Japan's already positive economic outlook has brightened again:
Improved business spending and better prospects for exporters prompted the Japanese government to raise its official reading on the economy for the second straight month on Friday, though officials stopped short of saying a full recovery was under way."The economy is showing signs it is headed for a recovery," the Cabinet Office said in a monthly report, a shift in the all-important wording from the August report's verdict that economic conditions were flat.
The upgrade follows a string of data suggesting Japan's economy is perking up after a decade of stagnation.
Japan ought not bungle this one up outright by, say, raising taxes, as they did to smother their 1997 upswing. The Wall Street Journal opined on the subject this past Wednesday, advising Japanese market planners to abandon their soft version of the legendary zaibatsu grandfather corporations and the fantasy-world economy that comes along with such indulgences of tradition-over-practice. By keeping bad businesses and failing banks artificially alive, the island does no more good to economic longevity than America would have done to rock'n'roll by saturating Elvis on his deathbed with preservative, fitting him with electrodes and having the late star perform like the animatronic Country Bear Jamboree.
Japan is on the verge of a great opportunity. Here's to hoping they make the best of it.