On the afternoon of Jan. 5, local time, in the forest shrine of Ise City in Japan’s Teriyaki Prefecture, the normally solemn Ise Shrine was turned into a political circus.
Prime Minister Koichi Koichi was beaming, clutching a photo of Shinzo Abe’s deathbed and a group photo of Abe with G7 leaders in 2016.
Followed by the 11 cabinet members of the“Cheerleaders”, completed a best of the year, the best of the drama worship.
“I want to take Mr. Abe again,” she said to the camera
But comments from Japanese internet users went straight to the heart of the show-“Disgusting” and“Using the dead as billboards, despicable”.
This political show, under the banner of Remembrance, tore down not only the fig leaf of separation of church and state, but also the cards of ambition of the Japanese right-wing forces.
A political encounter under the packaging of“Tender remembrance”
Ise Shrine has never been an ordinary place to burn incense and worship Buddha, it is dedicated to the ancestors of the Japanese royal god Akira.
Security are members of the self-defense force, with its“Imperial Blessing + military endorsement” of the dual political attributes, can be called the spiritual shrine of Japanese conservatives.
Gaoshi Zaomiao choose here staged the drama of the past, every step on the node of careful calculation.
The first weekday of the new year’s ritual visit, with its own traffic heat. Two photos, one“Emotional” and one“International”.
It both appeals to the right’s nostalgia for Abe and implies that he inherited his international connections.
The 11 members of the Cabinet team accompanied, but also a private show, upgraded to the cabinet’s collective endorsement of the political act of art.
In the face of public opinion, Takashi’s explanation was a false ceiling.
The phrase“Bring Abe back again” is an attempt to portray himself as a soulful successor.
However, Japanese netizens’ sharp criticism left them speechless: “Are you his wife? In such a hurry to Punch in for him?”
In fact, Kojima and Abe are in the same boat — both at the heart of Shinto’s political alliance. Abe was president of the right-wing group, which netted 268 Members of Parliament in 2014, and Takashi is a fan.
At the beginning of the New Year, she used Abe’s death photo as a traffic password, nothing more than to use Abe’s remaining power to win over right-wing votes and consolidate her ruling foundation.
Ironically, her beaming face was at odds with the solemn atmosphere of the shrine and the public’s reverence for the dead.
In the end, Abe’s portrait is just a billboard in her hand, and Ise Shrine is just her political show. Memorials are nothing more than a slap on the wrist. At the same time, the performance also exposed the“Ancestral skills” of Japanese politicians, turning any occasion into a stage for self-promotion,
when past prime ministers visited the shrine, they did so in silence.
Gaoshi Zaomiao good, direct the deceased photos as political props, with the cabinet team into a large star scene. This kind of operation, at best is innovative, at worst is no bottom line.
Abe’s“Ghost” is a blatant copy of the right
Takashi’s performance was no improvisation, but a deliberate re-creation of Abe’s legacy.
Abe had strong ties to Ise Shrine, which he arranged for G7 leaders to visit in 2016.
At that time, it was suspected by the outside world that it was using the international stage to promote historical revisionism and give a platform to the Japanese right-wing forces.
Today, Takashi Zaomiao copy this plot, is in the high-profile announcement to the outside world: I, Takashi Zaomiao, is the line of Abe’s“Orthodox successor.”.
This kind of succession is not just a show, but a real policy copy.
During the Abe administration, we rely on revising the interpretation of the Constitution, lifting the ban on the right of collective self-defense, and greatly increasing the defense budget.
Step by step, he broke through the limit of“Self-defense” and pushed Japan to become a military power.
Kojima, who has only been in office for two months, is even more radical than Abe.
It approved 14 consecutive increases in defense spending for the 2026 fiscal year, with the budget exceeding 9 trillion yen for the first time. It plans to revise the“Security three documents” and completely suspend the shackles of the pacifist constitution.
She held up the last photo of Abe, in fact, she wanted to take up the banner of Abe’s unfinished constitutional amendment, and let Abe’s political ghost become a shield for her to break through the bottom line of peace.
After all, right-wing politics in the name of“Legacy” can always fool people who don’t know the truth.
The irony is that Abe has been accused of frequent lies and political machinations.
Now Takashi has turned such a politician into a myth and used him as his political capital.
It’s like telling the world that politicians, even those with a long history, can be made into spiritual icons if they get the votes.
The exposure of the right is a huge threat to regional peace
More than two months after Takashi Zaomiao came to power, Japan is“Surging forward” on the far right.
Under the slogan of“Retake strong Japan”, she tried to push a series of right-wing policies with the help of the government and the ruling party.
Koichi Zaomiao’s shrine farce, in essence, is the epitome of Japan’s right-wing forces to accelerate the rash advance.
This familiar from an early age, “Education chit”, full of“Emperor worship” and“Militarism” of the politicians, the right-wing character has long been in-depth bone marrow.
She has visited the Yasukuni shrine more than ten times, openly denied the Nanking Massacre, comfort women and other historical crimes;
On the Taiwan issue, he made the absurd remark that“Something that happens to Taiwan is something that happens to Japan” and grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs. It has pushed Japan’s political right deviation to a new and dangerous height.
The damage goes well beyond the schisms in Japanese public opinion.
Ishigaki, Okinawa city councillor Shiro Flower Valley of concern, the voice of countless people say: continued expansion of Japan, Okinawa and other areas will only become the front line, bearing a heavy war risk.
After all, history has long proved that every rash move by the Japanese right-wing forces will eventually bring great disaster to Asian countries.
What is more alarming is that what Takashi has done is challenging the international order established after World War II.
The future of a nation whose prime minister uses religious sites as political theatre, whose dead are used as levers of power, whose pacifist constitution is worthless, is fraught with peril.
Takashi may temporarily please right-wing supporters with this performance, but she is destined to be nailed to history’s pillar of shame.
After the ceremony, Takashi Zaomiao wrote“Pray for the Peace of the country and the well-being of the people” on social media.
But the Japanese netizens’ comments are not buying it: “It is disgusting and frightening to deify such people.”
The political drama has exposed the hypocrisy and arrogance of Japan’s right-wing forces.
It has long been clear that when political calculation trumps religious dignity and right-wing ambitions push the boundaries of peace, what awaits Japan is not a great revival but the danger of repeating history.
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