politics

Abe's wife says she is anti-nuclear

41 Comments

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Hey, I would vote for her if I were Japanese. She strikes to me that she is very level headed and intelligent. Mr.& Mrs. Abe are bonded very well without kids. She must be a good hearted person. I really like her.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

last time she advised him to retire bu he said not yet, Is his health ok or not too well? She probably wants him to retire for his health sake. Herr father was the president of Morinaga, sweet goody goody company. She can become exexutive there while working anti nuclear movement.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I hope her self-assertiveness becomes a good advice for Prime.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This is Japan, not Korea or USA. Only way Japanese women can influence Japanese poltics is the wife or daughter of powerful man speak up. There are many cases in Japanese history after WW II.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

riiiiiiight, because Japanese women married into royalty are allowed to speak their own minds in public. Nice try.

However what's absolutely amazing is most of the Japanese population will believe it even though everyone knows it's just tatemae. It's interesting concept of self deception. Like men visting kyabakura thinking those young women really think they all are sugoi.

Really interesting country.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Sengoku38 - Nice twist of a viewpoint. So, in one or two hundred years when your offspring are living in an irradiated world due to overflowing nuclear waste dumps your twisted point of view will seem very insignificant. Yeah, lives have been saved 'indirectly' by nuclear power, but how many hundreds of millions are gonna suffer from it in the future. Current waste storage methods are only good for two to three hundred years, but the waste can stay radioactive for over a thousand years. Development of nuclear power needs to be stopped, simply because of the insufficient methods of storing the waste. Yeah, the newer technologies produce reusable waste, but it still has to be stored. Japan's answer is to bury it. Or, should we say, sweep it under the carpet? The US just keeps moving it around and/or dropping it into the deep ocean. It has to stop for the sake of future generations. I guess people just ignore the anti-nuclear warnings and demonstrations over the last 40 odd years. Clearly, economics speak louder than common sense.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

well ever one is free to say anything in Japan

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well Abe, s Wife has the Magic thing no other has, She is married To The boss .I wonder what would happen if she asked Him wether it was More Important to use Nuclear Energy, Than to Sleep With and Be looked after By her. Wether this would Change his mind It would Test all of His politic skills With his answer to Her, If he Loves her a Nuclear free world would be great.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

She just connected nuclear energy with atomic bomb.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Akie is perhaps the coolest ever Japanese First Lady.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

she has no control over policy, so does this even matter? I wonder what Abe's mother thinks too. She probably has more power than his wife. This article is so thought provoking wow!

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Yogi Zuna

@knight of Honour, have you ever heard of the sun, the wind, the waves, and geothermal energy?

Yogi Zuna, have you ever heard of despatchable energy?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

What does it matter what she thinks about nuclear power anymore than any of our wives think about nuclear power? Nothing at all.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

It is to note that Japanese women can have their opinion outside the kitchen cabnet.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Nuclear is renewable energy. You reprocess fuel and there are enough proven reserves for 1000 years of pollution-free energy for the world. A recent study has shown that nuclear power has already saved an estimated 1.8 million lives. To say you are against that is like saying you support genocide or murder.

see http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2013/06/03/3772092.htm

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

Abe needs to heed to his wife's opinion on this topic for sure. As if we need to repeat the obvious, we do not need more "Fukushimas" around the world.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

I feel bad that Japan is trying to sell nuclear power plants overseas

It is a crime to sell arms to developing nations, but selling nuclear power to undeveloped nations is not? Which is more dangerous? Giving them a few guns and a couple of missiles or giving them the power to destroy half of their country and any neighboring ones caught in the fallout of a disaster similar to Fukushima? Japan, a so-called 'developed nation', clearly showed what can happen when nuclear power is mismanaged. Luckily, they had the resources to control it although, they are still battling to control it. Now, they want to sell it to countries with even less development? I completely agree that Japan should not be peddling nuclear power internationally and should be showing the world how well renewables work.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Good for you, Akie! Good for you!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Good cop, bad cop tactics. Nothing else.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The public will fall for that hook line and sinker: "Sorry, we need nuclear power, but oh look, my wife doesn't like it. We're really just like you..."

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Good for her. She is expressing her opinions, and in this matter she is not unclear.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

ouch for Abe, but good for her

3 ( +4 / -1 )

All but two of Japan’s 50 viable reactors remain shuttered amid public nervousness over safety in an industry widely seen as overly-cozy with government and regulators.

Doesnt this scare anyone? I mean if they are truly "shuttered" as JT factually puts here then that means that no one is watching over them.

Now if we could just get the PM's office shuttered we'd really be in business!

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

I think Japan should get a divorce from Abe

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Abe's wife says she is anti-nuclear

could that be a legitimate reason for abe to get a divorce?

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Solar energy development some Japan Inc have been successful in USA?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

@knight of Honour, have you ever heard of the sun, the wind, the waves, and geothermal energy?

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Japan must use nuclear power or stop using electricity because they do not have the capability of producing enough power any other way unless they want to import coal from China. The prime Minister's wife and many others in Japan just can't get that through their heads.

-2 ( +4 / -5 )

My old iphone would make a better PM than Abe, but at least his wife has the guts to disagree with Abe. His approach so far has been to create political fads that the sheep quickly latch onto like any other trend in Japan. But if you scratch the surface there is very little below. No long term vision, no structural changes, no real measures to take care of the people of the country.

Perhaps he does not practice what he believes, truly. But there is very little indication that he is practicing anything of any substance at all, other than leveraging the national wish for economic optimism to temporarily boost the economy and put the burden of that boost squarely on the backs of every working class soul here.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

...she said in a closed-door speech at an event organized by a non-profit group that supports farming communities.

...she said, footage posted on the website of the organizer showed.

Someone doesn't know what "closed door" means if the speech was later posted on a website...

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Election ploy. Her views will not influence policy one iota. If he wins landslide for Upper House, the nukes are going back on in Japan and are going to be sold to anyone who will buy them.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

My wife is pro-nuclear.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Sounds like she would make a better PM than her husband!

3 ( +7 / -4 )

JUST an FYI: What a politicain does for the good of their country, self gain, or for their party often has NOTHING to do with their personal views.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was AGAINST legalizing gay marriage in Calofirina even though he was for gay marriage. He married two gay coleouges in his office while he was governor.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I ALREADY SAID that Abe is a genious

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

OK, so make her prime minister then! Agree with MarkX, though.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

She should stop his daily lunch money until he comes to her way of thinking.

16 ( +17 / -1 )

Since nuclear business is related to j-economy it would be interesting to hear her opinion on Abenomics as well.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

This sounds like an election ploy. Of course, she is anti-nuclear, it looks good and plays well with women voters, but she has no power over her husband who is hell bent on exporting the technology, and getting the current reactors up and running. Sorry for being such a cynic, but that is the way i feel these days.

17 ( +20 / -4 )

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