The government reported the third straight quarter of economical contraction, this time shrinking by 0.4%. This is due to previous shrinking of the yen—intended to encourage foreign investment—fell through as the yen quickly re-strengthened.
Now, Prime Minister Abe works to pass legislation to weaken the yen yet again, this time planning on bringing it up to converge on one dollar. Is has also lobbied national banks to aim for 2% inflation in contrast to current financial deflation. It is worth noting also that the current bank governor has resigned and Abe will appoint the new governor himself.
However, consumer confidence has risen now that Abe has taken office, and the Japanese people are confident in his policy-making skills.
Interestingly, fax machines are still a huge part of Japanese business, in spite of its being a boon for technological innovation. The general sentiment is that one ought not fix what isn't broken, and with that as many as 1.7 million households bought fax machines last year, and nearly 100% of Japanese businesses employ them for day-to-day communication.
This is perhaps a legacy of Japan's previous economic bubble, where it saw as much as 10% growth in the 1960s. Back then, Japan was known for dangerous levels of pollution much like Beijing has recently been criticized for—but today, Japanese cities are considered some of the least polluted and dirty.
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