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After her husband Shinzo Abe resigned as Prime Minister of Japan in December 2020, Abe Akie disappeared from public view for a time.
On July 8, Shinzo Abe was accidentally assassinated during the Nara election. As the entire Japanese people mourn the former leader who dedicated his life to Japan, his 60-year-old widow Akie Abe has also come back to the spotlight and become the focus of public attention.
On the afternoon of the incident, Akie Abe rushed to Nara Hospital by Shinkansen and held Abe's hand. She later said that she felt Abe shook her back. Facing her husband who only relied on artificial lung breathing, she finally asked Abe. He said, "That's all," and signaled him to leave in peace. Eight minutes after Akie Abe arrived at the hospital, the hospital announced that Abe died of serious injuries.
The next day, she escorted Abe's body back to her home in Tokyo by car.
html On the 11th, she held a night-long ceremony at zojo Temple , and stayed vigil for Abe with relatives and friends. Previously, someone within the Liberal Democratic Party proposed holding a "state funeral" for Abe, but she declined.
html On the 12th, she presided over Abe’s funeral, laid flowers to Abe’s coffin before the funeral, and bid farewell affectionately to Abe cheek to cheek for several minutes.
Funeral Family Memorial A video of the "311 Earthquake" song "Flowers Are Blooming" was played. In the video, Abe played the song and Akie sang along with the music played by her husband.
Abe Akie said in her speech that no one is as kind as her husband, who "always protects me"; she believes that her husband, as a politician, must have left many unfinished aspirations, "because he has sown many seeds and believes in the future." It will definitely sprout.”
Throughout it all, Abe Akie has remained calm and quiet in public.
Shinzo Abe’s farewell ceremony
CNN (CNN) reported on July 12 that Akie Abe, whose surname was Matsuzaki, was born in a prominent family. After marrying Shinzo Abe, who was only a staff member at the time, in 1987, he embarked on a new path. The conventional path for Japanese women is to quit their jobs at the country's largest advertising agency to concentrate on being a wife.
However, in their marriage of more than 30 years, including nine years as Japan's first lady, Abe Akie has already proven that she is not a traditional silent politician's wife.
In Japan, Abe Akie is known for her outspoken style and progressive views. Unlike previous first ladies, she not only refused to stay in the shadow of her husband, but instead became more similar to the unique style of the first lady of the United States, shaping her own public role.
Abe Akie's support for progressive causes, her freewheeling lifestyle and her joyful self-confidence endeared her to the Japanese public.
Because Abe loves to speak her mind, Abe has publicly challenged a series of her husband's policies, including promoting nuclear power and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. In 2016, she met with protesters in Okinawa who opposed the expansion of the US Marine Corps base, and Shinzo Abe supported the expansion of the base.
She told Bloomberg in 2016: "I wanted to collect perspectives that were not understood by my husband or his circle. I guess it was a bit like an opposition party."
Japanese media gave Abe Akie a nickname - Shinzo Abe The “opposition party within the family”.
Abe's progressive views sometimes seem at odds with Japan's traditional conservative values.
Akie Abe has long been an advocate for LGBTQ rights and participated in Tokyo's gay pride parade in 2014. She also supports the opening up of medical marijuana and posed for a photo in a vast cannabis field in 2015.
Akie Abe has occasionally been embroiled in controversy, including a scandal involving a deal to land at a low price for a school with ties to her.
Although Abe and Akie often disagree politically, the couple has a close relationship - and Abe has not been shy about letting the public know. During their visits together, the two often held hands when getting off the plane. This was a rare "show of affection" in Japanese political circles.
Japanese people also feel that this couple is really close. No matter what the wife does, her husband will come forward to protect his wife.
Abe Akie is also the first wife of a Japanese politician active on social media, often sharing snippets of her life with fans on Facebook and instagram.
Shinzo Abe is a regular in Abe's Instagram posts, smiling with her at events or casual walks, petting their pet dog while sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper in the car, or enjoying a bowl of curry. Winter noodle .
On the occasion of their 30th wedding anniversary, Abe Akie released a wedding photo of them wearing kimonos. On her 32nd anniversary, she posted a celebratory photo of cherry cream cake and wine.
In fact, Abe Akie has a distinguished background. She is the great-granddaughter of Taichiro Morinaga, the founder of the Japanese food giant Morinaga Confectionery Co., Ltd., and her father is Matsuzaki Akio, the former president of Morinaga Confectionery . She was educated at a private Catholic school and a girls' vocational school and speaks fluent English.
In 1967, on a farm in Nara, five-year-old Matsuzaki Akie was with her friends.
After graduation, Abe Akie worked for the Japanese advertising company Dentsu . At the age of 22, she met Shinzo Abe, who was 7 years older than her and served as a political assistant. They dated for more than two years before marrying in 1987.
The couple never had children. Akie Abe told Japanese media that they sought fertility treatment early in their marriage, but to no avail.
Simply playing the role of a good wife obviously cannot satisfy Abe Akie. She worked as a radio DJ in the 1990s and came up with the plan to open an izakaya after her husband resigned as prime minister for the first time in 2007.
Izakaya run by Abe Akie
"In 2012, when Abe was eager to return to power, Akie was busy preparing to open a restaurant, something she had always wanted to do. She believed that after her husband resigned as prime minister in 2007, she Finally, we have this opportunity," said Harris , author of "The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan."
"So she made him promise that she could still open the store, that she was going to keep doing it, and that it was a very good restaurant."
The izakaya called "UZU" opened in Kanda Ward, Tokyo, in 2012 and is bigger than Abe's. Two Prime Ministerial terms are still a few months too early.
Abe Akie even grows organic rice in her husband’s hometown rice fields and serves it in her restaurant. In 2015, she was photographed with the then US Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, wearing traditional women's overalls, standing barefoot in a muddy field, planting rice together.
Before becoming the First Lady again, Abe Akie returned to school and received a master's degree in social design studies from Rikkyo University.
She told the Wall Street Journal in 2013, "It was a frustrating and difficult time for us as a couple. He (Abe) decided to re-enter his political career, and I felt I needed to start living my own. "Life."
Harris said: "This shows that in Abe's political career, Akie has really made an effort to be herself, and is not just a politician's wife who only shows up and smiles with her husband and meets the expectations of the outside world." I think she has never been satisfied or eager to play this role."
(Editor: Ma Xiaoxian)
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