Shinzo Abe was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history.
From 2005 to 2006, Abe served as Junichiro Koizumi’s Chief Cabinet Secretary and temporarily led the opposition in 2012. Abe was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 after being born into a notable political family.
President Koizumi nominated him as Chief Cabinet Secretary in September 2005, and he served as Prime Minister and LDP President until Koizumi’s resignation in September 2006.
A special session of the National Diet confirmed him as prime minister, making him Japan’s youngest post-war prime minister and the first born after World War II.
After just one year in power, Abe resigned as Prime Minister due to ulcerative colitis-related medical issues, shortly after his party had lost the House of Councillors election that year.
His successor was Yasuo Fukuda, the first of a string of five prime ministers who each served less than a year in office.
Shinzo Abe Great-Grandparents: Hidesuke Sato and Moyo Sato
Japanese politician Shinzo Abe’s great-grandparents are Hidesuke Sato and Moyo Sato. Hidesuke and Moyo’s children are Nobusuke Kishi. During his time as Prime Minister of Japan, Nobusuke Kishi was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician.
When Shinzo Abe served as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020, he was his maternal grandfather’s successor. Nobusuke Kishi’s children are Nobukazu Kishi and Yoko Kishi.
As a suspected Class-A war criminal following World War II, Kishi spent three years in prison. Because they believed Kishi was best suited to steer post-war Japan into a pro-American stance, the United States administration chose not to indict, try, or condemn him.
