Shinzo Abe, Japan's youngest postwar prime minister (he's 52,) announced his resignation on Wednesday.
The move apparently surprised not only party members but members of his own Cabinet, "by deciding to resign only days after he pledged to stake his government on the success of legislation to extend Japan's naval mission in the Indian Ocean."
In a televised conference he stated, "I find myself unable to keep my promises — I myself have become an obstacle to fulfilling those promises."
Election defeat, resistance from an opposition leader, and unclarified health problems were all listed as contributing factors in his decision.
Abe's administration has been plagued with scandals and even suicide, after which support for the leader dropped to 30%.
"...Abe's unpopular government had become a liability for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party..."
We were surprised to find out (although we shouldn't have been) that Japan too is beset with imperialistic families who find multiple members of the same immediate family in the Prime Minister's seat generation after generation. In Abe's case, his grandfather was Prime Minister and his father was a foreign minister.
We were either naive or ignorant enough to think that it was just the US' problem.
PS. This just in; he has been hospitalized for exhaustion.
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