics.
Given the context, Abe’s comment gave the impression that he was talking in a bubble for a select audience, making the protest movement out to be one centered on a desire to place Japan in an unfavorable light. Though Sakurai mentioned that opposition parties expressed fear about the Olympics exacerbating the spread of COVID-19, both she and Abe chalked it up to politics, ignoring the fact that a good portion of the public is ag
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Jul 3, 2021
The press coverage of the matter has focused more on politics than on the content or purport of the bill. Inada has always been proud of her conservative credentials and obviously sees no conflict between those values and her support for sexual minorities in Japan, but certain colleagues and opinion-makers see this support as proof that she is veering from the true path.
As explained in a June 18 article on the News Post Seven website, part of Inada’s problem is that her presentation of the LGBTQ bill coincided with the presumed political resurgence of her mentor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. News Post Seven says that Abe is exposing himself more readily to media scrutiny right now in a possible bid to regain the premiership. Conservatives applaud this move and have somehow identified Inada as a heretic in order to fortify Abe’s far-right support, even though in the past she was touted as his likely successor.
Ex-PM Abe says anti-Japan people are strongly opposing Tokyo Olympics
July 3, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Mainichi) TOKYO Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe criticized those opposing Japan s hosting of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in a magazine piece, saying people tagged as being anti-Japan are now intensely criticizing the games. People who have been criticized by some as anti-Japan because of their historical perceptions and other views are now strongly opposing staging the Olympics, Abe said in a discussion published in the current edition of monthly magazine Hanada. As specific examples, Abe cited the Japanese Communist Party and the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which called for the games to be cancelled in an editorial in May.