Desperate and short of options, Suga had no choice but to quit as Japan's PM

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TOKYO - Japan is a nation with many superstitions, and as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga calls time on his year-long tenure as its leader, he will no doubt be aware of the two jinxes that ruined his political career.

First, no premier has survived in a year when Japan hosted the Olympics - in the 1964 Tokyo Games, the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games or the 1998 Nagano Winter Games - even if they all resigned for different reasons.

Second, a period of political stability is followed by a revolving door of prime ministers. Until Mr Shinzo Abe took office in 2012, there were six prime ministers in as many years after Mr Junichiro Koizumi stepped down after five years in power. And before that, there were 10 leaders over 14 years after Mr Yasuhiro Nakasone, who was in office from 1982 to 1987.

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