CHIGASAKI, Kanagawa Pref.: The ending year 2019 was a "tough year," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, now taking a year-end holiday, said Monday.

"It was a tough year. Well done, everyone," Abe said in response to a request from reporters to look back on this year, while playing golf with Fujifilm Holdings Corp. Chairman Shigetaka Komori and Mitsui & Co. Chairman Masami Iijima in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

The prime minister did not specify what he had in mind by using the word "tough."

Abe was possibly referring to severe typhoon disasters that hit Japan in the autumn and a series of scandals involving his administration, including favoritism allegations against himself over a publicly funded annual cherry blossom party that has been attended by many supporters of his.

Following his year-end beak, which started on Saturday, Abe will attend the New Year greeting ceremony at the Imperial Palace on the first day of 2020.

The prime minister is also scheduled to visit Ise Jingu, a Shinto shrine complex in the central prefecture of Mie, on Jan. 6, and hold a New Year press conference in the prefecture later in the day.

JIJI Press