Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned from a Tokyo hospital on Aug. 17, after what an aide said was a checkup.
Photo: kyodo/ReutersTOKYO—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spent most of the day Monday at a Tokyo hospital for what an aide said was a checkup following recent concerns about his health.
Television footage showed Mr. Abe walking out of Kobe University Hospital around 6:00 p.m. local time and getting in a car to go home. He arrived at the hospital at 10:30 a.m.
Public broadcaster NHK quoted a secretary to the prime minister as saying Mr. Abe was receiving a checkup to ensure he would be in good shape after taking days off this week. He had already been at the hospital for nearly six hours on June 13 for what was described then as a regular checkup.
A cabinet spokesman, Koichiro Matsumoto, said he had no information about the prime minister’s condition.
Mr. Abe’s most recent public appearance came on Saturday, when he spoke at a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. He looked and sounded generally the same as usual, but speculation about his health has been increasing recently because he has scaled back his working hours and walked more slowly than usual when entering his office.
After first becoming prime minister in 2006, Mr. Abe had to resign after a year in office, in part because of a chronic bowel illness. After stepping down, he said a drug was helping keep the problem in check.
He returned as prime minister in December 2012 and has served continuously since then. Combining the two stints, he has served longer than any other Japanese prime minister.
Later this month, he is also poised to break the record for longest continuous term as prime minister which was set by his great-uncle, Eisaku Sato, prime minister from 1964 to 1972.
Mr. Abe worked nearly continuously since the coronavirus pandemic broke out early this year, leading the government’s response and holding frequent news conferences before and during a state of emergency he declared in April. He lifted it in May, only to see a second wave of cases break out weeks later.
In recent weeks, he has sharply curtailed his working hours, according to his daily schedule reported in newspapers. Despite falling poll ratings and criticism over his handling of the virus, he has made only short public statements and his allies have resisted calls by opposition parties to reconvene Parliament to address the pandemic.
Mr. Abe simultaneously serves as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and his term in that post expires in September 2021. He has said he doesn’t plan to run for re-election. Under the LDP’s customary practice, the next party president would also take over the prime minister’s job assuming the party maintains its control of Parliament.
Write to Peter Landers at peter.landers@wsj.com
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