A legacy slipping away: Why Shinzo Abe stepped down

Japan's longest-serving PM seeks to avoid leaving political vacuum

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned on Aug. 28. He said his illness prevented him from giving sufficient attention to his duties. © Reuters

GAKU SHIMADA, Nikkei deputy editor

TOKYO -- "I couldn't shake that anxious feeling that I should be doing a little more," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a news conference on Friday when he announced his resignation due to a flare up of a severe digestive ailment that has plagued him through his life. With only a little more than a year to go before his term expired as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which would also spell the end of his tenure as prime minister, what exactly was the nature of this anxious feeling that led to his premature resignation?

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