Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday visited a Tokyo hospital after his avoidance of extended public appearances sparked speculation about the health of the country’s longest-serving premier.
Abe, 65, was seen arriving by car at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo, in video broadcast by Japanese television networks.
He was going to undergo a one-day health checkup, Kyodo News cited an aide as saying, while broadcaster TBS said that he had undergone a full health examination as recently as June.
Photo: EPA-EFE
There was no plan for him to be admitted to the hospital, Fuji News Network said.
The Japanese Prime Minister’s Office has not put out an official statement on the matter.
Abe has not held a full-length news conference since mid-June, and has rebuffed opposition calls for a new session of parliament to debate policies for controlling the COVID-19 outbreak and its economic fallout.
Domestic media have kept a close eye on Abe’s movements, saying that he paid his first visit in months to a gym on Aug. 10.
TBS even took to timing his daily walk across the foyer of his residence in a bid to gauge the state of his health.
Abe resigned in 2007 after an abbreviated first term in office, citing a worsening of chronic ulcerative colitis.
When he made a comeback in 2012 that started his current run as prime minister, aides said the introduction of a new drug had enabled him to bring the condition under control.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who works closely with Abe on a daily basis, said on Aug. 4 he did not believe there was any problem with the prime minister’s health.
Abe has had little time away from work as COVID-19 continues to spread throughout Japan, triggering the worst economic contraction on record in the April-to-June quarter.
As virus numbers have increased in the past few weeks, his approval slid to a record low of 35.4 percent in a poll published by Japan News Network earlier this month.
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