Victory improves Abe's hand

Above: As ballot counting continues in Tokyo on Sunday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its allies have secured a landslide win in the upper house election.

Below: Abe speaks in front of red rosettes on the names of the Liberal Democratic Party's winning candidates at the party's headquarters in Tokyo. PhotoS by Yoshikazu Tsuno / Agence France-Presse AND Shizuo Kambayashi / Associated Press