I knew he was in trouble but was never clear on why. What's the problem?
.............
Last July, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost its majority control of the Diet's upper chamber. This severe beating came on the heels of several scandals, the most serious of which probably being the revelation of Tokyo's gross mismanagement of the Japanese pension system (Unbelievable bureaucratic bumbling -lost records of millions, etc).
No doubt, there are other contributing factors as well.
Abe is an interesting case study of early 21st century ideological banality: in 2006 he ran on a sort of 'be proud of Japan' ticket; roughly analogous to the Reaganite "morning in America" campaign.
In style terms, this meant less apologizing for Japan's mid 20th century aggression and atrocities and more Yasakuni shrine photo-ops.
Only a few months ago he insisted that LDP losses aside, he wasn't budging from the big seat. Perhaps he believed that nationalist appeals would smooth over any and all problems.
Apparently not.
.d.