Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said that fiscal consolidation is his most crucial task, championing a tax hike to rebuild state finances and possibly spur economic growth, but he had no such idea several months ago.
Behind the sudden shift in viewpoint is Yoshiyasu Ono, an economics professor at Osaka University. Ono has been advising the Cabinet Office on economic policy since late February, a month after Kan took over the finance minister's portfolio.
The expert in macroeconomics is a proponent of raising taxes and spending the money to boost jobs to help the economy complete its recovery from recession and grow further — which is what Kan has been advocating for the past several months.