Contemplating Shinzo Abe's record

Abe would be leaving behind a far more confident nation than the one he was handed. — AP

THESE should have been celebratory days for Shinzo Abe.

This week, he passed 2,800 continuous days as Japan's prime minister, erasing a record set by his grand uncle, Eisaku Sato. Yet, it has been a while since he went to Yamaguchi prefecture, his bailiwick on the south-west of Japan's main island, or to his vacation home in Yamanashi prefecture, north of Mt Fuji.