The assassination of Shinzō Abe looks to have been the act of a crazed loner. But the circumstances were not merely fortuitous. When he was shot, Abe was on the stump campaigning on two issues that defined his legacy for contemporary Japan. Abe was an unabashed nationalist and historical apologist. He is also being celebrated today as the champion of a new realism in East Asian foreign policy. Abe saw Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and mounting Sino-US tension as vindication for his calls for a new Japanese security policy that broke with the postwar taboos. Under the influence of “pivot to Asia”-stalwarts like