New York Times (July 23)
“To keep commerce going with China, Japan’s most important Asian trading partner, Mr. Abe has to stop rubbing raw the wounds of World War II. That includes not visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals from that conflict are honored. Nor should his government divert budget resources into military muscle flexing. Pushing into these politically contentious areas would erode the economic progress and promise of stable political leadership Mr. Abe has just worked so hard to achieve.”
Tags: Abe, Budget, China, Commerce, Conflict, Criminals, Government, Japan, Leadership, Military, Progress, Trading partner, World War II, Yasukuni
Washington Post (July 21)
Prime Minister Abe’s strong mandate is promising for Asia, and could help reduce tension. ”A healthy U.S.-Japan alliance is the region’s best hope for stability. That alliance, in turn, depends on a prospering Japanese economy and on at least cordial relations between Japan and other U.S. friends in Asia, most notably South Korea. Thanks to Japanese fatigue with the instability of the past decade, and to Mr. Abe’s political skills, he now has the best chance in a long time to deliver on those goals.”
Tags: Abe, Alliance, Asia, Economy, Japan, Mandate, Prime minister, South Korea, Stability, U.S.
Financial Times (July 3)
“A tax rise now means hitting the fiscal brake while stepping on the monetary accelerator…. At some stage, Japan will probably have to raise sales tax from its hardly onerous level of 5 per cent. Mr Abe should think long and hard, however, about whether that time is now.”
Tags: Abe, Fiscal brake, Japan, Monetary accelerator, Sales tax, Tax rise
The Economist (June 15)
“Now Mr Abe’s eagerly awaited “third arrow” of structural reforms has fallen well short of the rings, let alone the bull’s eye. Indeed, it is so wide of the mark that one is left wondering if Abenomics has failed before it even properly began.” The disappointing third arrow consisted mainly of “old-fashioned industrial policy which has been tried, and has failed, before… Meaningful deregulation, labour-market reform and steps to make agriculture competitive in order to prepare for the TPP were all shelved. Truly bold measures, such as boosting immigration or changing the electoral system to give proper weight to young and urban voters, are off the agenda entirely.”
Tags: Abe, Abenomics, Agriculture, Deregulation, Electoral system, Immigration, Industrial policy, Japan, Reform, Structural reforms, Third arrow, TPP
Washington Post (June 6)
The U.S. stands to benefit if Abenomics succeeds in strengthening its key ally in Asia. Prime Minister Abe’s first two arrows have hit their marks. The third yet-to-materialize arrow, however, has by far the hardest target of tackling the entrenched “source of Japan’s woes: a vast web of regulations, subsidies and trade barriers whose net effect has been to support inefficient sectors, and the voters who live off them, at the expense of growth and innovation. Japanese productivity has remained essentially flat for the past two decades, a dangerous state of affairs in a country with a shrinking labor force and a growing dependent elderly population.”The U.S. stands to benefit if Abenomics succeeds in strengthening its key ally in Asia. Prime Minister Abe’s first two arrows have hit their marks. The third yet-to-materialize arrow, however, has by far the hardest target of tackling the entrenched “source of Japan’s woes: a vast web of regulations, subsidies and trade barriers whose net effect has been to support inefficient sectors, and the voters who live off them, at the expense of growth and innovation. Japanese productivity has remained essentially flat for the past two decades, a dangerous state of affairs in a country with a shrinking labor force and a growing dependent elderly population.”
Tags: Abe, Abenomics, Arrows, Asia, Japan, Regulations, Subsidies, Trade barriers, U.S.
The Economist (April 13, 2013)
“Mr Abe must be absolutely clear that Mr Kuroda’s boldness has to be met with even greater boldness on the government’s part in freeing the economy. He should tackle head-on the corporate sector’s excessive savings, for instance, by taxing retained earnings that are not invested. He needs to do more to get more women into the workforce. He must (against all his nationalist instincts) promote immigration. He must open up protected sectors—electricity, health care, farming—to competition.”
Wall Street Journal (April 3, 2013)
“Japan’s quadrillion-yen market for government bonds is grappling with something it usually doesn’t face: volatility. Price gyrations are rising as bond investors try to assess how Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s fresh attack on deflation will play out in a market accustomed to a steady decline in consumer prices and a cautious, predictable central bank.”
Tags: Abe, BOJ, Bond market, Consumer prices, Deflation, Investors, Japan, JGBs, Volatility
Wall Street Journal (March 21)
“The TPP will go ahead with or without Japan. For Tokyo, sitting on the sidelines would only serve to isolate the country at a time when it needs to open up. Japan would lose benefits as high as $295 billion by 2025.” Despite Prime Minister Abe’s recent moves, membership is hardly a done deal. “To secure his country’s future, Shinzo Abe will have to overcome entrenched interests at the party, state and international levels.”
Tags: Abe, Entrenched interests, Free trade, Isolation, Japan, Membership, TPP
Financial Times (December 9)
“The political comeback of Shinzo Abe is one of the stranger twists in the recent, convoluted history of Japanese politics…. No one should be under any illusion about Mr Abe. He was a lousy prime minister first time around.” If he now looks like the best candidate this can only be due to “China’s misguided foreign policy, and the sorry state of a Japanese political system unable to produce someone better.”
Tags: Abe, China, Foreign policy, Japan, Politics, Prime minister
