Shintarō Abe

Shintaro Abe (安倍 晋太郎, Abe Shintarō) was born on April 29, 1926, in Tokyo, Japan. He was the only child of Kan Abe, a politician and member of Parliament. After his birth, he was raised primarily in Yamaguchi Prefecture, his father's home region. His mother was the daughter of an army general.

During World War II, Abe graduated from high school in 1944 and subsequently entered a naval aviation school with the intention of becoming a kamikaze pilot. However, the end of the war prevented him from completing training. In 1949, he graduated from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Law.

Following his graduation, Abe began his professional career as a political reporter for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. In 1956, he officially entered politics by working as a legislative aide for his father-in-law, Nobusuke Kishi, who was serving as Japan's foreign minister at the time. When Kishi became Prime Minister in 1957, Abe became an aide to the Prime Minister as well.

Abe was elected to the House of Representatives in 1958, winning a seat previously held by his father. He became a leading figure within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), leading the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai faction, a conservative political group. He inherited leadership of this faction from former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda in July 1986.

Throughout his political career, Abe held several ministerial positions, including Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and Minister of International Trade and Industry. On November 30, 1981, he was appointed Minister of International Trade and Industry in the cabinet of Prime Minister Zenkō Suzuki. In November 1982, he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, a position he held until 1986. During this period, Abe was considered a prominent candidate for succeeding Nakasone as Prime Minister.

In 1987, Abe was a leading contender to become Prime Minister himself but stepped aside in favor of Noboru Takeshita, the leader of a rival faction. Subsequently, he was appointed Secretary General of the LDP in 1987. His political prospects were affected by the Recruit-Cosmos insider-trading scandal in 1988, which contributed to the downfall of Takeshita and led to Abe's resignation from his party post in December of that year.

Abe's health declined, and he was hospitalized in January 1991. He died on May 15, 1991, at the age of 65 at Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo. The official cause of death was not announced, but reports suggest possible causes such as cancer, liver failure, or heart failure.

He was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Order of the Paulownia Flowers, a prestigious Japanese honor.