Born in Okayama Prefecture, Abe initially contested both the 110 metres hurdles and the 400 m hurdles, winning silver and gold medals at the Japanese high school championships in 2009.

[3] Abe ran a personal best of 49.46 seconds to claim the silver medal at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics, finishing closely behind the strong favourite Jehue Gordon.

[4] He also ran with the Japanese 4×400 metres relay team, helping them to fifth place.

[3] His hurdles time made him the third best Asian in the event that year, after compatriots Kenji Narisako and Takayuki Koike.

[6] He was selected to represent Japan at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe and he went away with his first regional title, ending the race with a time of 49.64 seconds to win the gold medal.