Abe-sama Resigns

I was planning to post something else but as of ten minutes ago Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has resigned. As you can imagine this has cause quite a stir. This is big news in Japan as it was forecasted but at the same time unexpected. I wondered aloud to Austin why the Prime Minster resigned and he replied more concisely and poetically than I could, "Are you kidding me? He has an approval rating of 15%, he massively lost the last election and he has had 25 scandals in the past year." While all the above is true, why today of all days? Prime Minister Abe himself said it was because he had failed to reach an agreement on a troop extension in Afghanistan. I have always hang my hat on the theory that no modern Japanese leader could ever compete with Abe-sama's predecessor, former Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi's beautiful head of hair. The white loin's mane of hair made Koizumi-sama look youthful, resolute, and invincible. (One can only wish Canada could have such leadership.) Abe-sama's boring salaryman pretenses didn't exactly breed trust or create excitement. The next couple of months will see Japan set adrift, rudderless without a leader. For the current time being, however, it means endless political talking heads picking apart every aspect of the resignation on TV until only atoms. Keep me in your thoughts, dear readers.