Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became Japan's longest serving prime minister on Wednesday, beating previous record holder Taro Katsura by having served for a total of 2,887 days, and vowed to work on tackling deflation and dealing with the nation's graying population during the remainder of his term.
Abe's term is calculated as an accumulated total of his first, brief stint as prime minister in 2006, and then his time further in the top position since 2012, which is now approaching eight years.
"I still have two years left of my term as president of the Liberal Democratic Party," Abe told reporters at his office. "With the weight of that responsibility on my shoulders, I hope to continue pushing to resolve all of the policy issues we currently face, always maintaining the caution of my earlier days as prime minister."