Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, by pitching his economic policies to his fellow leaders at the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland, has put himself in a bind with the need to show a blueprint for achieving both growth and fiscal rehabilitation.
The just-completed summit at the Lough Erne golf resort near Enniskillen was, first and foremost, the place for Abe to explain to his G-8 colleagues his policies aimed at ending nearly two decades of deflation and reviving the economy, and in doing so, to make his policies, dubbed "Abenomics," an international commitment.
Speaking at a news conference in Belfast after returning from the summit, Abe said late Tuesday that his economic policy received "high expectations and high marks" from the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and Russia.