安倍晋三留下的政治遗产比他无声的退场更让人印象深刻。他不仅重塑了日本的经济、外交关系，还为未来的改革铺平了道路。

今年8月底，日本首相连续执政的纪录刚刚被打破。然而，仅仅4天后，破记录者却说，自己也已成为历史。安倍晋三是日本连任时间最长（同时也是在任时间最长）的首相，他于今年8月28日宣布辞职。

安倍自称辞职的原因是消化道旧疾恶化。而此时距离他依据自民党章程卸任首相一职还有一年的时间。但许多人将他的离去看作是他承认了自己的失败。他一直在努力振兴持续低迷几十年的日本经济，但由于新冠肺炎疫情的爆发，日本经济再次陷入低迷。

His campaign to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution to give the armed forces a proper legal underpinning has gone nowhere. His planned swansong, the Tokyo Olympics that were supposed to have taken place this summer, may never happen. His approval rating is dire.

他曾试图修改《和平宪法》，从而为军队提供更多的法律支持，但最终毫无进展。他计划中的最后一场演出（即原定于今年夏天举行的东京奥运会）可能永远无法上演了。种种因素导致他的支持率很低。

It is a gloomy moment. What with the depredations of the coronavirus, the growing pugnacity of China and Japan’s shrinking and ageing population, Mr Abe’s successor, who will be chosen on September 14th by the LDP’s MPs, will have his work cut out.

安倍的卸任对日本来说无疑是个至暗时刻。在新冠病毒肆虐、中国变得日益强盛、日本人口不断缩减以及人口老龄化不断加剧之际，安倍的继任者（将于9月14日在自民党议员中选出）将任重而道远。

But all these problems have been made more manageable by Mr Abe’s eight years in office. The outgoing prime minister has done a far better job than is commonly acknowledged. Before covid-19 struck, “Abenomics” was succeeding, albeit slowly, in resuscitating the economy.

但在安倍的八年任期内，所有这些问题都变得更容易解决了。这位即将离任的首相所做的工作远比人们认为的要好。在新冠肺炎疫情爆发前，“安倍经济学”正推动着日本经济的复苏，尽管速度缓慢。

Japan, something of a wallflower in global affairs since the second world war, was playing an unusually prominent and constructive role in Asia and around the world. And Mr Abe was pushing through difficult reforms that shorter-lived and less adept prime ministers had shirked for decades. He leaves a much more impressive legacy than his muted exit suggests.

自二战以来，日本虽然在亚洲和世界各地发挥着异常突出的建设性作用，但在全球事务中却仿佛局外人一般。安倍正在艰难地推进一系列改革，而这正是过去几十年来那些“短命的”、能力不足的首相们一直回避的问题。他所留下的政治遗产远比他无声的退场更让人印象深刻。

To get the economy moving, Mr Abe adopted policies previously considered politically or culturally impossible. As part of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a big regional trade deal, he agreed to slash tariffs and increase import quotas for agricultural goods, even though coddled farmers are some of the LDP’s most loyal supporters.

为了推动经济发展，安倍采取了一系列此前在政治或文化上都被认为不可能实现的政策。尽管饱受娇惯的农民是自民党最忠实的支持者，但作为跨太平洋伙伴关系协定（TPP）的一员，他同意削减关税并增加农产品进口配额。

Japanese women entered the workforce in droves, helped by free nursery school and other subsidies for child care. They are now more likely to work than their American counterparts. And there are more than twice as many foreign workers in Japan as there were when Mr Abe took office, despite a supposed national phobia about immigration.

在免费幼儿园和其他育儿补贴政策的帮助下，日本女性成群结队地加入了劳动力大军。如今，日本女性相比美国女性有着更高的就业率。尽管日本人对于移民心怀恐惧，但如今日本外籍工人数量已达安倍上任时的两倍多。

Corporate governance has also improved dramatically. Almost all big listed firms have at least one independent director, compared with less than 40% in 2012. That in turn has broadened Japan’s appeal to foreign investors. Just this week Warren Buffett piled into Japanese conglomerates. The main stockmarket index has more than doubled on Mr Abe’s watch, having barely budged for the previous decade.

公司治理也得到了显著改善。几乎所有大型上市公司都至少有一名独立董事，而在2012年，这一比例还不到40%。这反过来又增加了日本对外国投资者的吸引力。就在本周，沃伦•巴菲特大举投资了多家日本企业集团。在安倍的领导下，日本主要的股市指数上涨了一倍多，而在他上任前的十年间该指数几乎没有任何变化。

Although Mr Abe leaves lots of unfinished business, he also leaves his successor the tools to complete the job. Perhaps his most important and least recognised achievement is to have made Japan more governable. He managed to quell, at least for now, factional jockeying within the LDP, which doomed previous prime ministers to short, turbulent stints in office.

尽管安倍留下了许多尚未完成的任务，但他也给继任者留下了完成任务所需的工具。他最宝贵同时也最不为人所知的成就或许就是让日本变得更容易治理。他设法平息了（至少就目前而言）自民党内部的派系争斗，这些争斗注定了前几任首相短暂而动荡的任期。

And he brought the bureaucracy, which used to run the show as the politicians rotated, more firmly under the control of its elected bosses. Japan’s economy, in particular, still needs a lot of help. But if the next prime minister manages to get anything done, it will be thanks in large part to the groundwork laid by Mr Abe.

此外，他还加强了首相对官僚机构（每当人事变动时就容易出乱子）的控制。日本尤其在经济上仍有待继续提振。如若下一任首相能有所作为，那么在很大程度上也要归功于安倍所奠定的基础。