"It's problematic that Abe is quitting when his administration is struggling with handling the novel coronavirus pandemic," noted Izuru Makihara, professor of Japanese Politics and Public Administration at the University of Tokyo.
"Given Japan is in the midst of a global pandemic, it's unlikely that whoever succeeds Abe can start putting out major policy changes. No one is expecting that from the next prime minister," Makihara said.
Global pandemic aside, as pressing as the crisis is, Abe's successor will also have to take up the mantle of "Abenomics", a set of aggressive monetary policies aimed at breathing life into the Japanese economy after suffering two decades of deflation, while maintaining fiscal discipline.
This will be no small feat considering Japan's economy shrank an annualized real 27.8 percent from the previous quarter in the April-June period, marking a record contraction as the global coronavirus pandemic stifled economic activity amid restrictions under a state of emergency declared over the situation.
This, as the nation was already weighed down by a tax hike, the second under Abe, from 8 to 10 percent introduced on Oct. 1 last year, and has largely failed to bridge the gap in achieving a 2 percent inflation target.
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