[3] Born in Ichikawa, Chiba, Abe, then a member of the JEF United Ichihara (now JEF United Chiba) youth side, made his debut with the senior club at the age of 16 years and 333 days on 5 August 1998, at the time a record for the youngest Japanese professional player and J1 League.

He went on to become JEF United's captain, and led the club to the 2005 and 2006 J.League Cup titles while being named to the league's Best Eleven during the span.

[5] Abe participated in the 2007 Club World Cup playing for Urawa who eventually lost to AC Milan.

[10] Suffering from homesickness, Abe's contract was cancelled by mutual consent on 22 January 2012 and he returned to Japan to re-join former club Urawa Reds.

He had previously represented Japan at the Under-20 and Under-23 levels, appearing in all three first round matches at the 2004 Olympics and scoring a goal against Italy.