Both critics and admirers have to admit that during his five years in office Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has earned a prominent place on the list of his country's post-World War II statesmen. Without doubt his most important legacy has been to push for the revision the 1946 Japanese constitution regarding self-defense. Abe has also had the political capital to get the Japanese defense budget raised to its highest level since World War II.
Abe's efforts at reviving the Japanese economy after two decades of stagnation, have been less successful. But certainly he has been forthright in confronting Japan's most severe geopolitical challenges in decades, not only with North Korea but with China's ongoing aggression in the East and South China Seas.
