Japanese Twitter discovers western Shinzo Abe memes

Japanese users appear to have finally taken notice of the west’s fascination with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a source for memes.

For years, English speaking Twitter users have memed Shinzo Abe into a crusader against Japan’s declining birth rate. One Japanese X (formerly Twitter) user stumbled on the meme and couldn’t help but ask about it, saying: “Memes from English speaking countries are completely unknown to Japanese speaking people. There seems to be a meme of Shinzo Abe telling people to “have sex” with a determined look on his face” (Translation: Google).

英語圏のミームって日本語圏に全然知られてないよね。安倍晋三がガン決まった顔で「セックスをしなさい」と言ってくるというミームがあるらしい。

— 如木花 (@amapichannel) January 18, 2024

Japanese users found it hilarious, but were also curious about why users in the “Anglosphere” had latched onto Shinzo Abe in particular as opposed to other Japanese leaders. Comments from other Japanese Twitter users include:

“Over there, Shinzo Abe seems to be treated like a demon trying to counter the declining birthrate.” Source
“We can’t lose either. We need to spread the funny Shinzo Abe memes.” Source

Other Twitter users began sharing other Shinzo Abe memes they found in the replies to the original post.