Talk:Shinzo Abe

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Contents

[edit] Picture?

What are you, registered users, doing? Nobody needs to tell you that your Infobox image (Image:Shinzo Abe Sept. 8, 2007 cropped.jpg) for PM Shinzo Abe is not appropriate! What is a Japanese PM doing in front of British Flag? Please, replace the image asap with an image with better background, perhaps with Japanese flag in the background. Nihonjin2 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nihonjin2 (talk • contribs) 07:14, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

It makes sense that as Mr. Abe is the new prime minister of Japan we put up a more updated picture, but isn't the Image:Shinzo Abe.jpg picture much more "official" looking? Should we not put that one on the article instead? Chef Ketone 23:09, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

  • I put a variation of that exact photo Nubbie44 01:26, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
  • A copyright violation. Wikipeda should use free media where it has it.--Peta 01:28, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
  • Ya happy now? Nubbie44 01:34, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
    • No. We have free alteratives, there is no rationale for fair use in that case, wee WP:FUC. --Peta 01:37, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
      • Listen the picture your using now looks AWFUL--Nubbie44 01:38, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
        • Yes, it's awful. Maybe we should remove it, but please don't replace it with some image taken from another website without ascertaining the copyright status. -- PFHLai 03:58, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
    • Oh so it's a copyright violation...I had seen no reason why it was taken off. Now that makes sense. Thanks for the info, Peta. Chef Ketone 01:48, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
      • No that it was not, seriously from the governments website, what do you think, just use some common sense. Nubbie44 01:51, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
        • That depends on which government. In the US, federal government ? That's PD. State governments ? That varies from state to state. The copyright laws are also different from country to country. -- PFHLai 03:58, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Erm, what is that in his hand :S Jackpot Den 16:45, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Political leanings

I'm a bit wary of the attempt to pigeonhole Abe's ideology in the "Possible Prime Minister" section. For instance, the differences between Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso is more about style rather than substance. Now, the blog to which the citation links thinks otherwise, but I'm a bit wary of relying on such sources for Wikipedia entries. I'd say Abe's thinking is certainly right-wing, and definitely closer to Aso's than to Taku Yamasaki's (please see: [1]). Yamasaki definitely takes a softer line than Abe and Aso on FP issues, especially with his recent trips to Asian countries. But I'm not sure if it's also worth mentioning him as a leading candidate to replace Koizumi - for one, he's off the radar in most opinion pools. In all, I think this section needs a little re-write with more sources noted. I'll try working on that when I get the chance. Tettyan 02:35, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Possible Prime Minister

Wikipedia is a not news site nor is it a soapbox. Therefore, it is our opinion that current events should not be included within this column. If you really want to write about Abe's foreign policy, you should refer not only to current events but also the historical context. In other words, let's not include every single daily press release he makes. As of now, most of the section entitled "Possible Prime Minister" refers to the preceding day. Gegesongs 15:51, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

What can be said with accuracy is that Shinzo Abe is a conservative Japanese politician.

[edit] Possible Prime Minister

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is the front-runner to become Japan's next prime minister. His attitude toward Yasukuni shrine is an important issue because its relation to japanese foreign policy. ANY source including news article can be used to mention this.

'Abe's visit to yasukuni' FACT

'Criticisms from China and Korea' FACT

They are FACTS from the news article.

There are numerous Wikipedia articles use news article as a reference. I think keep deleting contents because they are from news article is nonsense.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gegesongs"

Huh? I agree with your assertion that "Yasukuni issue is important". But the issue is a current event. If you continue to write the issue which is related to Abe and Yasukuni, this article is nothing but the issue of Yasukuni. I must say that over and over again. Wikipedia is NOT news site. Gegesongs 17:33, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

What is your definition of 'current event'? Do you think yasukuni should not be mentioned because it is a current event? Or is there another reason? Why you keep deleting whole contents related to Yasukuni? Do you think it is not worth to be mentioned? --Crmtm 22:20, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

You are so weak reader. Please read my post again. Do you want write this article specialized article for Yasukuni? [2]
Wikipedia is not news site and soapbox. We should not write current event. If you really want to write Abe's foreign policy, you should refer only to not current event but fact of the past. Do we write every daily press release? Of course NOT. Now, most of this article "Possible Prime Minister" refer to the nearest preceding day.
I agree with your assertion that "Yasukuni issue is important". But the issue is a current event. If you continue to write the issue which is related to Abe and Yasukuni, this article is nothing but the issue of Yasukuni. I must say that over and over again. Wikipedia is NOT news site.
I know what you mean, but Wikipedia is not soapbox of Chinese and Korean. If you are a functional adult, you had better listen to what someone says. Do you want Wikipedia to be a soapbox, huh? Gegesongs 14:29, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
It is very unlikely that Shinzo Abe will not visiting Yasukuni Shrine if he becomes the Prime Minister, considering that his maternal grandmother was one of the Class-A war criminals who were enshrined there (the one who later became a Prime Minister.) So, if Abe does become the Prime Minister, the relations between Japan and China/South Korea will most likely not improve and remain in a stalemate for some time. ktchong 9 August 2006 (UTC)
Calm down everyone! Wikipedia is neither a news site nor a soapbox, but if there is relevent information regarding the individual in the biography, it should be noted. Yasukuni is a poltical issue, and as a politician, Abe's position on Yasukuni is definitely relelvant to his biography. ktchong, I don't want to get too involved in this discussion, but I want to correct some factual accuracies in your note. Abe's grandfather (Nobusuke Kishi) was arrrested by the Americans as an accused Class-A war criminal, but he never stood trial for this charge, and was released after the end of the American occupation. Therefore, Kishi is not a Class-A war criminal. He also is not enshrined at Yasukuni, as he did not die as a war victim (in addition to those soldiers who actually died in war, the only others enshrined there are the 14 convicted Class-A war criminals who were excecuted by the Americans, as Yasukuni considers them to be "war victims". Regards, Tettyan 06:13, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
Seeing as Abe has been chosen (as of today) to be Japan's new prime minister, his stance on these issues certaintly seems relevant to his article. Note that George_W._Bush's article contains information about his foreign policy. So as Abe begins to state his goals and policies (his term will begin on the 30th) the article should be updated to reflect these facts. That said, it is important to keep the article factual and without opinion. - PhoenixPinion 18:12, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Possible Vandalism

I just deleted 'Uniquely among senior Japanese politicians, he was born with a small vestigial tail.'. This may be entirely true, but there is no citation and I couldn't find anything about it in a quick google search. Without a cite, I think it's better to remove and consider it vandalism then let it rest, as it is more or less useless. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.136.112.197 (talk • contribs) 2006-08-10T10:49:42.

Your anti-vestigial-tail POV-pushing has no place on this article. I've reverted your vandalism and am adding Shinzo Abe to the "People born with vestigial tails" category. You have no right to deny readers access to this vital bit of information about a potential world leader. --Wclark 19:06, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
I actually totally support vestigial tail people and think they make the best leaders. But I agree this 'fact' had to go because it is completely unsourced. Claiming someone was born with a vestigial tail when they were not is highly offensive to the vestigial tail community and dilutes their rightful claim to superiority! :-P Nil Einne 20:35, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

THere is some serious vandalism in this article - mr rat and mr fat? wtf? somebody wake up hicks

I'm taking out "daughter of suspected Class A war criminal Nobusuke Kishi " and replacing it with "daughter of Nobusuke Kishi," because I do not see any citations concerning it. Devon.underwood (talk) 21:21, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Faction section

Information from Japanese Wikipedia Fg2 06:13, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

I wonder if the topics that were written in this section, Response to mass media, are appropriate topics to be reported or not.
This is tricky article because the original news is said that the scoop had been fabricated by Mr. Honda who is the writer of Asahi-Shinbun, therefore I think this article is written for the purpose to do negative campaign against Mr. Abe.
There is wrong information in the original news. And Mr.Honda has not able to show the evidence about his report. In the fact, Asahi-Shinbun has been saying only just, "We believe him." There is the evidence that tells the news could be fabricatedby Mr.Honeda. The date when Mr. Honda reported Mr. Nakagawa had met with the manager of NHK was wrong. Mr. Nakagawa confirmed his schedules and announced it. Mr. Nakagawa said that the date of the meeting with the manager had been held two days later from the program had gone to the on air.

And the news about what Tokyo Broadcasting System(TBS) did is not Mr. Abe's problem
but TBS. If you read the article you will see it. There are not any relation, critiques or facts based on Mr. Abe's political activities in the news that TBS originally reported . Therefore, Mr. Abe and audience naturally think that TBS has used Mr. Abe's image as subliminal on purpose.

I think that the original events have been created by anti Mr. Abe group to contribute their convenient news to public like Wikipedia or correspondents from another countries. Actually, in the section of Asahi Shimbun and Tokyo Broadcasting System of the Wikipedia English, there are no information that relate to this. Why we can see these news information in Shinzo Abe section only? by rika at January 04, 2007

Do any registered users also agree it's a good idea to remove the following sentence from the faction section?: "Mr. Abe visited China and South Korea shortly after took office." What does this have to do with factions? In my opinion, nothing whatsoever, but since I'm unregistered I'll leave it up to you. Thanks 210.20.86.85 13:22, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Removed comparison with US

Advisors in the United States are part of the Executive Office of the President and not part of the Cabinet.

[edit] Grammar & Spelling

Section 2.2 has various grammar and spelling errors. Maybe a cleanup tag shoud be added? (Or, if anyone wants to take a look.) aenariel 09:23, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] On the Kono statement

One particular issue I believe should be made clear in this article is the fact Prime minister Abe's endorsement of the Kono statement does not necessarily imply the revision of his opinion regarding the issue of comfort women, for he has made clear he distinguished between two different kinds of coercion: coercion in the narrow sense of the word, or the use of force by the Japanese Government to recruit young women for comfort stations, and coercion in the broad sense of the world, which implies women often resorted to prostitution due to environmental factors, like poverty. With this in mind, Abe supports the Kono statment and believes Japan should apologize for having created a situation in which women often had to sacrifice themselves as prostitutes to support their families, but believes there is no evidence of coercion in the narrow sense of the word. -- Ishikawa Minoru 23:15, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

How much do you want to narrow it down? 簡単な言い訳です。--LordofHavoc 18:51, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't quite understand what you mean by "narrowing it down".
Based on my understanding of the Prime minister's comments over the past years, the present article presents its readers with innacurate information when it claims Abe's public endorsement of the Kono statement marked a departure from his previously held beliefs.
I would have changed this myself, but at the moment I can't quite find an aesthetically appealing way of doing so. In my opinion, the article should be edited in such a manner as to allow Mr.Abe's 1997 and 2006 comments to follow from a brief summary of the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform's stance and purpose, though I am not quite sure how this can be accomplished, in definite, pragmatic terms. -- Ishikawa Minoru 20:58, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Textbook Revision

I was just wondering if I could get some clarification on an internal inconsistency in the article. Did Abe "lead" the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform as stated in one section or "support" this organization. My understanding is that Abe was not stated as a member of the actual committee, though he supported their viewpoints. Can anyone show some proof that he was a member? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.54.100.103 (talk) 01:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC).

[edit] 2007 election

There is an election going right now in Japan where Abe is running to keep his job. This fact and the issues involved in the election I think should be put into the article. So far the biggest things that are discussed in this election is the mismanagement of the pension system, amending the constitution to allow non self defense military action, a family values class in schools and extending school hours. There is also a lot of talk about the high number of Cabinet apointees that have resigned after some sort of scandal as this comes very early in his administration. One Cabinet member even commited suicide. One Cabinet member that everyone thought would have to resign after making what many are calling an insensitive remark about women did not after all resign but another that repeated the remark of an American about the Atomic Bomb did. I am sure someone more qualified then me will be able to gather the proper sources so this information can be added to the aticle.--Billiot 03:00, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Religion

I added Buddhism in infoboxes of recent four prime ministers of Japan, Keizo Obuchi, Yoshiro Mori, Junichiro Koizumi, Shinzo Abe. Their families (and Obuchi himself) was buried in the Buddhist style. Their visits to shrines, such as Yasukuni, don't mean that their religious affiliations are only Shinto. Amagase 07:31, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

I think we should remove both Buddhism and Shinto. Does anyone have any reliable source to back up the claim that his religion is buddhism and shinto? That their families are buried in the buddhist temple doesn't make him buddhist, just as, say, if the couple is married in the Christian church doesn't make them Christians. -- Taku 12:32, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Most of Japanese believe both Shinto and Buddhism, as enrolled faithfuls. They are not in relation "either/or". See articles about both religions. In this case, both should be remarked. --Aphaia 08:25, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Okay, I agree that most do and this most would "most likely" include him. (I noticed that Japan says "Around 84% of Japanese people profess to believe both Shinto (the indigenous religion of Japan) and Buddhism.") So, I am now less sure about what should be done, but I still think we have to be careful in this kind of classification matter. I know we frequently assume, say, when we write some article on a Japanese person, the person has Japanese citizenship, as we assume he is Japanese. But since the personal view of the leader of the country (he is no longer one though) has such a significant implication, we shouldn't make such quick assumptions. I revise my proposal a bit. Until we found reliable sources on Shinzo's religion, we should put "unknown", "unclassified" or something as his religion. (and do the similar for other prime ministers articles). It is almost certain (again not-so-careful assumption) that he is not an atheists or even agnosticist either, but saying even that would be problematic. -- Taku 09:09, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
His commitment is obvious and public. As for Shinto, he visited Ise Shrine for prayer (photo provided by Abe Shinzo Office website (beta)) and the General Secreatry of "Shinto Politics Association", Shinto faithful lawmakers (list). Perhaps only LDP people join this association and it doesn't mean people who don't join it is not a Shinto believer, but anyway he publishes his commitement quite visibly.
As for Buddhism, his position is obvious from http://press.jodo.or.jp/press/2003/03/news.html: according to this page, he was the Excecutive Secretary of a certain Buddhist sect faithful lawmakers. While there seems to be no published list, we have no reason he left this association. --Aphaia 01:59, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
If we are sure (i.e., have sources backing up the claim), then I don't have any problem. Thanks for finding them, though. -- Taku 23:08, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
He's married to a woman who's probably Catholic, which could mean that he's that. We can't really assume. The Pope kiss the Qu'ran, that doesn't make him Muslim. Therequiembellishere 23:24, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
In Japan, Therequiembellishere, many Catholics marry non-Catholics. His wife's religion is her, not necessarily him. --Aphaia 01:39, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
I didn't know the Roman Catholic Church allowed that. o.O Therequiembellishere 02:24, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image

Isn't the main image wrong? It looks nowhere like Shinzo Abe. Can someone please rectify? --122.162.68.105 11:36, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. --122.162.68.105 11:36, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

It's Pat Morita. Mstislava 11:40, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

the image is way wrong. it brings a laugh at least- anon

it was a picture of miyagi-san, an unfortunate vandalism incidence. Klael 11:56, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GAC?

This seems like a pretty complete, well sourced article.... When the resignation thing settles down, it should probably be taken to GAC.--SidiLemine 15:08, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shortest duration?

If he was prime minster for the shortest amount of time, it's worth mentioning that in the intro right after the sentence about his resignation. Was he? Tempshill 22:45, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh, God, no. They have been much shorter PMs, not including PMs ad interim. Therequiembellishere 23:42, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
And one more point. He stated he would be to resign, but not yet. Legally he is still in the office, even if he is in a hospital and completely a lame duck for now. --Aphaia 11:23, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Health

Apparently Abe has been having some health problems, this is something that might want to be added to the article:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/13/abe.hospital/index.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.52.215.67 (talk) 20:13, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Or much latest Chief Cabinet Secretary comment: [3]. Yosano said on 12th (yesterday) Abe has been having some health problems, not mentioning what it is, and his health has been in a "severe condition" since his trip to Asia countries. --Aphaia 10:12, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Suicide hoax

So the "suicide", about which someone wrote here, was just a troll, am I right? Shinzo Abe is alive? --192.194.238.242 09:54, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Hospitalized due to exhaustion, but otherwise, yes. I blocked the individual behind the misiformation for a week and undid all their edits. El_C 10:01, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cabinets table

The articles for Junichiro Koizumi as well as Yasuo Fukuda have these tables as well. I think they add a good deal to the article, but the font is too big and the tables are a bit obtrustive. Does anyone know enough about wikitables to be able to shrink the font down a bit, as in Yoshiro Mori? -- Exitmoose 02:29, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image

Does nobody have a picture that doesn't have the wrong country's flag behind his head? 78.150.28.208 (talk) 14:12, 18 May 2008 (UTC)