Title: Japan's hawkish new PM has Korea-loving wife
Kogal - November 2, 2006 12:20 AM (GMT)
Japan's hawkish new PM has Korea-loving wife
Sun Sep 24, 3:43 PM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan is set to have a new-generation First Lady, Akie Abe, a socialite and fan of Korean culture who may be able to soften the hawkish image of her husband, incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
...."I would like to do my best not to be disgraced as a Japanese woman," she told Fuji Television.....Akie Abe is known to enjoy an occasional drink. She also studies flamenco dancing, a talent she has shown off for the cameras.
Sun Sep 24, 3:43 PM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan is set to have a new-generation First Lady, Akie Abe, a socialite and fan of Korean culture who may be able to soften the hawkish image of her husband, incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
...."I would like to do my best not to be disgraced as a Japanese woman," she told Fuji Television.....Akie Abe is known to enjoy an occasional drink. She also studies flamenco dancing, a talent she has shown off for the cameras.
Kogal - November 2, 2006 12:21 AM (GMT)
Japanese PM's wife reveals infertility anguish
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/12/eng...012_311001.html
Japanese prime minister's wife has revealed she went through fertility treatment and considered adoption but said she and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have accepted they will have no children.
Akie Abe's remarks to a magazine were remarkably frank for a prime minister's wife, reflecting her effort to show a more human side of her husband, Japan's youngest post-World War II premier.
Shinzo Abe, 52, has pledged to encourage Japanese to have more children to reverse a declining birthrate, triggering media speculation as to why he is childless himself.
In an interview with the monthly magazine Bungei Shunju, Akie Abe, 44, confessed she felt strong pressure to bear children because her husband is a third-generation politician.
"Coming from a household of politicians, there was of course a lot of pressure, including from local constituents. But now it has become difficult, in part because of my age, so people no longer tell me to keep at it," she said.
"At the early stage, I did go through fertility treatment. But I think that I should accept my fate that I am the wife of a politician who became prime minister, and that we did not have the gift of having children."
She said she considered adopting a child a rare occurrence in Japan other than within extended families and noted that adoption was "very common in the United States."
"But I wasn't able to go through with it mentally and I didn't have the confidence to raise a child, so it didn't become a reality.
"I am telling myself that it must be my fate to contribute to society in some way other than rearing children," she said.
Akie Abe voiced sympathy for Crown Princess Masako, who has a 4-year-old daughter, Princess Aiko, but has been under intense pressure to bear a male heir to the throne.
"I think the crown princess had an unimaginably hard time due to the strong pressure, which is incomparable to us. But I guess Princess Aiko was a relief to her," she said.
Princess Kiko, the wife of the emperor's second son, Prince Akishino, delivered a boy last month, Prince Hisahito, giving the royal family an heir and ending for now a debate on allowing female succession a proposal opposed by Shinzo Abe.
Source: China Daily
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/12/eng...012_311001.html
Japanese prime minister's wife has revealed she went through fertility treatment and considered adoption but said she and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have accepted they will have no children.
Akie Abe's remarks to a magazine were remarkably frank for a prime minister's wife, reflecting her effort to show a more human side of her husband, Japan's youngest post-World War II premier.
Shinzo Abe, 52, has pledged to encourage Japanese to have more children to reverse a declining birthrate, triggering media speculation as to why he is childless himself.
In an interview with the monthly magazine Bungei Shunju, Akie Abe, 44, confessed she felt strong pressure to bear children because her husband is a third-generation politician.
"Coming from a household of politicians, there was of course a lot of pressure, including from local constituents. But now it has become difficult, in part because of my age, so people no longer tell me to keep at it," she said.
"At the early stage, I did go through fertility treatment. But I think that I should accept my fate that I am the wife of a politician who became prime minister, and that we did not have the gift of having children."
She said she considered adopting a child a rare occurrence in Japan other than within extended families and noted that adoption was "very common in the United States."
"But I wasn't able to go through with it mentally and I didn't have the confidence to raise a child, so it didn't become a reality.
"I am telling myself that it must be my fate to contribute to society in some way other than rearing children," she said.
Akie Abe voiced sympathy for Crown Princess Masako, who has a 4-year-old daughter, Princess Aiko, but has been under intense pressure to bear a male heir to the throne.
"I think the crown princess had an unimaginably hard time due to the strong pressure, which is incomparable to us. But I guess Princess Aiko was a relief to her," she said.
Princess Kiko, the wife of the emperor's second son, Prince Akishino, delivered a boy last month, Prince Hisahito, giving the royal family an heir and ending for now a debate on allowing female succession a proposal opposed by Shinzo Abe.
Source: China Daily
Kogal - November 2, 2006 12:22 AM (GMT)
Thirst' Lady Akie Abe no punk in drublic
MSN-Mainichi, Oct 20, 2006, by FG Ryann Connell!
....Marriage didn't stop Akie from looking for a good time.
"In the early '90s, she used to hang out at Julianas Tokyo, the disco in Roppongi. She didn't get up on the stage and dance, just drank in the VIP Room. She was working in advertising and that's where she really learned to party," a political world insider says.
Akie fancies golf. She was a member of her college golf club and can get around 18 in under 100. But more than her boogying at Julianas and tackling the links, it's her reputation for boozing that's given her a reputation for being something of a party animal.
"Akie goes to all the parties held down amongst the voters in Abe's Yamaguchi Prefecture constituency. She guzzles down the sake like it's going out of style and then lets out a big sigh of relief. Abe's backers love her for it," an associate of the premier's support group tells Shukan Gendai...
..."She's got a favorite restaurant in (the Tokyo district of) Ebisu, where she'll pack away a few bottles of wine before moving on to the scotch and bourbon. She gets so drunk, the restaurant has to send her home in a cab sometimes," the wife of a lawyer for the Liberal Democratic Party tells the weekly.
At times, Akie's alcohol intake riles the prime minister.
"When Akie comes home blind drunk, she often takes off her clothes piece by piece and hurls them to the floor before going to sleep off her drunken stupor," a close friend of the prime minister's tells Shukan Gendai. "It really gets Shinzo mad because he has to follow her around and pick all the clothes up one-by-one and put them into the washing machine. He'll tell her off, but she just turns around and blasts him, telling him he's got no right to go off at her." ...
Former DJ shakes up Japan's dour politics as first time First Lady
Scotsman.com / 20 Oct 2006
...[First Lady Abe] has let slip personal details that would normally remain hidden: that she likes to drink - in contrast to her husband - dances flamenco and is a compulsive soap opera viewer.
Since returning from China, via Seoul, where the prime minister and his wife reprised their tasks, Mrs Abe has benefited from the appointment of two full-time advisers that elevate the prime minister's wife to a key role in the administration, fulfilling a similar role to Cherie Blair and Laura Bush.
A former foreign ministry bureaucrat has taken on the task of providing tips on etiquette when surrounded by foreign dignitaries and drawing up her schedule. A former flight attendant has also been appointed to manage her wardrobe.
"I suppose it's a quite clever ploy and deliberate effort to create the concept of a first lady, a post which is very good for the public image of Mr Abe and his 'presidency'," said Noriko Hama, a professor of economics at the Doshisha University in Kyoto.
"It's all part and parcel of the show. It's not unprecedented for a Japanese prime minister's wife to accompany him on an overseas trip, but the way they put on the show of holding hands is absolutely unheard of."
She added: "The echoes are of the US presidency and it is both deflecting questions being asked of her husband, and the criticism of the decision to drop discussions on reform of the Imperial Household Law to allow a woman to sit on the Chrysanthemum Throne.
"The Japanese public wanted a woman leader and Mrs Abe has become that surrogate."
And while Japan's women might be interested in whether Mrs Abe chooses her husband's clothes or her new hairstyle, Prof Hama said: "Women who have already made their mark in Japanese society and are doing well are cringing at this artificial creation."...more........
MSN-Mainichi, Oct 20, 2006, by FG Ryann Connell!
....Marriage didn't stop Akie from looking for a good time.
"In the early '90s, she used to hang out at Julianas Tokyo, the disco in Roppongi. She didn't get up on the stage and dance, just drank in the VIP Room. She was working in advertising and that's where she really learned to party," a political world insider says.
Akie fancies golf. She was a member of her college golf club and can get around 18 in under 100. But more than her boogying at Julianas and tackling the links, it's her reputation for boozing that's given her a reputation for being something of a party animal.
"Akie goes to all the parties held down amongst the voters in Abe's Yamaguchi Prefecture constituency. She guzzles down the sake like it's going out of style and then lets out a big sigh of relief. Abe's backers love her for it," an associate of the premier's support group tells Shukan Gendai...
..."She's got a favorite restaurant in (the Tokyo district of) Ebisu, where she'll pack away a few bottles of wine before moving on to the scotch and bourbon. She gets so drunk, the restaurant has to send her home in a cab sometimes," the wife of a lawyer for the Liberal Democratic Party tells the weekly.
At times, Akie's alcohol intake riles the prime minister.
"When Akie comes home blind drunk, she often takes off her clothes piece by piece and hurls them to the floor before going to sleep off her drunken stupor," a close friend of the prime minister's tells Shukan Gendai. "It really gets Shinzo mad because he has to follow her around and pick all the clothes up one-by-one and put them into the washing machine. He'll tell her off, but she just turns around and blasts him, telling him he's got no right to go off at her." ...
Former DJ shakes up Japan's dour politics as first time First Lady
Scotsman.com / 20 Oct 2006
...[First Lady Abe] has let slip personal details that would normally remain hidden: that she likes to drink - in contrast to her husband - dances flamenco and is a compulsive soap opera viewer.
Since returning from China, via Seoul, where the prime minister and his wife reprised their tasks, Mrs Abe has benefited from the appointment of two full-time advisers that elevate the prime minister's wife to a key role in the administration, fulfilling a similar role to Cherie Blair and Laura Bush.
A former foreign ministry bureaucrat has taken on the task of providing tips on etiquette when surrounded by foreign dignitaries and drawing up her schedule. A former flight attendant has also been appointed to manage her wardrobe.
"I suppose it's a quite clever ploy and deliberate effort to create the concept of a first lady, a post which is very good for the public image of Mr Abe and his 'presidency'," said Noriko Hama, a professor of economics at the Doshisha University in Kyoto.
"It's all part and parcel of the show. It's not unprecedented for a Japanese prime minister's wife to accompany him on an overseas trip, but the way they put on the show of holding hands is absolutely unheard of."
She added: "The echoes are of the US presidency and it is both deflecting questions being asked of her husband, and the criticism of the decision to drop discussions on reform of the Imperial Household Law to allow a woman to sit on the Chrysanthemum Throne.
"The Japanese public wanted a woman leader and Mrs Abe has become that surrogate."
And while Japan's women might be interested in whether Mrs Abe chooses her husband's clothes or her new hairstyle, Prof Hama said: "Women who have already made their mark in Japanese society and are doing well are cringing at this artificial creation."...more........
Kogal - November 2, 2006 12:23 AM (GMT)
fuji 
fuji fuji