Japan: Still the land of the static sun

ON JAPAN

Japan may have trumpeted the appearance of inflation after Shinzo Abe's massive stimulus plan, but question marks hang over the sustainability of the recovery, argues Heartwood's Michael Stanes.

Speaking to the NYSE back in September 2013, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared "Japan is back", comparing a comeback by Japan to that of the wily character Gordon Gekko from the film Wall Street. After years of disappointment, is there really something different happening in the land of the static sun? Some things certainly have changed. Monetary policy and fiscal policy - the so-called first and second arrows of the ‘three arrow' approach - have undergone momentous change. Interest rates remain on the floor, extra government spending remains a policy tool and the government has comm...