Abenomics' "Critical Moment"

―Stalled? Backfiring? Or Poised for Takeoff?―

November 20, 2014 6:30 PM (finished)


Jacob M. Schlesinger

(Senior Asia Economics Correspondent and Central Banks Editor, Asia for The Wall Street Journal)

Date/Time November 20, 2014 6:30 PM
Location Room 549 5th floor, Akamon Sogo Kenkyuto Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo　 [map]
Abstract After Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda jolted global markets with his Halloween surprise stimulus, he said the bold Abenomics bid to end the country's long slump had reached a "critical moment." When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched his program in late 2012, it was greeted with widespread enthusiasm and support from voters, economists, investors, executives, and consumers. Now they're having second thoughts. Mr. Abe's poll numbers are falling, as households say they're feeling more pain than gain. Mr. Kuroda's own policy board is split, his latest move approved by a bare 5-4 majority secured only at the last minute. Are these the inevitable pains of a recovering economy in transition? Or the signs of yet another Japanese growth plan fizzling out? Or, worse, the beginning of the economic collapse predicted by the Abenomics' harshest critics? A journalist's layperson-friendly dissection of where Japan's economy has been the past two years, and where it's heading -- including a handicapping of big decisions looming, on taxes and structural reforms.
Bio Jacob M. Schlesinger is Senior Asia Economics Correspondent and Central Banks Editor, Asia for The Wall Street Journal, based in Tokyo. He has covered Japan for the Journal for nearly 10 years in many different capacities. He came first as a reporter following tech, trade, and politics from the end of the bubble to the early years of the "lost decades," from 1989 to 1994. He returned as bureau chief in late 2009, overseeing the historic transfer of power to the Democratic Party of Japan, rising tensions with China, the 2011 triple disaster, and the return of Shinzo Abe, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the grand Abenomics experiment. Schlesinger started with the Journal in Detroit in 1986, covering the American auto industry, and worked for 13 years in the Washington bureau, covering economics and politics, and serving as deputy bureau chief. In 2003, Schlesinger was part of a team of Journal reporters awarded the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for the “What’s Wrong” series about the causes and consequences of the late-1990s financial bubble. After finishing his first tour in Japan, he authored the book "Shadow Shoguns: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Postwar Political Machine" published in 1997 by Simon & Schuster. While writing his book, he was a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Asia-Pacific Research Center. A native of East Lansing, Michigan, he received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard College