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![Japan Politics]()
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers a speech during the Liberal Democratic Party's annual convention at a hotel in Tokyo, Sunday, March 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
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![Liberal Democratic Party Policy Chief Tomomi Inada Interview]()
Tomomi Inada, chairwoman of the Policy Research Council of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, poses for a photograph after an interview in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. Japan needs to address the negative impact of the weakening yen on small companies and regional parts of the economy, said the policy chief of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling party. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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![Japan Politics]()
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
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![Japan Politics]()
Former Defense Minister Yuriko Koike, a candidate of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race, smiles at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008. The LDP leadership campaign officially kicked off Wednesday with Koike and four of her contenders, set to file their candidacies to replace Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
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![Japan Hereditary Politics]()
Liberal Democratic Party parliamentary election candidate Shinjiro Koizumi, a son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, speaks outside a train station in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, Japan, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. The 28-year-old Koizumi is the target of growing public grumbling over the widespread practice of hereditary politics, in which a legislative seat is passed down from parent to child like an heirloom. Critics say the system is disadvantageous to newcomers and discourages change. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)
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![Japan Politics]()
Japan's new Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso speaks at a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Former prime minister Aso, 72, introduced fiscal stimulus measures to deal with the global financial crisis. But he had to leave office in 2009 after his unpopular government caused a crushing election loss for the Liberal Democratic Party. Aso shares many of Abe's hawkish views on diplomacy, security and history. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
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![Japan Cabinet Reshuffle]()
Newly appointed Consumer Affiars Minister Seiko Noda arrives at prime minister's official residence in Tokyo Friday, Aug. 1, 2008 after Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda picked a new Cabinet. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
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![New Japanese representatives, Yukari Sat]()
TOKYO, JAPAN: New Japanese representatives, Yukari Sato (L), Satsuki Katayama (C) and Kuniko Inoguchi (R) pose for photographers before a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, 13 October 2005. The three members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) led by Prime Minister Koizumi, known as 'the Assassins' against candidates who denounced Koizumi's post office liberalization bills, disscussed their campaign for the lower house election last month. AFP PHOTO/Toru YAMANAKA (Photo credit should read TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)
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![Lower House Election Campaign Continues In Japan]()
HIMEJI, JAPAN - DECEMBER 10: Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga speaks to voters from the roof of a campaign bus during his party election campaign rally on December 10, 2014 in Himeji, Japan. The focal points of the election on December 14 are economic programs, the postponement of a consumption tax hike, a re-interpretation of the constitution on collective self-defense, and the future of nuclear energy. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)
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![Japan Rising Right]()
Japan's leading opposition Liberal Democratic Party presidential candidate Nobuteru Ishihara speaks during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. The conservative Liberal Democratic Party chooses a leader Sept. 26. The winner may become prime minister if the LDP wins elections that the prime minister has said he will call soon. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
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![Japan Politics]()
Midori Matsushima, newly appointed Minister of Justice, walks in the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe picked a record-matching five women for his Cabinet Wednesday, sending the strongest message yet about his determination to revive the economy by getting women on board as workers and leaders. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
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![Japan Trade Minister Resigns]()
Japanese Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi announces her resignation during a press conference at her ministry in Tokyo Monday, Oct. 20, 2014. Obuchi resigned Monday amid growing controversy over allegations that she misused campaign funds. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
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![Japan Cabinet Reshuffle]()
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura speaks during a press conference at prime minister's official residence in Tokyo Friday, Aug. 1, 2008. Machimura who retained his post announced the list of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's new Cabinet that was a mix of old-guard legislators and several reappointments to restore confidence in his leadership amid flagging public popularity. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
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![Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Unveils New Cabinet]()
Hakubun Shimomura, Japan's re-appointed education minister, speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe placed an advocate of pro-market reforms in charge of the government pension fund and named a rising female politician as industry minister as he seeks to restore momentum to his 'Abenomics' policies with a cabinet reshuffle today. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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![125th IOC Session In Buenos Aires - Day 2]()
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - SEPTEMBER 05: Hiroshi Hase talks to the media during a Tokyo 2020 Bid Committee press conference ahead of the 125th IOC Session at Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel and Conveention Centre on September 5, 2013 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
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![JAPAN IRAQ HOSTAGE]()
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda speaks during a press conference in Tokyo Friday, Oct. 29, 2004. As a 48-hour deadline set by kidnappers of a Japanese traveler in Iraq apparently passed with no sign of news, Japanese leaders began a third day of struggles to gather information and make contact with the captors. "As we now enter the third day since first learning of the incident, it is very regrettable that his release still has not been secured," Hosoda told reporters early Friday. (AP Photo/Chiaki Tsukumo)
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![Japan Military Roundtable]()
In this June 30, 2014 photo, Japanese lawmaker and chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Partyâs Research Commission on Security, Takeshi Iwaya listens to a question during an interview in Tokyo. "In the long run, I think we should put a large security umbrella over the entire Asia-Pacific region, like the one in Europe. Thatâs the direction we seek under the slogan that the Abe administration promotes: proactive contribution to peace based on international cooperation.â Iwaya replied to The Associated Press about where Japanâs military is headed and why it is such a sensitive issue. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
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![Japan Finance Minister]()
Japan's Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga speaks at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, June 4, 2008. Japan's finance minister says the soaring prices of oil and food have exacerbated global economic uncertainties and will be among the key topics discussed at the Group of Eight finance ministers meeting later this month. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
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![Japan Politics]()
Japan's newly-named Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi arrives at the prime minister's official residence before leaving for the attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Old-guard veteran Shinzo Abe was voted back into office as prime minister Wednesday and immediately named a new Cabinet, ending three years of liberal administrations and restoring power to his conservative, pro-big-business party that has run Japan for most of the post-World War II era. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
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![Japan Politics]()
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, and his Liberal Democratic Party members shout traditional "Banzai (long life)" cheer, along with daruma or tumbling dolls, during the annual party convention at a hotel in Tokyo, Sunday, March 8, 2015.(AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
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![US-JAPAN-SECURITY-KOMURA]()
Masahiko Komura, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and member of Japan's House of Representatives, speaks during a US-Japan security seminar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on March 27, 2015 in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
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![Australia Trans Pacific Partnership]()
Japan's Minister for Economic Revitalization, Akira Amari,listens to questions during a press conference at the Trans-Pacific Partnership meeting in Sydney, Australia, Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
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![Ukraine Japan]()
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida attending a meeting with Ukrainian foreign minister Pavel Klimkin in Kiev,Ukraine, Thursday, July 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov)