Foreigners in Japan Speak Out About Shinzo Abe’s Resignation

With Japan still in a state of shock over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s surprise resignation earlier this week, FTV went out on the street to ask foreigners in Japan for their reaction:

The foreigners (some of whom could only speak broken Japanese after living for many years in this country) mostly expressed disbelief at Abe’s actions. One Israeli guy said that the timing of the resignation, only shortly after Abe had formed a new cabinet, was quite unexpected. A German guy pointed out that politicians in his country serve out their elected terms, and a British woman thought it was pretty weak of Abe to quit like he did.

When asked about who the next Prime Minister would be, many of the foreigners mentioned former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who was once regarded by many as the likely front runner in the fight to take Abe’s place. An American man said that he believed Aso would probably be next in line, but he said that Japan’s next “President” would have a very difficult time trying to stay friendly with Washington with public support for Japanese military operations in Afghanistan/Iraq at such a low level. A South Korean man said that he thought either Tanizaki or Aso would be the next PM.

All of the foreigners seemed to have something good to say about one man: Junichiro Koizumi. They seemed to like his policies and his personalty far better than any of the folks currently running for the spot. A group of lawmakers, including many of the younger LDP members known as the “Koizumi Children” agree with this view, and they tried yesterday to convince their party to call on Koizumi to return and reclaim his former position. Unfortunately, Koizumi has told party leaders that he will definitely not enter the race, throwing his support behind Yasuo Fukuda (who has replaced Aso as the front runner in the eyes of most observers).