The Contrarian Investor: What ails Japan?

What ails Japan?

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Japanese Prime Minister Abe seems to have taken this old adage to heart over the last few weeks, calling a snap election in order to give his LDP government yet another mandate to kickstart Japan.

This dramatic move comes after rather dismal economic data suggested Japan had fallen back into recession. Clearly, worried investors might twig something is very, very wrong within the domestic economy. Abe announced plans to postpone the next scheduled consumption tax rise (the first contributed to the slump in consumer spending this summer), while the Bank of Japan helpfully stepped up to the plate and launched another aggressive salvo of monetary easing, part of which involves the main national pension fund buying shares. All of this political and monetary hyperactivity has roused...