The Longest-Serving Japanese Prime Ministers

The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has shocked Japan and the world. Abe is the longest serving prime minister in the country's history with almost a decade in office in non-consecutive terms between 2006 and 2020. The staunch conservative shaped Japan's politics during this era and leaves his legacy of Abenomics, a policy that attempted to revigorate the Japanese economy through monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and reforms.

Abe had stepped down in August 2020 because of health reasons. He suffered from ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, and had unexpectedly stepped down once before, in 2007, because of his illness.

He had just become Japan’s longest consecutively serving prime minister that same week, overtaking his great-uncle and fellow LDP member Eisaku Sato, who served between 1964 and 1972. Abe had already become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister by total days in office in November, pulling ahead of Katsura Taro, who returned to office twice between 1901 and 1913. Similar to Katsura, fourth-longest serving prime minister Ito Hirobumi lived in a time before political parties became established in Japan. The country’s first prime minister served four separate terms or a total of 2,720 days. Post-war prime minister Shigeru Yoshida comes in rank 5 and also returned to the office once.