The most talked-about media moment from the Lower House election on Dec. 14 was the victory interview Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave to Nippon TV.
As is the custom, the leader of the winning side, in this case Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, made the rounds of all the major broadcasters without leaving the organization's headquarters, where he took questions from people in the NTV studios. At one point, anchorman Nobutaka Murao asked Abe about the decline in real wages under his economic plan so far, and the prime minister seemed put out by the query. He removed his earpiece and spoke about the plan's accomplishments while Murao tried to get him to address the question, which he couldn't hear, seemingly on purpose.
Abe can be proud of some of the achievements of "Abenomics," but he's demonstrated an acute sensitivity to anything that smacks of criticism, an unfortunate tendency for a national leader trying to bring about major changes. Commentators viewed the NTV exchange as representative of the LDP's general distrust of the media, though all it proved was that Abe doesn't like to participate in discussions he can't control. He's never displayed the kind of talent his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, had for handling reporters with bland rejoinders that nevertheless made him look cool under fire and in command of his rhetoric — Abe just gets defensive.