Abe Shinzo left his mark on Asia and the world, not just Japan

A procedural rule has long limited the trips a Japanese prime minister can ordinarily make overseas to the brief periods of the year when parliament is not in session. The rule appears tailor-made for the kind of inward-looking nonentity who has too often occupied the prime minister’s residence in Japan’s modern history. Abe Shinzo, who was assassinated on July 8th, could not have been further from the stereotype. He squeezed 81 overseas visits to Asia, America and beyond into his second and longer stint in office, from 2012 to 2020.