OLD-GUARD veteran Shinzo Abe was voted back into office as prime minister of Japan yesterday and immediately named a new cabinet, ending three years of liberal administrations and restoring power to his conservative, pro-big-business party that has run the country for most of the post-Second World War era.
Abe, whose nationalist positions have in the past angered Japan’s neighbours, is the country’s seventh prime minister in just over six years. He was also prime minister in 2006-2007 before resigning for health reasons that he says are no longer an issue.
He has promised to restore growth to an economy that has been struggling for 20 years.
His new administration also faces souring relations with China and a debate over whether resource-poor Japan should wean itself off nuclear energy after a meltdown last year at an atomic power plant.
