Akie Abe the wife of Shinzo Abe the current Prime Minister of Japan doesn't agree with her husbands world view on a whole host of issues. Does this mean he'll deny her existence, pretend she's not there, revise her beliefs to fit his or just banish her to the Senkaku islands living out her life in exile.
Did Japan elect the wrong Abe? The country’s more liberal-minded voters could be forgiven for thinking so.Japan’s first lady, Akie Abe, has emerged as an unlikely progressive voice even as her husband, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, pushes increased military spending, a post-Fukushima nuclear restart, and unpopular tax rises.
She opposes a return to nuclear power, preferring instead to explore the potential of renewable sources of energy. While Mr. Abe’s political allies enraged South Korea by denying Japan had forced tens of thousands of young, mainly Korean, women to work as sex slaves before and during World War II, Mrs. Abe has spoken of her love of South Korean TV dramas and cuisine.
She even dipped her toes into the murky waters of the economy, questioning the need for last month’s rise in the sales tax – an unpopular move that her husband says is Japan’s last chance to tackle its enormous public debt and rising social security costs.
Last weekend, Mrs. Abe burnished her liberal credentials with an unexpected appearance at Tokyo’s Rainbow Pride parade in support of LGBT rights. Later, she wrote on her Facebook page that she had taken an interest in gay and transgender issues since joining a commission set up by UNAIDS and the Lancet medical journal last year.
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