The Ise-Shima Group of Seven summit meeting was arguably one of the biggest moments on the international diplomatic stage for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who chaired this year's two-day event here in Ise, Mie Prefecture, which ended Friday.
But in the end, Abe may have tried to use the G-7 summit for his own domestic political goal: finding or creating a pretext to break his pledge to raise the consumption tax from the current 8 percent to 10 percent next April.
Abe, having armed himself with the argument of deteriorating economic conditions in emerging economies, most notably China, was clear in his message to the other G-7 leaders: the world economy is now facing a looming crisis.