Abe now Japan's second-longest-serving leader, tying granduncle

Constitutional and pension changes loom as prime minister readies new cabinet

20190823N Abe and Sato

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, counts former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato as a brother of his maternal grandfather. (Photos by Uichiro Kasai and Nikkei archives)

YUSUKE YOKOTA, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Shinzo Abe became Japan's longest-serving postwar prime minister Friday with 2,798 days in office and is just months away from becoming the longest overall.

As of that day, Abe had served as many days in office as Eisaku Sato, who became prime minister a month or so after Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics. Sato was the brother of Abe's grandfather.

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