The tragedy of Shinzo Abe’s narrow-minded nationalism

In his new year resolutions, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised that Japan would play a greater role as a mover and shaper of global affairs. But there is a tragic contradiction between his narrow view of the world and a global vision.

Successive Japanese governments, including the current one, have certainly fallen asleep in projecting any sort of world view.

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Where is the Japanese voice at big international gatherings, including the UN, International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and ministerial gatherings of the various global bodies, especially the G7?

Abe himself has helped to raise the country’s profile by his tireless travelling to meet other world leaders and promote Japan. But he is a one-man band.

At the IMF and World Bank, where Japan remains the second-biggest shareholder after the US, Japan fails to make its voice heard. The main players are US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Germany’s Wolfgang Schaeuble, the UK’s George Osborne, publicly, and China behind the scenes. Taro Aso, Japan’s finance minister, has the additional clout of being deputy prime minister and a former prime minister, but rarely speaks except to the tame Japanese press.

At the IMF/World Bank spring meetings last year, Japan hosted an important meeting on health care. Aso was the guest of honour. He turned up late, after the main presentations, sat for a couple of minutes, read a short speech in faltering English and swept out with his entourage; for a putative global power, this was a shabby performance.