Team News Riveting
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died after being shot during an election campaign in Nara on Friday.
While the entire world is shocked and mourning Shinzo’s demise, he leaves wife Akie all alone to bear the irreparable loss. For, the Abe couple was childless.
Shinzo Abe was born into a prominent family of politicians who hailed from Yamaguchi Prefecture on September 21, 1954. His maternal grandfather was a politician and served as vice-minister of munitions during the Second World War while his paternal grandfather served in the House of Representatives during the war. Abe’s father, Shintaro Abe, served in the House of Representatives for more than 30 years and held various positions, including chief cabinet secretary and minister for foreign affairs.
He married Akie in 1987. She is a Japanese socialite born into a wealthy family. Her father was president of confectionary company Morinaga & Co. The 60-year-old studied at a private school for girls in Shirokane and later worked for an advertising company before her marriage to Abe in 1987.
Even though the former prime minister encouraged the nation to combat the plummeting birth rate by having more children, he and his wife remained childless. Akie, in an interview with the monthly magazine Bungei Shunju, spoke about how she was under pressure to have children as the wife of a politician. She said that “Of course, as the wife of a politician, I was under enormous pressure, including from his constituency”.
In the early stages, she underwent fertility treatment but failed to get results. As years passed, it became complicated for her to become pregnant due to her age. Akie said Shinzo was interested to adopt a child, but she refused as she was not confident about “bringing up an adoptee properly”.
Adopting a non-relative in Japan is rare and usually, adoption occurs within an extended family.
