Stocks are up, the yen is easing and there is a new prime minister pledging to splash trillions of yen to breathe life into the country's moribund economy: Last year ended on a high note for Japan Inc., and 2013 looks even more promising for some.
"This is an extremely strong Cabinet with a lot of depth," Keidanren Chairman Hiromasa Yonekura commented after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched his administration Dec. 26.
Although the head of Japan's most influential business lobby constantly criticized the previous government, headed by the Democratic Party of Japan, for failing to assert strong command, Yonekura welcomed Abe's fiscal and economic policies and expressed optimism that they will spark growth.