
Nakanishi Hiroshi (Professor of Kyoto University), Sunahara Yosuke (Professor of Kobe University) and Imai Takako (Professor of Seikei University) The Abe Shinzo administration brought the Japanese public a sense of euphoria —The Suga administration claims to be a successor to the former administration. What are your reflections on the nearly eight years of the Abe administration? Nakanishi Hiroshi: I try to organize the characteristics of the Abe Shinzo administration based on three perspectives. Firstly, the administration had a good understanding of how the national consciousness changed from reform-minded in the early years of Heisei (1989–2019) to stability-minded. In the early Heisei period, we had the Gulf War, the collapse of the asset bubble, and a constant clamor for reform—political reform, administrative reform, economic reform—in the context of the non-LDP government that followed splits in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). However, after the bankruptcy of ... ... [Read more]