Released minutes reveal the Bank of Japan board doubts regarding the additional quantitative easing, voted 5 to 4 by the board earlier this month. Read more in the 26 November edition of the Nikkei Asian Review. 

On 24 November, the embattled opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) announced its election manifesto with focus on reviving a wealthy middle class and reducing the wealth gap, effectively calling for a reversal of Abenomics, which the DPJ claims to have exacerbated the living conditions in the past years.

Mainichi Shinbun reports that at a meeting on 19 November, the LDP Chairman of the Research Commission on the Tax System, Takeshi Noda and Komeito’s deputy head Kazuo Kitagawa agreed on a reduced tax rate for some basic commodities, probably to be introduced together with the sales tax hike in April 2017. 

According to a Bloomberg article from 18 November, the upcoming House of Representatives elections in December would seek a fresh mandate for Abenomics, and more specifically for the structural reform, or the so-called “third arrow” of PM Abe’s economic revitalization strategy. While the government has achieved relative success in reviving the stock market, it still needs to overcome the vested interests from the corporate world, the bureaucracy and the farm lobby.