The year 2020 has been a series of major, at times unprecedented events. Now you can add Prime Minister Shinzo Abe¡¯s abrupt resignation into the mix.
Friday afternoon¡¯s announcement came as a political thunderclap that echoed around Nagatacho, Japan¡¯s political epicenter.
Reporters, lawmakers, Cabinet ministers and staff at the Prime Minister¡¯s Office all talk to each other on a daily basis, but none of them seemed to know this was coming.
When the first report of his intention to resign emerged shortly after 2 p.m., reporters at the Prime Minister¡¯s Office rushed to a television screen set up in a corner booth by the entrance. Camera crews hurriedly set up their equipment, and journalists frantically made phone calls to sources to confirm the news.
One Prime Minister Office¡¯s public relations official said she was dumbfounded. ¡°(Our division) is going nuts,¡± the official said.
Around 4 p.m., ministers one after another trickled into the Prime Minister¡¯s Office for an emergency Cabinet meeting to be notified of Abe¡¯s intention to step down. The scene was utterly chaotic, with reporters desperately huddling around them in an attempt to get their reaction.
¡°I learned about his resignation on a news report and I am surprised,¡± said Seiko Hashimoto, the minister in charge of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, as she was heading into the meeting.
Naokazu Takemoto, information technology minister, said: ¡°He looked fine during (Friday) morning¡¯s Cabinet meeting, so I thought he is in good condition. It was unexpected.¡±
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