Quotes from Shinzo Abe

I often say to entrepreneurs, 'If Lehman Brothers were Lehman Brothers & Sisters, it wouldn't have gone into bankruptcy.'

The Japan-U.S. alliance is an irreplaceable alliance. And I would like to further consolidate and broaden that alliance.

In 1957, which is now 57 years ago, my grandfather and then-Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi welcomed Prime Minister Menzies as the first Australian Prime Minister to visit Japan after World War II and drove the conclusion of the Japan-Australia Agreement on Commerce.

When I served as prime minister last time, I failed to prioritize my agenda. I was eager to complete everything at once, and ended my administration in failure. After resigning, for six years I traveled across the nation simply to listen.

Since the start of the Abe administration, we resumed peace treaty negotiations with Russia, which had lapsed during the three years of the Democratic Party of Japan administration.

The Senkaku islands are inherently Japanese territory. I want to show my strong determination to prevent this from changing.

Japan's beautiful seas and its territory are under threat, and young people are having trouble finding hope in the future amid economic slump. I promise to protect Japan's land and sea, and the lives of the Japanese people no matter what.

To protect people's lives and keep our children safe, we must implement public-works spending and do so proudly. If possible, I'd like to see the Bank of Japan purchase all of the construction bonds that we need to issue to cover the cost. That would also forcefully circulate money in the market. That would be positive for the economy, too.

When I came to office, in terms of diplomacy and national security, as well as the economy, Japan was in a very severe situation.

I will aim to restore the Japan-U.S. alliance and Japan's strong diplomatic capabilities. Japan can't pursue a strong foreign policy without strengthening its alliance with the United States.

China, as a nation, is a country under the one-party rule of the Communist Party, but it has introduced the market economy. As a country that is under the one-party rule of the Communist Party, normally what they should be seeking is equality of results.

It was in the first Abe administration that we started the mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests between Japan and China.

Japan and Australia share the universal values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental human rights.

A robust economy is a source of national strength for Japan.

On the question of comfort women, when my thought goes to these people, who have been victimized by human trafficking and gone through immeasurable pain and suffering beyond description, my heart aches. And on this point, my thought has not changed at all from previous prime ministers.

In Japan, usually, once you become prime minister, you do not have a second chance.

My hope is that the 21st century will be the first century where there will be no violation of human rights, and to that end, Japan would like to do our outmost.

Thinking ahead, in 2013, the Japanese government, together with pharmaceutical companies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established a fund for promoting research and development of medical products for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The importance of planning for disease outbreaks was made clear with the Ebola virus.

The future of Japan's economic growth depends on us having the willpower and the courage to sail without hesitation onto the rough seas of global competition.