According to some Western pundits, the recent Lower House election was going to be a big yawn, with little debate over real issues. In fact, from the start there was a very real debate between the coalition, which argued that the economy still needed pump priming, and the opposition, which claimed that priority should go to something called structural reform.

We were told that Japan's main newspapers were equally boring and saw their role as supporting the government. In fact the postelection headlines in two of Japan's main national newspapers -- Asahi and Mainichi -- exulted in the government's electoral setback. "Haiboku," or defeat, was the word they used, even though the coalition did retain a comfortable majority.

But defeat or no defeat, the coalition economic argument did have its merits. It said that continuing weak domestic demand means that for the time being there is no alternative to more government borrowing and spending, mainly for expanded public works.