The Cabinet Office's Economic and Social Research Institute on Jan. 17 released the finalized figures on the country's economy's stocks (the net value of accumulated assets at a balance date) and flows (net transactions, including income and expenditure, during an accounting period) that were ...

At the beginning of the new year, I would like to review the achievements of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the challenges it faces in its second year on the economic and political fronts. Economically, Abe's policies did produce results. One symbolic ...

Recent scandals involving Japanese businesses have included bank loans to the underworld and misrepresentations of restaurant menus at leading hotels, and many of the media reports have focused on how management takes responsibility for the mess. I would like to highlight three points that ...

The G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, ended Sept. 6 with the conclusion that it is premature to declare that the global economic crisis has ended, despite signs of improvement. During the two-day event, the G-20 leaders are believed to have covered a wide range ...

From June 5 to 6, more than five months after launching his Cabinet, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened the government's three councils on economic and fiscal policy, industrial competitiveness and science and technology. The outcomes of the discussions can be summarized as follows: 1) Japan will ...

The House of Councilors election will be held within three months, and the focus is on whether the split in the Diet — where the two chambers of the legislature are controlled by different camps — will finally be mended. The radical changes in global ...

The Bank of Japan on Wednesday installed a new governor and two deputy governors who — in line with the wishes of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — are advocates of ultra-easy monetary policy. Attention is now focused on what specific policy actions the new central ...

T he government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Bank of Japan agreed last week to set a 2 percent inflation target to be achieved "as soon as possible." All sorts of issues have been raised, from the dangers of intervening in monetary ...

Needless to say, the biggest challenge for the government to be formed after Sunday's general election is to put the Japanese economy on a growth path. Many people repeat the mantra of pulling Japan "out of deflation and the strong yen," but the first thing ...