The post-war Japan that Shinzo Abe built

In place of a country repentant about its past, he wanted to build a stronger, top-down government that would feature a robust national security establishment similar to what exists in the United States and Japan’s other peer countries. This project became even more pressing as North Korea developed a nuclear arsenal and China’s military grew along with its economic might. While he was not averse to maintaining stable political and economic ties with Beijing, he never lost sight of the dangers China could pose to Japan’s national security.

Mr. Abe’s embrace of what became known as Abenomics – his three-pronged program of monetary stimulus, fiscal stimulus and industrial policies to encourage new high-tech growth sectors and a more sustainable labor force – similarly reflected his statism. He belatedly came to appreciate that to compete with other nations, Japan had to end its long-term economic stagnation.

His vision of a stronger Japanese state was not universally popular; his zeal for changes to strengthen the state, particularly its national security establishment, often attracted sizable protests. Older Japanese remembered the wartime state all too well and were uncomfortable with rebuilding Japan’s military power, but young Japanese, too, mobilized at times to oppose his moves.

Nevertheless, at the time of his death, it appeared that the Japanese people might finally be coming around to Mr. Abe’s vision. Thanks in part to Russia’s war in Ukraine, a robust majority appeared to support higher levels of military spending.

Even Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, a self-proclaimed liberal dove, has indicated his support for higher military spending to boost the capabilities of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, a sign of just how much Mr. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party came to share his vision during his 30-year career.

While his judgment was not always sound and his actions took on authoritarian tinges, I believe Mr. Abe nevertheless left Japan with a state more able to articulate and execute the policies needed to “withstand the raging waves” of the 21st century.

After waging what was at times a lonely fight, Mr. Abe died just as the Japanese people were possibly coming to appreciate his vision of a strong state capable of defending the nation in a dangerous world.

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