Wife of *anese Prime Minister Shinzō AbeThe native form of this personal name is Abe Akie.:This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Akie Abe (安倍 昭恵, Abe Akie; née Matsuzaki; born 10 June 1962) is a *anese radio DJ and the spouse of politician Shinzō Abe, who served as Prime Minister of *an from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020.

Contents

• 1 Overviews
  • 1.1 Life
  • 1.2 As wife of Prime Minister
• 2 References
• 3 External links

Overviews

Life

Abe with Juliana Awada, First Lady of Argentina, November 2018

Born Akie Matsuzaki (松崎 昭恵, Matsuzaki Akie), Akie is regarded as a socialite. She is from a wealthy *anese family; her father is the former president of Morinaga & Co., one of *an's largest confectionery companies.

She was educated at Sacred Heart School in Tokyo (or Seishin Joshi Gakuin), a Roman Catholic private elementary through high school, then graduated from Sacred Heart Professional Training College. Abe later worked for Dentsu Inc., the world's largest advertising agency, before marrying Shinzo Abe in 1987. The couple have no children, having undergone unsuccessful fertility treatments earlier in their marriage.

In the late 1990s, Abe worked as a radio disc jockey in her husband's hometown of Shimonoseki. She was popular in the broadcast area and was known by her jockey name, "Akky".

Following her husband's first stint as prime minister, she opened an organic izakaya in the Kanda district of Tokyo, but was not active in management due to the urging of her mother-in-law. She received a master's degree in Social Design Studies from Rikkyo University in March 2011.

As wife of Prime Minister

Akie with Shinzō Abe, May 19, 2017

Akie became popularly known as the "domestic opposition party" due to her outspoken views, which often contradicted her husband's. Abe is also known as a supporter of sexual minorities and the LGBT community. On April 27, 2014, she joined the gay pride parade in Tokyo to show her support for broader rights to *an's LGBT community. In 2015, she was photographed standing in a field of cannabis plants promoting the revival of the cannabis culture in *an.

While her husband was in office, Abe developed a close relationship with the Moritomo Gakuen kindergarten in Osaka, which is noted for its conservative and militarist culture, including requiring students to memorize the Imperial Rescript on Education. Abe was named as honorary principal of Mizuho no Kuni, an elementary school under development by Moritomo Gakuen, but resigned in February 2017 after it was discovered that Moritomo Gakuen had purchased the land for the school from the government for 14% of its appraised value. The Moritomo Gakuen scandal highlighted the complicated role of the prime minister's wife in *an: although Abe herself was not considered a civil servant, she was supported by a staff of five civil servants seconded from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, thus implying that her role carries public duties.

Abe was the first spouse of a *anese prime minister to actively use social media, and was particularly personally active on Facebook and Instagram, but dramatically reduced her social media activities and changed the style of her posts in the wake of the Moritomo Gakuen scandal.

References

External links

• Akie Abe at IMDb