Shinzō Abe (安倍 晋三, Abe Shinzō?,   ( listen); born 21 September 1954) was the 90th Prime Minister of Japan, elected by a special session of the National Diet on 26 September 2006. He was Japan's youngest post-World War II prime minister and the first born after the war. He resigned abruptly on 12 September 2007 after months of mounting political pressure. He was replaced by Yasuo Fukuda.

Abe was born into a political family, and studied political science in Japan. He has also studied in the United States. He worked in the private sector until 1982 when he began the first of several government jobs. He entered politics in 1993 when he won an election in the Yamaguchi Prefecture. Abe served under Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori and Junichiro Koizumi, eventually becoming Koizumi's Chief Cabinet Secretary. Abe gained national fame for the strong stance he took against North Korea, which eventually propelled him to presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Prime Minister's office. While expected to follow the economic policies of his predecessor, Abe was also expected to improve the previously strained relations with the People's Republic of China.

Abe was born in Nagato and soon moved to Tokyo. He attended Seikei elementary school and Fuku Yu high school. He studied political science at Seikei University, graduating in 1977. He later moved to the United States and studied "English for foreign students" and possibly political science at the University of Southern California. In April 1979, Abe began working for Kobe Steel. He left the company in 1982 and pursued a number of governmental positions including executive assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, private secretary to the chairperson of the LDP General Council, and private secretary to the LDP secretary-general.