After Abe Shinzo announced his early retirement at the end of August, Japan has had to come to terms with a significant structural change on top of all the challenges left by the Covid-19 pandemic. By his own admission, the sharply elected new Premier, Suga Yoshihide, Abe’s right-hand man, is better-versed in domestic issues rather than foreign policy—a feature that might prove to be challenging, to say the least, in ever-changing regional and international scenarios such as the ones Suga is today asked to navigate. Will the new Premier pick up on Abe’s constitutional legacy? Which stance will he take on Abe’s trademark economic policy, the well-known “Abenomics”? To what extent will he continue relying on traditional allies such as the United States? Will he try to normalize relations with China, or will Japan’s vision of the Indo-Pacific area take the upper hand?
