Photo Gallery Reinvigorating Japan
Shinzo Abe resigned as Japan's prime minister in 2007 after a number of failures and owing to poor health. But, on December 16, he recaptured the majority in the lower house of parliament for his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Fourteen of the 19 members of his cabinet belong to a group of lawmakers that promotes nationalist policies, such as pilgrimage tours to a shrine for World War II heroes and victims. Abe is determined to re-embrace values of the past and restore Japan to its former greatness.
The Japanese seem most concerned with their ailing economy, but recent tensions with China and other neighboring countries helped bring Abe and his nationalist allies back to power. Here, a Japanese Coast Guard vessel sprays a Taiwanese fishing boat near some contested islands.
In early January 2012, Abe sent a special envoy to South Korea to inform newly elected President Park Geun Hye (right) that he has no intention of fueling the dispute over another archipelago, the Dokdo Islands controlled by Seoul, which the Japanese refer to as Takeshima. During the election campaign, Abe's party had stoked tension by announcing plans to introduce an annual "Takeshima Day." Making peace with South Korea lets Abe focus on China, his main rival.
