Akie Abe

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. Click [show] for important translation instructions.

Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:安倍昭恵]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|ja|安倍昭恵}} to the talk page.
For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Japanese radio DJ, widow of Shinzo Abe (born 1962)

Akihito
Naruhito

Prime MinisterShinzo AbePreceded byHitomi NodaSucceeded byMariko SugaIn role
26 September 2006 – 26 September 2007Monarch

Akihito

Prime MinisterShinzo AbePreceded byChieko MakiSucceeded byKiyoko Fukuda Personal detailsBorn

Akie Matsuzaki

(1962-06-10) 10 June 1962 (age 61)
Tokyo, JapanPolitical partyLiberal Democratic PartySpouse

Shinzo Abe

(m. 1987; died 2022)

Alma mater

Sacred Heart Professional Training College
Rikkyo University

OccupationRadio DJ

Akie Abe (安倍昭恵, Abe Akie; née Matsuzaki; born 10 June 1962) is a Japanese radio DJ and the widow of Shinzo Abe, who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020.

Early life

Abe was born Akie Matsuzaki (松崎昭恵, Matsuzaki Akie). She is from a wealthy Japanese family; her father is the former president of Morinaga & Co., one of Japan's largest confectionery companies.

She was educated at Sacred Heart School in Tokyo (or Seishin Joshi Gakuin), a Roman Catholic private elementary through high school, then graduated from Sacred Heart Professional Training College. Abe later worked for Dentsu Inc., the world's largest advertising agency, before marrying Shinzo Abe in 1987. The couple had no children, having undergone unsuccessful fertility treatments earlier in their marriage.^[1] The two would remain married until Shinzo's assassination on 8 July 2022.

In the late 1990s, Abe worked as a radio disc jockey in her husband's hometown of Shimonoseki. She was popular in the broadcast area and was known by her jockey name, "Akky".^[2]

Public life

Following her husband's first stint as prime minister, she opened an organic izakaya in the Kanda district of Tokyo, but was not active in management due to the urging of her mother-in-law.^[3] She received a master's degree in Social Design Studies from Rikkyo University in March 2011.^{[citation needed]}

Akie became popularly known as the "domestic opposition party" due to her outspoken views, which often contradicted her husband's.^[3] Abe is also known as a supporter of sexual minorities and the LGBT community. On April 27, 2014, she joined the gay pride parade in Tokyo to show her support for broader rights to Japan's LGBT community.^[4] In 2015, she was photographed standing in a field of cannabis plants promoting the revival of the cannabis culture in Japan.^[5]

While her husband was in office, Abe developed a close relationship with the Moritomo Gakuen kindergarten in Osaka, which is noted for its conservative and militarist culture, including requiring students to memorize the Imperial Rescript on Education. Abe was named as honorary principal of Mizuho no Kuni, an elementary school under development by Moritomo Gakuen, but resigned in February 2017 after it was discovered that Moritomo Gakuen had purchased the land for the school from the government for 14% of its appraised value.^[6] The Moritomo Gakuen scandal highlighted the complicated role of the prime minister's wife in Japan: although Abe herself was not considered a civil servant, she was supported by a staff of five civil servants seconded from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, thus implying that her role carries public duties.^[7]

Akie was the first spouse of a Japanese prime minister to actively use social media, and was particularly personally active on Facebook and Instagram, but dramatically reduced her social media activities and changed the style of her posts in the wake of the Moritomo Gakuen scandal.^[8]

References

^ "Japan PM's wife in rare interview". BBC News. 12 October 2006. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
^ "Japan's First Lady-to-Be an Avid Korean Wave Fan". The Chosunlibo World. 5 September 2006. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Akie Abe not afraid to speak her mind". Japan Today. 4 January 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
^ "Japan's first lady Akie Abe joins gay parade". The Straits Times. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
^ Johann Hari, Japan, the place with the strangest drug debate in the world, Opendemocracy.net, 11 May 2018
^ McCurry, Justin (24 February 2017). "Shinzo Abe and wife under pressure over ties to ultra-nationalist school". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
^ "The Abes caught in political quagmire". Sentaku. 1 April 2017. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
^ "Akie Abe's social media silence creates questions". Mainichi Daily News. 10 April 2017. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2017.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Akie Abe.

Akie Abe at IMDb

Unofficial roles
Vacant Title last held by Chieko Mori	Spouse of the Prime Minister of Japan 2006–2007	Succeeded by Kiyoko Fukuda
Preceded by Hitomi Noda	Spouse of the Prime Minister of Japan 2012–2020	Succeeded by Mariko Suga