About

Shinzo Abe (Japanese: 安倍晋三, Abe Shinzō) was a Japanese politician who served as the 63rd Prime Minister of Japan between December 2012 and September 2020, making him the longest-serving Prime Minister in post-war Japan.^[1] Online he has appeared as a figure in several memes and is the subject of a running gag in which he is using anime as a propaganda tool to combat Japan's declining birth rate. In early July 2022, Abe was assassinated by a suspected lone gunman. Following the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in mid-July 2024, memes about Shinzo Abe saving Trump then spread online, seeing a resurgence in November of that year after he won the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.

History

Abe was born on September 21st, 1954, and was first elected Prime Minister in September of 2006, making him the youngest Prime Minister in Japanese history, however, he resigned one year later for health reasons. Five years later on September 26th, 2012, he defeated former Minister of Defense Shigeru Ishiba for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency and became Japan's prime minister after the Party won in the 2012 election. He was re-elected in the 2014 general election, retaining his two-thirds majority with coalition partner Komeito, and again in the 2017 general election.

On August 28th, 2020, Abe announced he would resign as the prime minister due to health reasons again. He completed his role on September 16th because Yorinori Suga, who became the new LDP president following Abe's retirement, took over the PM's post.

Assassination

On July 8th, 2022, Shinzo Abe was shot at twice while giving a speech in the southern city of Nara, Japan. Abe, 67, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with a bullet wound in his neck and subcutaneous bleeding in his torso. Abe was pronounced dead several hours later at the hospital.

The suspected shooter, a 41-year-old Japanese man identified as Nara resident Tetsuya Yaganami, was apprehended at the crime scene. The suspected shooter reportedly carried a handmade shotgun.

Reputation

Abe is considered conservative and a right-wing nationalist. He is a member of the revisionist Nippon Kaigi. Of note, Abe denies the role of government coercion in the recruitment of "comfort women" during World War II, which has created tension with neighboring South Korea. Abe is known internationally for his government's economic policies, nicknamed Abenomics.

Online Presence

Abe Shinzo has over 1.08 million followers on Twitter[2] and 136,000 likes on Facebook[3].

Related Memes

2016 Olympics

During the 2016 Olympics, in keeping with the custom, the closing ceremony also featured a special presentation by Tokyo, the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics. During the presentation, Abe jumped out of a warp pipe in the costume of Nintendo's iconic video game character Mario, along with a video presentation of other well-known characters that are universally recognized as emblematic of the Japanese pop culture, such as Captain Tsubasa, Doraemon, Pac-Man and Hello Kitty (shown below).

Donald Trump Feeding Koi Fish

Donald Trump Feeding Koi Fish refers to viral photographs and video of the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump dumping fish food into a koi pond during his visit with Shinzō Abe in Japan. After many accused Trump of impatiently discarding the food, others pointed out that video footage revealed Abe had tossed the contents of his food box first. On November 5th, 2017, The Daily Caller White House correspondent Alex Pfeiffer tweeted a photograph of President Donald Trump dumping the contents of a box of fish food into a koi pond while meeting with Abe. That evening, many accused Trump of impatiently throwing the food into the pond, instead of carefully spooning it out (shown below).

Shinzo Abe vs. Japan's Declining Birthrate

Japan has seen a declining birthrate and population in recent years,^[4] which has been blamed on young people in Japan being uninterested in having sex. However, due to sexual content in many anime, including shows like Darling in the Franxx whose plots seem to encourage procreation, people have joked that Abe is using anime to encourage Japanese young people to have sex and start families. These are particularly popular on Tumblr. For example, Tumblr user justintaco posted a photoshopped image of Abe superimposed on a screenshot of Darling in the Franxx, gaining over 36,000 notes (shown below, left). User freyjaofthenorth made a similar post about the anime Conception, gaining over 2,900 notes (shown below, right). There is also a mock Tumblr^[5] for Shinzo Abe devoted to this joke.

Often, jokes about Shinzo Abe are expressed in an Imma Keep It Real With U Chief parody related to various sexual anime, with the text reading "Imma keep it real with u Shinzo Abe, this will not stop Japan's declining birthrate (shown below).

Shinzo Abe Saved Donald Trump

Shinzo Abe Saved Donald Trump refers to a series of memes that imagine former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, saving U.S. presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump during his failed assassination attempt in mid-July 2024. The format is based on a friendly relationship established between the two during Trump's presidency and imagines Abe's spirit protecting Trump from the gunman's bullet.

Search Interest

External References