Trade is one of the critical elements in Abenomics. Devaluing the yen would boost exports and cut imports. The resulting trade surplus would goose the economy. But the opposite is happening. It isn't happening in small increments, with minor ups and downs, as it did in the US spread over decades, but rapidly and with a brutal relentlessness. It’s not energy imports that are driving it – they actually dropped! It’s because of a fundamental shift. And it doesn’t bode well for Japan’s economy, not at all, or for the new religion of Abenomics. Exports rose 11.5% in September from prior year, according to the Ministry of ... (full story)