TOKYO, Dec 26: Shinzo Abe, who returned to Japan’s premiership Wednesday, is a rhetorical hawk with strident views about Japan’s place in the world but a likely pragmatist in office — at least for now.

The conservative ideologue was the nation’s youngest-ever prime minister when he stepped into the role in 2006 at the age of 52. He left office abruptly, citing bowel problems, after an election loss the following year.

Now 58, the Liberal Democratic Party leader heads to the prime minister’s residence with promises of tougher diplomacy in the face of an increasingly assertive China and an always unpredictable North Korea.

Abe has also voiced willingness to amend laws to force monetary easing moves by the Bank of Japan. These would see it print more money, buy more bonds and meet an inflation target to stimulate the feeble economy.

But many analysts believe Abe will not take political risks or implement controversial policies before an upper house election next summer which could further solidify his power base.

His landslide election victory this month came partly by default as voters punished the disappointing rule of the Democratic Party of Japan. Electors also remember his lacklustre first tenure.

When he stepped down in 2007 he became the first in a series of premiers to last around a year. His return makes him the country’s seventh leader in less than seven years.

Abe first came to power as the hand-picked successor to the popular Junichiro Koizumi, whom he had served as an eager and earnest deputy.

His tough talk on North Korea, which has admitted it abducted Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies, also appealed to voters.

But the third-generation politician, groomed from birth for the job by his elite conservative family, stepped down on the grounds of illness following an election defeat and after a series of scandals involving his ministers.

His grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was a World War II cabinet member and briefly jailed as a war criminal. Kishi later became a post-war prime minister, fighting leftists to build a new alliance with Washington.

His father was Shintaro Abe, a foreign minister who never achieved his ambition of becoming prime minister. Shinzo Abe took his father’s parliamentary seat in 1993 following his death.

Since his return to the LDP’s helm Abe has aggressively pushed for his nation to take a strong stance on the world stage, and said there is no room for compromise on islands disputed with China.

One of his most passionate causes has been the revision of the pacifist constitution imposed on a defeated nation by the United States in 1947.

He has also promised to instill patriotism among schoolchildren. And during his first tenure, he sparked controversy by saying he wanted to review the country’s previous admissions over wartime sex slavery.

At the time he argued there was no evidence Japan’s army directly coerced thousands of “comfort women” into brothels across Asia, prompting a call from US lawmakers for a fresh apology from Tokyo.

Abe quickly backpedaled on the issue.

Despite his rightwing rhetoric, Abe proved more pragmatic than many had expected in his first term. He worked to improve ties with China, Tokyo’s biggest trading partner, and with former colony South Korea.

Politics professor Mikitaka Masuyama has said the electorate would also keep his more extreme inclinations in check.

“It’s not that voters gave credibility to Mr Abe’s hawkish agenda. He knows that he has to moderate his confrontational posture on China if he wants to achieve results in economic recovery and keep public support,” he said.

Abe now appears to be practicing strategic ambiguity — particularly on whether he will visit the Yasukuni war shrine seen in Asia as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression.

Abe has said he regrets not visiting the shrine during his first premiership, but did not say whether he would go this time around.

His hawkish image may be softened by his wife Akie Abe, the daughter of a prominent businessman who is known for her love of Korean culture.

They have no children.