Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would do well to consult professor Noriko Hama of Doshisha University. Asked by The Japan Times what the country needs, she replied in feisty fashion: "The three things Japan should do in 2013 are raise wages, raise interest rates — and cut the crap."
It was good advice, which challenges some obvious deficiencies in "Abenomics" as economists call the new policy of new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Give credit where it is due. Only two weeks after being chosen as Japan's prime minister, Abe's government announced a huge package of stimulus measures, with a headline number of ¥20.2 trillion, of which ¥10.3 trillion will come in government spending. The aim is to boost Japan's sickly recession-hit economy by 2 percent and create 600,000 new jobs. If nothing else, Abenomics means action.