"Poised on the landing" is the way people have taken to talking about the Japanese economy lately. The English-language way of referring to the same thing is to call it "going through a soft patch."

The landing metaphor is altogether more elegant. It is also more accurate. For the expression "going through a soft patch" presupposes there is firmer ground farther up ahead. The idea is that things may be going slightly wrong at the moment, but they are bound to get better once the temporary hitch is out of the way.

Not so with a landing on a flight of stairs. You can be poised on a landing just as much on your way down, as when you are climbing your way up.