Shinzo Abe
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| Shinzo Abe | |
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| Occupation | Prime Minister of Japan |
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Shinzo Abe is the head of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and has served as prime minister of Japan since 2012. He is the country’s longest serving premier. [1] Abe first served as prime minister from 2006-2007, but resigned after a "disastrous" year in office, which included the alienation of China and South Korea and continued economic weakness. [2] Upon leaving office in 2007, he was hospitalized with a stress-related illness.
In August 2020 Abe said he would resign to undergo treatment for ulcerative colitis, the same ailment that forced him to step down as prime minister in 2007.[3]
He previously served as chief cabinet secretary from 2005 to 2006.
Abe convened a new cabinet on December 26, 2012 and pushed through an agenda that included a major economic stimulus package and increased pressure on the Bank of Japan for quick action to pull the country out of recession and deflation. [4] Specifically, Abe favors a mandatory inflation target of 2pc, backed by "unlimited" monetary stimulus.
Background
Abe is the grandson of Nobusuke Kishi, a wartime cabinet member imprisoned as a Class A war crimes suspect but never tried, who became prime minister in 1957, and the son of Shintaro Abe, a former foreign minister, for whom Shinzo Abe long served as secretary. Upon the his father's death in 1993, he assumed the elder Abe's parliamentary seat.[5] Abe was elevated to prime minister in 2006, but resigned a year later amid controversy surrounding, among other things, his hard-line stance on foreign policy.
Education
Abe earned a degree in political science at Seikei University in Japan in 1977. Later, he studied politics at the University of Southern California. [6]
References
- ↑ Japan's Shinzo Abe prepares to print money for the whole world. The Telegraph.
- ↑ Shinzo Abe's sumo-sized win. The Economist.
- ↑ Abe, Japan's Longest-Serving Premier, Resigns Due to Health. Bloomberg.
- ↑ Abe Sets Economic Agenda. Wall Street Journal.
- ↑ Set to Lead, Japan’s Next Premier Reconsiders Postwar Era. New York Times.
- ↑ Profile: Shinzo Abe. BBC.
