TOKYO, April 30 (Reuters) – In the shadows of Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe’s formidable PR machine, a small, tenacious group of
“Abenomics” detractors is battling to be heard and waiting for
their “I told you so” moment.

Being a contrarian in a society that values consensus and
conformity is hard enough, but it is even harder for academics,
commentators and investors who are attacking Abe’s economic
revival plan as misguided and potentially dangerous.

TOKYO/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – It is your first day as the new U.S. Federal Reserve chief: the main interest rate is 4.50 percent, the economy is overheating and the task is to keep inflation and unemployment low.

Once in a while there is a curve ball — an oil crisis or a dollar spike — and if you move rates up or down appropriately you will be reappointed.

TOKYO/FRANKFURT, April 18 (Reuters) – It is your first day
as the new U.S. Federal Reserve chief: the main interest rate is
4.50 percent, the economy is overheating and the task is to keep
inflation and unemployment low.

Once in a while there is a curve ball — an oil crisis or a
dollar spike — and if you move rates up or down appropriately
you will be reappointed.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Debating the merits of “Abenomics” is much like talking about a new miracle diet or a life-saving drug: there are many sceptics, but very few who wouldn’t want to see it work.

A stronger Japanese economy would help global growth and make domestic problems such as ageing and runaway debt more manageable, so it is no wonder many people give Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his economic plans the benefit of the doubt.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Debating the merits of “Abenomics” is much like talking about a new miracle diet or a life-saving drug: there are many skeptics, but very few who wouldn’t want to see it work.

A stronger Japanese economy would help global growth and make domestic problems such as ageing and runaway debt more manageable, so it is no wonder many people give Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his economic plans the benefit of the doubt.

TOKYO (Reuters) – What do you buy the nation that already seems to have everything?

That is the question facing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he aims to spend more than $100 billion on infrastructure in the next 15 months to help revive his country’s economy. But with its gleaming bullet trains, jungles of elevated highways and strings of man-made islands, ultra-modern Japan doesn’t appear to want for much.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan will seek to assure its Group of 20 partners that its push to reflate the economy with aggressive monetary expansion will benefit other nations and outweigh any possible negative effects, the country’s top financial diplomat said on Wednesday.

Takehiko Nakao, vice finance minister for international affairs, was speaking a day after Japan and other Group of Seven rich nations declared that fiscal and monetary policies would not be directed at devaluing currencies and reaffirmed a commitment to market-determined exchange rates.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s top financial diplomat said on Wednesday that Tokyo will tell its Group of 20 peers its push to reflate the economy will benefit other nations, brushing aside some concerns about the possible negative impact of its monetary stimulus on emerging economies.

Takehiko Nakao, vice finance minister for international affairs, was speaking a day after Japan and other Group of Seven rich nations declared that fiscal and monetary policies would not be directed at devaluing currencies and reaffirmed commitment to market-determined exchange rates.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Conservative ex-premier Shinzo Abe got a second chance to lead Japan after his party surged back to power in Sunday’s election and faces pressure to move swiftly to bolster a sagging economy and manage strained ties with China.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) landslide just three years after a crushing defeat appears more a damning verdict on its rivals’ brief spell in power than an embrace of Abe’s agenda or the party that had ruled Japan for most of the past 50 years.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Even before Japanese voters returned Shinzo Abe’s party to power, he had already won over financial markets with an economic revival plan as seductively simple as economists say it is risky: print money and spend it. Lots of it.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide on Sunday is likely to sustain a market rally fuelled by economic stimulus hopes, but Abe’s economic legacy will probably be defined by how he tackles chronic ills that easy money alone cannot fix and that were largely ignored during the campaign.