Prime Minister Abe Shinzo Announces Resignation

Amongst the growing suspicions due to two recent hospital visits, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo formally announced on October 28th, 2020, that he will be resigning due to health concerns. It was confirmed that his chronic ulcerative colitis, a bowel disease which was also the cause of him temporarily stepping down years prior, has once again flared up. Since July, Abe has been in poor health and stated in his announcement that with his illness and poor health, he cannot be allowed to make incorrect political decisions. 

Rumors speculate that the increasing scandals surrounding Abe and his friends are also why he chose to step down from his position. A few weeks ago, we reported Abe’s disastrous attempt to increase the retirement age for a favored prosecutor, which was met with heavy blowback. Other cases of Abe Shinzo helping friends stand out as well, such as the Moritomo Gakuen case, in which he is alleged to have sold land at an extremely discounted price to an acquaintance and then attempted to cover it up (yet clear evidence that Abe was personally involved in the case has not been confirmed.)

Despite a recent increase in criticisms over the handling of Corona and several scandals from his political party, Abe Shinzo`s successor will still have some big shoes to fill. Including his first tenure, the prime minister just surpassed the record for the longest prime minister ever to be in the office at 9 years.  Abe`s time in office has been characterized by positive relations with the US and economic stability, which is partly due to Abe’s three-arrow economic strategy, dubbed Abenomics. This included stimulus reform, increased fiscal spending, and monetary easing from the Bank of Japan.