Abe becomes Japanese PM with 4th-longest total tenure

February 23, 2019

Tokyo--Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday replaced Shigeru Yoshida as the Japanese government leader with the fourth-longest total tenure.

Abe's total tenure, including his 12-month first term to September 2007, reached 2,617 days, surpassing Yoshida's total stint of 2,616 days between 1946 and 1954.

Abe's tenure followed Taro Katsura's 2,886 days between 1901 and 1913, Eisaku Sato's 2,798 days between 1964 and 1972 and Hirobumi Ito's 2,720 days between 1885 and 1901.

All of the top four are from Yamaguchi Prefecture or its predecessor, the Choshu domain.

"I'll continue to do my best each day," Abe told reporters at the prime minister's office Friday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that the achievement was a result of making efforts on every issue. "We'll keep listening to Japanese people's voices and responding to each issue sincerely," Suga said.

Abe's first administration lasted only 366 days. But he established a long-term administration after returning to the post in December 2012.

If Abe stays on, his total term in office will surpass that of Ito on June 7 this year, that of Sato, his granduncle, on Aug. 24, and that of Katsura on Nov. 20, becoming the longest-serving prime minister in the country.

Other than Abe, Yoshida is the only Japanese prime minister under the current constitution who came back after leaving the post.

Yoshida signed the San Francisco peace treaty and the original Japan-U.S. security treaty in 1951. He also worked to establish the 1947 constitution, creating the foundations of present-day Japan.

Abe is calling for recognizing the Self-Defense Forces, launched in 1954 under the Yoshida-led administration, in war-renouncing Article 9 of the constitution. Jiji Press