In Photos: Looking back on Japan Prime Minister Abe's time in office

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pours sake for then U.S. President Barack Obama at a sushi restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo, on April 23, 2014. (Photo courtesy of the Cabinet Secretariat's PR division)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seen after emerging from a Super Mario costume as he appears at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro during the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics, on Aug. 21, 2016. (Mainichi)

Akie Abe, right, wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meets visiting then U.S. first lady Michelle Obama at the Iikura Guest House in Minato Ward, Tokyo, on March 19, 2015. (Pool photo)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie (center), pose for photos with guests at the annual cherry blossom-viewing party at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on April 13, 2019. (Mainichi/Shinnosuke Kyan)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, chats with U.S. President Donald Trump inside Trump Tower in central New York on Sept. 23, 2018. (Photo courtesy of the Cabinet Public Relations Office)

This Nov. 17, 2016 file photo shows, from left, Michael Flynn with then U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, an interpreter, and Ivanka Trump, at Donald Trump's home in New York. (Photo courtesy of the Cabinet Public Relations Office)

The G-7 leaders sit at a table at the Shima Kanko Hotel in the Ise-Shima district of Mie Prefecture. Clockwise from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (front left), are then French President Francois Hollande, then British Prime Minister David Cameron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, then European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, then European Union President Donald Tusk, then Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and then United States President Barack Obama. (Pool photo)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, second from left, and other G-7 leaders prepare for a photo session during the Ise-Shima Summit in Shima, Mie Prefecture, on May 26, 2016. (Pool photo)

From left, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sept. 12, 2018. (Pool photo)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, holds up the hand of former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba after beating him in the party presidential election, at the party's headquarters in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, on Sept. 20, 2018. (Mainichi/Naoki Watanabe)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe answers questions about the outcome of the House of Councillors election during a news conference at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on July 22, 2019. (Mainichi/Masahiro Kawata)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, is seen during a visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Dec. 26, 2013. (Mainichi)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks about the new era name "Reiwa" at a news conference at his office on April 1, 2019. (Mainichi/Naoki Watanabe)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, third from left, meets with the government panel studying the possible abdication of Emperor Akihito at the prime minister's office on Jan. 23, 2017. On the right of Abe is the panel's chairman Takashi Imai, honorary chairman of the Japan Business Federation. (Mainichi)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and Yoshiro Mori, left, president of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, pose with the mascots for the games at the prime minister's office in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, on Aug. 7, 2018. (Mainichi/Masahiro Kawata)

Mitsuru Ota, the head of the Ministry of Finance's Financial Bureau, answers questions about the heavily discounted sale of state-owned land to Moritomo Gakuen at a House of Representatives budget committee meeting on Nov. 27, 2017. Seated to the far right is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Mainichi)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks through a document titled "Who ordered the execution?" over the doctoring of Finance Ministry documents on the land sale to Moritomo Gakuen during a House of Councillors Budget Committee session, on March 19, 2018. (Mainichi)

Demonstrators against the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe parade down a street in Tokyo's Minato Ward on the evening of Oct. 5, 2017. (Mainichi)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pictured speaking to the International Olympic Committee on behalf of the Tokyo 2020 Bid Committee in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Sept. 7, 2013. (Mainichi)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are seen with other top officials of the governments of the three countries in a summit meeting at the State Guesthouse in the Motoakasaka district of Tokyo's Minato Ward on May 9, 2018. (Pool photo)

Protesters show off placards saying, "No Abe!" at Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul, South Korea, on Aug. 15, 2019. (Mainichi/Chiharu Shibue)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe places a flower next to the name of a Liberal Democratic Party candidate assured of victory in the Oct. 22, 2017 House of Representatives election, at the party's headquarters in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward that evening. (Mainichi)

LDP President Shinzo Abe, fourth from left, speaks during a debate among the leaders of eight of Japan's national political parties at the Japan National Press Club on Dec. 1, 2014 -- the day before the official start to the 2014 House of Representatives election campaign. (Mainichi)

Demonstrators hold up placards at a rally in Tokyo's Koto Ward on May 3, 2016. The yellow signs read, "Protect the Constitution," the blue signs read, "Scrap the war law," and the red signs read, "Get out Abe administration." (Mainichi)