Political Correspondent Disgusted by “Two Deputies Hustling Behind Cabinet Reshuffle”

The unprecedented assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe occurred on July 8, 2022, during a speech in support of the Upper House election. The death of the leader of the largest faction of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who once led a “one-power” government, triggered the deceptive spirits of the mountains and rivers in Nagatacho. Among them, the following two people were so excited that the political reporters were taken aback.

Case 1: Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi (61)

At the time of the incident, Foreign Minister Hayashi was visiting Indonesia to attend a G20 meeting . A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official reveals how Mr. Hayashi appeared when he was informed of the shooting by international telephone.

Mr. Hayashi was clearly sober. It was an important diplomatic meeting, but he didn’t seem to be grounded at all. Later, when he was informed that Mr. Abe had passed away, …… what can I say, he had a very sunny expression on his face. He even seemed to have a wisp of a smile on his face.”

Mr. Hayashi always told people that Mr. Abe, whose hometown is also in Yamaguchi Prefecture, was a ” bump on the eye. The death of a powerful rival is sad, but it is also an opportunity.

Before Abe’s death, Mr. Hayashi was trending as a “#honeytrap” thanks to a tweet by Ikawa Yoshitaka, former chairman of Daio Paper Corporation, who said, “Mr. Hayashi is probably caught in a Chinese honey trap. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ protest to China when China launched a ballistic missile on August 4 came too late, and the Chinese ambassador to Japan did not respond to the call, resulting in a poor phone call protest, all of which were “partly due to Hayashi’s failure to get approval,” according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official. The Foreign Ministry staff sees this as “one of the reasons why Mr. Lin’s approval was not forthcoming.

Case 2: Yasutoshi Nishimura, 59, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry

Yasutoshi Nishimura, then secretary general of the Abe faction (Seiwa-kai), rushed to Nara Prefecture as soon as he learned that former Prime Minister Abe had been shot.

Mr. Nishimura is not afraid to call himself “Mr. Abe’s closest aide. He must have thought he had no choice but to go. In reality, however, Mr. Abe’s evaluation of Nishimura was probably not that high. In fact, my perception is that he is a person who disturbs the harmony of the Seiwa-kai with his outbursts of this kind.

Speaking of Mr. Nishimura, it is still fresh in our minds that his ” World Beauty Book,” a compilation of photos of women taken in various countries around the world on his official website, and his self-loving book, “Death Battle with Corona,” caused a firestorm.

Tatsuo Fukuda (55, then chairman of the General Affairs Committee), who was aware of Nishimura’s trip to Nara, contacted Tadamichi Tanose, 48, a local representative from Nara, to prevent Nishimura from becoming “Hideyoshi after Nobunaga was killed at Honnoji Temple. He rushed him to the hospital and prevented Mr. Nishimura from being the first to arrive.

Still, Nishimura did not give up, and the next day he drove the car carrying Abe’s body in his “Nishimura Wagon,” as he is known. When he arrived at his home in Tomigaya, Tokyo, he took charge of the mourners, leaving Akie, 60, and other family members in charge, as previously reported in this magazine. A friend of Abe’s who visited the memorial service described Nishimura’s condition at that time.

He was desperate to appeal to the influential people in the political and business world who attended. On the other hand, he was oblivious to “mere friends” like us. It seemed to me that he was just taking advantage of the opportunity to offer his condolences.

Perhaps in an attempt to keep the bereaved family in the loop, Mr. Nishimura arbitrarily distributed a letter stating that he would not accept condolences from anyone, even from Seiwa-kai members. This drew a great deal of criticism from within the LDP, especially from members of the Seiwa-kai. Later, at the wake and funeral held at Zojoji Temple, he sat with Abe’s relatives, and some of his relatives were unable to sit in the chairs.

A local supporter who has known the Abe-Kishi family for a long time said.

Nishimura is the son-in-law of the late former local government minister, Noboru Suita, who hails from Yamaguchi Prefecture. Mr. Suita was a close associate of former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, who served as his secretary. After Mr. Kishi’s death, however, Mr. Suita claimed to have been ‘nominated as his successor’ and took over Mr. Kishi’s ground, uprooting his campaign funds and supporters’ association, among other things. This move is really similar to his father-in-law Suita. He is shunned by the Abe and Kishi families, especially by Yoko Abe.”

During the Upper House election, a supporter of the Abe family confided to this magazine that when Mr. Nishimura went to a speech in support of Masashi Adachi (62, Yamaguchi Prefecture), a member of the upper house of the Diet, he said, “There is no more Abe in Yamaguchi.

There are no more Abe, Kishi, or Sato in Yamaguchi!

This comment was immediately conveyed to those involved, causing outrage and resentment. Now that the huge weight of Shinzo Abe has been lifted, Hayashi and Nishimura, as well as others who had been held down, are beginning to stir. One wonders what Mr. Abe sees behind the grassy knoll of the LDP’s lack of coherence and the Seiwa-kai’s dismal state of affairs.