2013 Japanese House of Councillors election a number of issues. Shinzo Abe led the Liberal Democratic Party to victory in the December 2012 general election after several years in the opposition. In campaigning to win control of the House of Councillors, Abe sought to resolve the "twisted parliament" problem for the next three years. Just prior to the election, the U.S. dollar fell against the yen on expectations of more momentum for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive monetary easing to fight deflation and boost growth for the export-dominant economy of Japan. Abe's LDP and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, were tipped to win a
Shinzō Abe now pending in the United States Congress, for an official apology. America isn't the only country interested in seeing Japan belatedly accept full responsibility. [South] Korea and China are also infuriated by years of Japanese equivocations over the issue. A 2007 "Washington Post" editorial, "Shinzo Abe's Double Talk" also criticized him: "he's passionate about Japanese victims of North Korea—and blind to Japan's own war crimes". In "The New York Times" in 2014, an editorial called Abe a "nationalist" who is a profound threat to American–Japanese relations, and an opinion piece labeled Abe's position on the subject of comfort women a