Make Japan great again: Abe's landslide is a victory for militant nationalism in the Trump era

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Make Japan great again: Abe's landslide is a victory for militant nationalism in the Trump era

Analysis Make Japan Great Again: Abe’s Landslide Is a Victory for Militant Nationalism in the Trump Age

The reelected prime minister may now be able to fulfill his long-held promise to amend the pacifist Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution

Alexander Griffing Oct 23, 2017 2:41 PM

Japan election: Abe’s landslide is a victory for militant nationalism in the Trump.

Pictured: Abe raises his arm during an election campaign rally in Tokyo, on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

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Japan will wake up Monday morning with almost the exact same government, but a radically changed national mindset as the country further embraces a form of nationalism not seen there in over 70 years.

Despite his unpopularity, Shinzo Abe, the hawkish prime minister, strolled to victory on Sunday in the snap election he called in late September. Abe's victory will increase his two-thirds governing "super majority," having capitalized on mounting concerns in the country, chiefly over North Korea’s provocative missile tests and U.S. President Donald Trump’s ability to contain the rogue regime's nuclear program – coupled with his “America first” agenda, which has repeatedly singled out Tokyo, insisting that it pay more for its own defense.

The campaign focused almost entirely on Article 9 of Japan’s post-World War II constitution, which bans the country from using force to settle international disputes and which Abe has long vowed to amend.

Argument over Article 9, a pacifist provision enacted in the aftermath of World War II, has raged in Japan ever since. But the new level of threat posed by North Korea and concerns about Trump rallied voters around Abe and his conservative Liberal Democratic Party, despite Abe's lack popularity.

Only on Thursday a poll published in the daily paper Asahi gave Abe, whom many Japanese seem to feel is an arrogant elitist, an approval rating of just 38 percent. Now he will remain premier until 2021, barring another snap election, of course.

read more: https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/asia-and-australia/1.818513