Leaders of the ruling and opposition parties squared off during a debate at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Monday, a day before official campaigning got underway for the Dec. 14 Lower House election.
During the two-hour debate, attended by the leaders of eight parties, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe argued that his economic policies have increased employment and wages. By continuing with his "Abenomics" policies, he said the economy will grow strong enough to weather the second stage of the consumption tax hike to 10 percent, which he has promised to delay until April 2017.
"We have, at last, gained the momentum to exit from deflation that we've suffered for the past 15 years," said Abe, who is also the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. "It is still only halfway. But this is the only way (to fix the economy)."