Today, Mr Shinzo Abe won the vote of presidency of LDP. I have just read his book, titled "Toward the Beautiful Nation." It was a fascinating book. He who would be the prime minister in quite near future wrote straightly what he thought and insisted.
I am going to translate its postscript part where he explained why he wrote the book.
At The End
For any time, any age, many people have been saying "The young people are different from what we were in our youth." When I was in 20's, aged people told me the same thing and my father often told me that he had the same experience.
Sometimes, I feel the temptation to say "What are those young people!" and find out that I have reached the age to lament.
"The present young people are political apathy, or they only have wide show concerns."
Some politicians say.
"When I was young, I was quite active in student movements. In the first place, they are totally apathy in political movements."
One of the baby boomers looked back the 60's and said.
As a politician, I took speak tours all over Japan for many times and had town meetings with the youngs. I have sometimes noticed their cool and nihilistic attitudes. I infer that those attitudes are their own style of expression and one of their characters.
Talking with them in deep, they still want to do something for other people and they want others to need them. A few of them clearly want to improve the society and their desire to participate in national politics come to my seriously.
The future is not fixed and only the efforts of the people can decide the shapes of future. Still, many the youngs are afraid of stepping forward. It must be politicians' responsibilities to encourage them, to indicate what they have to do.
In nineteenth century, Benjamin Disraeli wrote in his novel, Vivian Grey,
"Embarrassments of a young men bring disappointments of the human. Preferably the heritage which our seniors have strenuously built be not wasted." (translated from Japanese, not the original expression.)
My book is not for policy recommendations. I have written honestly at I thought in my teens and twenties, what emotions I have toward this country I was born, and what I should do as a politician. Therefore, this book is for the youngs. I did my best to tell them that I want to make this country where we have belief and pride.
The politics is for the future. It is my sincere pleasure that readers found my emotions in my root.
July, 2006
Shinzo Abe
