Japan primed for a new dawn

Polar Capital's James Salter reflects on the outlook for the Japanese stock market under new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama

The Democratic Party of Japan won a resounding victory in the Lower House elections that took place on the 30th August 2009. A democratic victory was almost a certainty. However, what was not anticipated was the scale of the ruling party’s – the Liberal Democratic Party’s – defeat. The Democratic Party of Japan won 308 seats out of 408 in the Lower House and many of these were won by first-time democratic candidates. It was a vote against years of economic malaise, failing banks and collapsing property prices with the hope of an end to pork-barrel politics. Over the decades, the ruling part...