Abe's friends lend him wrong ideas

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration is receiving flak all round, a situation made worse by friends and like-minded people that he has recruited to push his nationalist right-wing agenda.

Of particular note are Seiichi Eto, one of several special advisers to the prime minister, and Koichi Hagiuda. The latter is also a special adviser to Abe but in his capacity as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

These two men have never held Cabinet positions. But they share Abe's nationalistic views, and are said to have the ear of the prime minister. Eto and Hagiuda were believed to have talked Abe into praying at the controversial Yasukuni shrine last year. And it was Eto that Abe dispatched to Washington last November to seek the United States government's understanding for his Yasukuni visit.