I remember well, the fiscal rectitude of the old Japan: In 1981, as the Reagan White House prepared its radical fiscal plan – famously called “riverboat gamble” – we were visited by high-ranking Japanese officials, in a state of shock.
Rising exports and trade surpluses have always been vital to Japan. And reconstituting them is a cornerstone of Abenomics. But that plan has totally gone to heck.
Orders for capital equipment – a measure of future capital expenditures and a feverishly awaited sign that Japan Inc. has finally started investing in Japan rather than just overseas – were “shocking.”
