Japan should make more efforts to improve democracy, former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Tuesday in a memorial speech delivered in parliament for his immediate successor Shinzo Abe, who was killed by a lone gunman during an election campaign event more than three months ago.
"We should only continue to rely on the power of speech to forge our democracy, imperfect as it may be, into something a little better," Noda, who is now an opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker, said in a lower house plenary session.
"Democracy should never yield to violence and terrorism," Noda also said, while praising Abe's achievements, citing such examples as a comeback after his short first term and becoming Japan's longest-serving prime minister, and strengthening of the country's alliance with the United States.
Touching on some anecdotes with Abe, Noda described the late prime minister as a "kind-hearted and caring" person once he left the Diet despite his image as a "fighting politician."
Abe's first stint as prime minister between 2006 and 2007 ended shortly due to health reasons. He served again from 2012 to 2020, but stepped down again because of a flare-up of a chronic intestinal disease.
Noda said Abe, who proposed a society where even those who fail can try again, embodied the vision by himself, representing his "true worth" as a politician.
In the realm of diplomacy, he hailed Abe for making 196 country or territory visits while in office and holding summit talks 1,187 times. He also praised Abe's efforts to forge close ties with "two totally different types of U.S. presidents" -- Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Noda added he will never forget a number of serious debates with Abe.
The most famous scene featuring them is a one-on-one parliamentary debate on Nov. 14, 2012, in which Noda abruptly promised to dissolve the House of Representatives for a snap election in return for promoting electoral system reform involving cutting the number of lower house members and their salaries.
Noda was in power between 2011 and 2012 as the leader of the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan, while Abe was then the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, which is now leading the ruling bloc.
As a result of the lower house election in the following month, Noda's decision finally ended the DPJ's three-year hold on power and then paved the way for Abe's second term which lasted nearly eight years.
The LDP had initially proposed that former Secretary General Akira Amari, a close aide to Abe, give a memorial speech in the previous Diet session in August.
But the ruling party decided to forgo the plan in the face of criticism of Amari over past allegations of graft.
Noda accepted an offer to play the role in line with the custom of appointing a high-ranking lawmaker of the country's leading opposition party as a speechmaker for a late former prime minister.
Noda, who was elected to the lower house in 1993 along with Abe, said he misses his good rival "no matter how different political positions and ideas may be."
"I'm left with an unbearable loneliness wrenching my heart," he said in the presence of Abe's widow Akie, who observed the parliamentary session.
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