Tomohiko Taniguchi, special adviser to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said Abe was “one of the most transformative leaders” in Japan. The former prime minister was assassinated during a speech on Friday (8).
“I think it will be the equivalent of the day of the JFK assassination [John F. Kennedy]… It was a day of sadness, pain, disbelief and, for me, tremendous anger. People are finding it very difficult to digest reality. I think this is a very isolated event conducted by a very isolated person. However, this isolated incident killed one of the most transformative leaders in Japanese history,” he said.
He remembered Abe as a kind man and someone who wanted to move Japan forward.
“He and Mrs. Abe did not have a child of his own, and he wanted to bring Japan to the younger generations as a prosperous, future-oriented country,” he said.
“Once you were friends with him, you had a friend for life,” he added.
Taniguchi was Abe’s adviser from 2013 to 2014 and wrote foreign policy speeches for the former leader.
“I would love to see its lasting legacy, because there are very few options available to Japan. It is a maritime nation and is situated on the periphery of a huge landmass that is being dominated by three nuclear-powered nations — Russia, North Korea, China — none of which are democratic. So Japan badly needs alliance partners like the United States, which Shinzo Abe has put a lot of effort into doing,” he added.
Source: CNN Brasil
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