
Japan's newly-named Prime Minsiter Shinzo Abe smiles as he waves at the media upon his arrival at the prime minister's official residence following his election at Parliament in Tokyo Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Abe, whose nationalist positions have in the past angered Japan's neighbors, is the country's seventh prime minister in just over six years. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Abe was elected as Japan's leader Wednesday. The rise of Abe, whose nationalist positions have in the past angered Japan's neighbors, brings back the conservative, pro-business Liberal Democratic Party that governed for most of the post-World War II era to power. The left-leaning government of the Democratic Party of Japan lasted three years.
Abe vowed to pull Japan out of deflation through bold economic measures, and said he would step up an alliance with the United States to stabilize Japan's diplomacy shaken by increasing territorial threats from its neighbors.
Abe, who was also prime minister in 2006-2007, led the LDP to victory in parliamentary elections Dec. 16.







