Moment of reckoning

THERE is little doubt that Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, sees himself as a leader with an historic mission. In an interview with The Economist, he recalled the revolutionaries from his home prefecture of Yamaguchi who in the 1860s overthrew the old order and transformed Japan into an industrial powerhouse. Now, as then, he argued, Japan has to overhaul itself to catch up with the outside world. Also as then, his domestic opponents are united. “Far-reaching change was necessary for Japan, and my seniors in history staked their lives to achieve it, even though reform did not necessarily win backing from the majority,” he says.